pirate_girl
legendary ⚓
http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/blogs/vitamin-g/2009/08/on-the-cl-the-picture-you-cant.html
http://www.lemondrop.com/2009/08/21/finally-a-glamour-models-belly-looks-like-ours/
Our first thought when we saw this photo of plus-size model Lizzi Miller from Glamour magazine was, Wow, that girl looks real, she looks sexy, she looks confident despite not having washboard abs. Most importantly, she looks like we look in our undies (click the pic to see full-size).
And apparently a lot of women had the same reaction -- the response to the 20-year-old's natural-looking belly pooch has been overwhelmingly positive, says Glamour's editor-in-chief, Cindi Leive. One reader called the shot "the most amazing photograph I've ever seen in any women's magazine." Another says, "I wanted to shout from the rooftops!"
The now-famous "page 194 photo" was commissioned for an article on feeling comfortable in your skin, which can be tricky when surrounded by stick-thin cover girls and seemingly perfect, Photoshopped arms. Even though we know the modeling world is a crazy alternate reality, it's hard not to feel a little self-conscious when Adriana Lima is staring at us from the coffee table.
But photos like this one do help, so kudos to Glamour for featuring a chick who looks happy and healthy, like she actually eats chicken fingers for dinner sometimes. We're not naïve enough to think this is the end of airbrushing and size zeros in women's mags, but with a real-girl response like that, we hope the media will take heed.
===
Here's the deal: The picture wasn't of a celebrity. It wasn't of a supermodel. It was of a woman sitting in her underwear with a smile on her face and a belly that looks...wait for it...normal.
The "woman on p. 194." Gorgeous!
I'd loved this photo at first sight myself--we'd commissioned it for a story on feeling comfortable in your skin, and wanted a model who looked like she was. But even so, the letters blew me away: "the most amazing photograph I've ever seen in any women's magazine," wrote one reader in Pavo, Georgia. From another in Somerset, Massachusetts: "This beautiful woman has a real stomach and did I even see a few stretch marks? This is how my belly looks after giving birth to my two amazing kids! This photo made me want to shout from the rooftops."
The emails were filled with such joy--joy at seeing a woman's body with all the curves and quirks and rolls found in nature. (Raising a question: With all the six-packs out there, do you even know what a normal belly looks like anymore--other than the one you see in the mirror?)
So what's the story behind the photo? "The woman on p. 194" is actually 20-year-old model Lizzi Miller, and this is her second appearance in Glamour, shot by fashion photographer Walter Chin. A size 12-14 and avid softball player/belly dancer ("I like exercising when it's fun"), Lizzi moved to New York City from San Jose three years ago to become a model (a "plus-size" one by modeling industry standards, though hello, at size 12 she's actually "normal size"...but I digress).
"When I was young I really struggled with my body and how it looked because I didn't understand why my friends were so effortlessly skinny," Lizzi told me. "As I got older I realized that everyone's body is different and not everyone is skinny naturally--me included! I learned to love my body for how it is, every curve of it. I used to be so self-conscious in a bikini because my stomach wasn't perfectly defined. But everyone has different body shapes! And it's not all about the physical! If you walk on the beach in your bikini with confidence and you feel sexy, people will see you that way too."
As for the letters, Lizzi's loving them. "When I read them I got teary-eyed!" she says. "I've been that girl, flipping through magazines trying to find just one person who looked a little bit like me. And when I didn't find it I would start to think there's something wrong with the way that I looked. When J. Lo and Beyoncé came out and were making curves sexy, I started to accept myself more. It's funny, but just seeing them look and feel sexy enabled me to do the same." Lizzi, now you're doing the same for all of us--massive congrats on that.
We had some rollicking debates in this blog last week about "fattism" and the TV shows for plus-size women. So let's start off this week with something we can all get behind: a toast to the woman on p. 194, and to the spectacular sexiness of owning who you are. Trust me, Glamour's listening, and this only strengthens our commitment to celebrating all kinds of beauty.
Now tell me...what do you think of the picture? Can a photo make you feel better or worse about your own looks? And what kinds of images would you like to see more of in Glamour?
