Natural Model Management Helps Average-Sized Models Find A Niche

Plus-size model Marquita Pring made headlines when she revealed she uses padding to please clients. Marquita is a size 12-14. But when companies hire plus-size models, they want very plus-size models.

"We have to maintain our size and be careful not to fluctuate too drastically," Marquita admitted. Lose too much weight, she told Women's Wear Daily, and you won't look big enough.

With skinny runway models being told they're too big and plus-size models being told they're too small, is there a place for an average-sized girl? Fashionista raised this question, sitting down with model Katie Halchishick to talk about her "Healthy is the New Skinny" campaign.

Halchishick, 26, was signed as a plus-size model in her teens. She was quickly encouraged to get bigger, getting her weight up to 200 pounds -- and scoring tons of modeling gigs as a result. But when she lost the weight, reaching 145 pounds, she saw all those jobs disappear. Like Pring, she started to use padding... but also began to look for a better solution.

Filling a niche that seemed not to exist, Halchishick started a modeling agency that caters to models sized 6-10. Calling it Natural Model Management, the emphasis is on staying healthy rather than skinny (or overweight, for that matter).

It's still an uphill battle, Halchishick told Fashionista. But there is a promising market among the mass-retailers, like J.C. Penney's and Kohl's, who want healthy-looking women.

Will these "average" girls ever make it to Milan and Paris runways? Maybe not. But there should at least be a place in the modeling world for healthy, normal-sized women, whether in a Macy's commercial or magazine shoot... no padding necessary.

Read more about Halchishick's Natural Model Management at Fashionista.com and throw in your two cents below: is there a place in the modeling world for "normal-size" girls?

Comments

[Box500]

05:07 PM on 02/02/2012

Those women in the photo are average....for a hippo.

[thejadedentrepreneur]

01:23 PM on 02/02/2012

I give up. More than half of you have reading comprehension problems. Oh well, that's on you. I'm sick of pointing out the obvious because you all can't or won't read a simple article. THE VIDEO HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS STORY. That's why there is, oh, I don't know, FIVE bright pink links. Blind too I guess.

[thejadedentrepreneur]

01:16 PM on 02/02/2012

Okay, apparently reading comprehension is low and assumption is high or perhaps it's the HuffPost's fault for leaving common sense decisions to its readers. THE VIDEO HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS STORY. Reading. It's a good thing.

[zeedubya]

11:48 AM on 02/02/2012

There is nothing AVERAGE about these women sizes. Push away from the table!

[thejadedentrepreneur]

01:15 PM on 02/02/2012

The video and the article are for two separate sets of women. If you had read the article, which naturally you didn't, and clicked through, you would have seen two size 4/6ish models wearing padding. So while you think these women in the article need to "push away from the table" perhaps you should take the advice to use your head for more than a hatrack.

[zeedubya]

11:49 AM on 02/03/2012

Push away from the table.

[tara2012]

02:46 AM on 02/02/2012

The size 00 of the runway is unhealthy and in my opinion is not at all attractive. Stores like New York and Company, Express, etc where many people shop should really try to get at least some size 4-6 models in its ads! Some of them look straight off the runway which probably isn't a great way to sell clothing at a large chain store.

[Lovenhugs]

01:55 PM on 02/01/2012

Personally when I am shopping online or thru a catalog I want to see the fashion on someone that is "normal" size so I can see how it would fit. If someone is stick thin it doesn't show how it would fit on the average person shopping. Clothes hang differently on people that are stick thin and the person probably actually buying the product. Not many of us are 0 or size 2, let's face it. If that's their target market good luck selling a lot. Just my opinion.

[factorystock1]

12:17 PM on 02/01/2012

With skinny runway models being told they're too big and plus-size models being told they're too small, is there a place for an average-sized girl?
Can someone tell me who's philosophy, law, or rule is from?
This way of thinkin' is what is damaging the way girls and women are thinkin' about them selfs and how they feel. JMO

[Missy K]

11:22 AM on 02/01/2012

I hope that the ladies in that video were not a size 6 to 10 or I am in BIG trouble!

[Chip Common]

10:53 AM on 02/01/2012

Why do some people think a giant gut counts as having curves?

[Chip Common]

10:49 AM on 02/01/2012

This would be like putting "averagely athletic" players in the NFL. People fantasize about being in the NFL, but nobody wants to really see it.

[LyricalVirgo]

09:06 AM on 02/01/2012

About time someone thought of this. Kind of silly that either you are a skinny model or a plus size model. All sizes deserved to be modeled since realistically women come in all varieties of shapes and sizes. The world of Modeling should celebrate all women and all heights and sizes.

[rockysparks]

08:59 AM on 02/01/2012

Please. Just show us models who look healthy. Neither emaciated waifs who binge and purge their lives away nor blimps who cater to the cheeseburger and milkshake market. Just show us normal looking people who do the best they can with the material they were given to work with at birth.

[jabb5076]

08:58 AM on 02/01/2012

The reality is that so-called plus size models in print ads don't look very 'plus' at all. If retailers really want to appeal to the demographic who will buy their merchandise, their advertising should reflect what people are actually like. It is aggravating to look at regular size clothing and know that how clothing looks on an ultra-thin model is not how the clothing will look on those of us who are average size. I hope this woman's agency is a success and that the idea of using average size models for regular clothing will catch on.

[healbaum]

07:33 AM on 02/01/2012

I'm sorry, but the girls in the video were not size 6-10. Why not find photos or video that actually goes with the article?

[kaysings]

09:26 AM on 02/01/2012

I second that. The models in that video are "super-size".

[thejadedentrepreneur]

01:18 PM on 02/02/2012

Video has nothing to do with the article. Go back and reread, since you obviously didn't the first time. The photos are IN THE LINKS DUMMIES. READ. READ. READ. USE YOUR HEADS. Sh*t.

[Absolute]

05:44 AM on 02/01/2012

I wouldn't consider these women to be "average" sized. They are beautiful, large women.