There’s a lot to admire in Cass Bird‘s lingerie photo series on Vogue.com today, but the best thing about it was the decision to leave out the P-word.
The photo feature called ‘The Best Lingerie Comes In All Sizes’ is presented as a shopping guide to bras, not as a portfolio of today’s most in-demand plus-size models and certainly not as Vogue’s contribution to the hot-button topic of body size and lingerie marketing.
In fact, the whole piece is blissfully free of adjectives or labels of any kind, suggesting that Vogue’s editors knew the time was right for a non-judgmental view of models with nary a comment on body shape or size. It lets the camera — and the models’ personalities — do all the talking.
The Vogue package couldn’t be more timely, coming hot on the heels of recent controversies over body-size issues in lingerie marketing by Victoria’s Secret and Calvin Klein.
Vogue itself has, of course, been on the receiving end of plenty of criticism over the years for perpetuating body-image stereotypes. But it also helped pave the way for a broader acceptance of curvier models when Vogue Italy offered its groundbreaking Belle Vere cover shoot in June 2011 featuring Candice Huffine, Tara Lynn and Robyn Lawley.
Candice and Tara are back in this Vogue package, along with Ashley Graham, Marquita Pring and Inga Eiriksdottir. They’re shot posing in full-figure styles from a wide range of lingerie brands such as Secrets in Lace, Agent Provocateur, Chantelle and many more (including Ashley’s own line for Canadian retailer Addition Elle).
Fashion editor Jorden Bickham gets an A+ for showing the broad assortment of stylish options available in larger sizes and for side-stepping the body-image narrative altogether.
It’s a welcome reminder that beauty really needs no qualifiers, no subtitles, no clarifying comparisons or category niches to squeeze into.
Below are a few of the shots from the Vogue series. You can see the rest here.
3 Responses to “Vogue Lets The Camera Do The Talking”
Leave a Reply to Therése S
I love this! Real women with beautiful curves and shapes.
Love the models and images in this post. They all look beautiful and happy although a few could benefit from some better fitting lingerie!
Great post! Glad to see the fashion industry finally paying attention to real women with real curves. We can only hope this trend continues and becomes a sea change for how women are portrayed in media. Thanks so much for sharing!