UPDATE: I continue to be amazed by all of your thoughtful comments below, as does Lizzi; to watch her take on readers' reactions to her photo, check out our recent appearance on The Today Show.
http://www.lemondrop.com/2009/08/21/finally-a-glamour-models-belly-looks-like-ours/
Our first thought when we saw this photo of plus-size model Lizzi Miller from Glamour magazine was, Wow, that girl looks real, she looks sexy, she looks confident despite not having washboard abs. Most importantly, she looks like we look in our undies (click the pic to see full-size).
And apparently a lot of women had the same reaction -- the response to the 20-year-old's natural-looking belly pooch has been overwhelmingly positive, says Glamour's editor-in-chief, Cindi Leive. One reader called the shot "the most amazing photograph I've ever seen in any women's magazine." Another says, "I wanted to shout from the rooftops!"
The now-famous "page 194 photo" was commissioned for an article on feeling comfortable in your skin, which can be tricky when surrounded by stick-thin cover girls and seemingly perfect, Photoshopped arms. Even though we know the modeling world is a crazy alternate reality, it's hard not to feel a little self-conscious when Adriana Lima is staring at us from the coffee table.
But photos like this one do help, so kudos to Glamour for featuring a chick who looks happy and healthy, like she actually eats chicken fingers for dinner sometimes. We're not naïve enough to think this is the end of airbrushing and size zeros in women's mags, but with a real-girl response like that, we hope the media will take heed.
===
Here's the deal: The picture wasn't of a celebrity. It wasn't of a supermodel. It was of a woman sitting in her underwear with a smile on her face and a belly that looks...wait for it...normal.
The "woman on p. 194." Gorgeous!
I'd loved this photo at first sight myself--we'd commissioned it for a story on feeling comfortable in your skin, and wanted a model who looked like she was. But even so, the letters blew me away: "the most amazing photograph I've ever seen in any women's magazine," wrote one reader in Pavo, Georgia. From another in Somerset, Massachusetts: "This beautiful woman has a real stomach and did I even see a few stretch marks? This is how my belly looks after giving birth to my two amazing kids! This photo made me want to shout from the rooftops."
The emails were filled with such joy--joy at seeing a woman's body with all the curves and quirks and rolls found in nature. (Raising a question: With all the six-packs out there, do you even know what a normal belly looks like anymore--other than the one you see in the mirror?)
So what's the story behind the photo? "The woman on p. 194" is actually 20-year-old model Lizzi Miller, and this is her second appearance in Glamour, shot by fashion photographer Walter Chin. A size 12-14 and avid softball player/belly dancer ("I like exercising when it's fun"), Lizzi moved to New York City from San Jose three years ago to become a model (a "plus-size" one by modeling industry standards, though hello, at size 12 she's actually "normal size"...but I digress).
"When I was young I really struggled with my body and how it looked because I didn't understand why my friends were so effortlessly skinny," Lizzi told me. "As I got older I realized that everyone's body is different and not everyone is skinny naturally--me included! I learned to love my body for how it is, every curve of it. I used to be so self-conscious in a bikini because my stomach wasn't perfectly defined. But everyone has different body shapes! And it's not all about the physical! If you walk on the beach in your bikini with confidence and you feel sexy, people will see you that way too."
As for the letters, Lizzi's loving them. "When I read them I got teary-eyed!" she says. "I've been that girl, flipping through magazines trying to find just one person who looked a little bit like me. And when I didn't find it I would start to think there's something wrong with the way that I looked. When J. Lo and Beyoncé came out and were making curves sexy, I started to accept myself more. It's funny, but just seeing them look and feel sexy enabled me to do the same." Lizzi, now you're doing the same for all of us--massive congrats on that.
We had some rollicking debates in this blog last week about "fattism" and the TV shows for plus-size women. So let's start off this week with something we can all get behind: a toast to the woman on p. 194, and to the spectacular sexiness of owning who you are. Trust me, Glamour's listening, and this only strengthens our commitment to celebrating all kinds of beauty.
Now tell me...what do you think of the picture? Can a photo make you feel better or worse about your own looks? And what kinds of images would you like to see more of in Glamour?
UPDATE: I continue to be amazed by all of your thoughtful comments below, as does Lizzi; to watch her take on readers' reactions to her photo, check out our recent appearance on The Today Show.
