In one of the more extreme, but socially revealing, games of Twitter telephone I have witnessed, the social media platform “exploded” on Sunday (HLNtv’s words, not mine, though they are not inaccurate) over a Calvin Klein ad that is part of the brand’s “Perfectly Fit” underwear campaign and features a not-entirely-plus-size model named Myla Dalbesio.
The gist of the conversation being: This is yet another example of fashion’s body discrimination and out-of-touchness. Put a little less politely, of course.
Here are some choice excerpts:
But as it happens, Calvin Klein never labeled Ms. Dalbesio a plus-size model or presented her that way in its ads. The conversation was prompted by an interview with the model in Elle magazine in which she talks about plus-size modeling, and the problems with being neither a super-skinny girl nor a really big one. She’s a size 10.
In fact, she says in the piece: “It’s not like [Calvin Klein] released this campaign and were like ‘Whoa, look, there’s this plus-size girl in our campaign.’ They released me in this campaign with everyone else; there’s no distinction. It’s not a separate section for plus-size girls.”
A Calvin Klein spokeswoman said: “The new Calvin Klein Underwear Perfectly Fit imagery features models Myla Dalbesio, Jourdan Dunn, Amanda Wellsh, Ji Hye Park and the face of the brand, Lara Stone, in several styles. The Perfectly Fit line was created to celebrate and cater to the needs of different women, and these images are intended to communicate that our new line is more inclusive and available in several silhouettes in an extensive range of sizes.”
So why has Calvin Klein become the fall guy here?
Partly, I would think, it’s because of its Kate Moss-in-her-super-skinny-younger-days past, and because of the immediate assumption when it comes to fashion that designers and the houses they shape (literally and metaphorically) are the driving forces behind body dysmorphism, and it’s fun to call them out on it. More fun than, say, calling out magazines or even the models and their agencies themselves.
Whether this is true — and I think you can argue that plastic surgeried/insanely worked-out celebrities play as big a role as models in skewing the image of what an “ideal” body looks like — and whether it helps the cause to call out a brand that seems to be trying to stick its neck out and be better about its prejudices (doubtful), the sheer outcry speaks to its reality.
The industry as a whole should want to change that — these kinds of brouhahas certainly don’t work to its advantage. But as with race, about which public outcry seems to move the needle for a season but not generally for the long term, the weight issue goes in and out of, well, fashion.
Instead of trying to move past the current barrage of criticism or put a bandage on top, however, Calvin Klein and its peers may do better to really consider it. Fashion has a tendency to want to redesign history, but wouldn’t it be better in this case to learn from it, so we can finally avoid repeating it?