Tag Archives: skinny

When Skinny Was A Bad Word: 7 Retro Anti-Thin Ads

Julie GersteinDecember 2, 2011 //
vintage weight gain ads
vintage weight gain ads
vintage weight gain ads
vintage weight gain ads
vintage weight gain ads
vintage weight gain ads
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Believe it or not, the push to be hyper-thin hasn’t always been present. In the ’50s and ’60s, women were sold the idea that a curvy, bodacious bod was best, and companies like Wate-On advertised that they could turn a skinny girl into a voluptuous vixen through their weight-gaining products. Whether Wate-On worked, it’s refreshing to see a different kind of body type being coveted — one that doesn’t promote a protruding hip or clavicle. Check out these great vintage “anti-skinny” ads. [Daily Mail UK]

Kathy Griffin Gets Half-Naked For The Troops

Jessica WakemanDecember 6, 2010 //

This weekend at VH1′s Divas Salute The Troops concert, Kathy Griffin gave the troops an eyeful in a camo bikini, a machine gun ammo belt, and black lace-up boots. The comedienne is 50 years old, so there’s probably a lot of people who think it’s a great accomplishment she’s got a body to rival Hugh Hefner’s barely-out-of-high-school girlfriends. However, earlier this year at the Grammys, she told TV host Giuliana Rancic how she got her “slammin’” body: “It’s frustration and starvation. I’m cranky all the time and I’m hungry all the time.” (And Rancic replied, “You look good! That’s all that matters!” Facepalm.) While that may be a bit of hyperbole (she is Kathy Griffin after all), I’m inclined to believe a 50-year-old does not have a body like that without there being some a lot of truth to her statement. Keep reading »

“OK!” Magazine Co-Opts Bullying For Stars “Bullied For Their Weight”

Jessica WakemanOctober 21, 2010 //

The effects of bullying are in the news everywhere lately, from the teen girl, Megan Meier, who killed herself after being harassed on MySpace, to Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi and the spate of copycat suicides that followed him. As crushing as the reports of each new suicide can be, I’m also grateful that the mainstream media is finally paying attention to the issues that lay underneath bullying — like an article about Clementi that made last week’s cover of People magazine. Any conversation about bullying is an opportunity to make people think about their own use of intimidation and the abuse of power.

But I take issue with OK! magazine’s recent cover depicting Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jennifer Hudson under the tag line “Bullied For Their Weight: They’ll Never Call Me Fat Again!” Um, skinny, beautiful, rich women are the two victims you could come up with for a bullying story? And they stuck it to their bullies by going on a juice diet? Yeah, that’s the message we want to send: capitulate to the bullies and you won’t be given crap anymore! If some jerks is calling you a heifer, drop from size 16 to size 4. That’ll show ‘em. Keep reading »

Ann Taylor Caught Photoshopping Skinny Model Even Skinnier

Jessica WakemanAugust 4, 2010 //

Ann Taylor knows what sells clothes: thin. Yesterday afternoon, Jezebel noticed that an item on AnnTaylor.com was originally depicted by a skinny model in a tank top, but three seconds later, the page re-boots and the skinny model has magically dropped 20 lbs. around her midsection. Some might say the image was airbrushed beyond looking like a proportional human being. But what a bunch of whiners! Seriously, how could that fat cow sell a Chiffon Trim Tank looking that huge? Next you’re going to tell me something crazy like we should have models who are actually the size of the average American woman. [Jezebel.com and AnnTaylor.com] Keep reading »

Here She Comes, Italy’s 375-Pound “Miss Chubby” Beauty Pageant Winner

Jessica WakemanAugust 3, 2010 //

Beauty queens are not known for being an especially diverse group in the size department. Whether their skin is alabaster white or coffee brown, usually they’ve got legs up to here and weigh 120 lbs. soaking wet.

But for the past 21 years, Italy has crowned a different sort of beauty queen: Miss Chubby. Yes, the country that invented Sophia Loren (and spaghetti bolognese and cannoli) acknowledges that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. Keep reading »

Skinny Model Scandal Hits Teen Girls Hard

Lauren PanarielloFebruary 3, 2010 //

Salinger would be pissed. It turns out the fashion industry may be responsible for sucking the innocence right out of teenage girls (or is causing them to throw it up). A new study shows that nine out of 10 teenage girls feel pressured to be thin thanks to the uber-emaciated models they see on the runways and advertisements. The majority of these girls would rather see untouched photos in magazines (wouldn’t we all?) and one-third of them have refused to eat in order to lose weight. More than 33 percent of these ladies knew someone who has been diagnosed with an eating disorder while more than one half have forced themselves to throw up food. Sad, sad, sad. [Reuters] Keep reading »

Are We Heading For A Size War?

Kate Torgovnick/Kate-Book.comJuly 23, 2009 //

Really, people? We’re still talking about Surgeon General Regina Benjamin’s weight? This week, Michael Karolchyk, the owner of a gym, appeared on FOX News to voice his opinion about why Benjamin has no right being considered for Surgeon General. Luckily, Neil Cavuto took him to task, but Karolchyk still got in zingers like, “Just because you eat a lot of dinner rolls doesn’t make you a role model.” Oh, and did I mention that during this whole appearance, he wore a shirt that read, “No Chubbies?” How cute! And when I say “cute,” I mean, “Can I punch this guy in the face?”

This whole Benjamin debate has got me thinking—are we heading towards a size war? Is this the 2009 version of the gender, class, race, or sexual orientation wars? Keep reading »

Hell Yeah, Models Diet!

Nina CarboneJune 25, 2009 //

Newsflash! The New York Times interviewed the next hottest male model—a half-Arab dude from Kentucky named A. J. Abualrub, who was “discovered” by Ford Models last year—about his eating habits. He just landed himself an exclusive contract with Calvin Klein and is walking in all the top designer shows in Milan at the moment. That’s him, above, looking a wee bit hungry. You’d think he’s just blab about the usual, how he’s “naturally skinny,” how he was a total “beanpole” growing up, how he can “eat anything he wants,” but nope, he went with the real, live truth! Abualrub admitted that his normal weight is somewhere around 200 pounds and to drop the runway “necessary” 30 pounds, he’s been only eating “like, maybe twice a day” and it’s been a “challenge to take off the weight.” Refreshing! A model that actually cops to the fact that being that skinny isn’t always about genetics. [NY Times] Keep reading »

Will Models Be Getting Larger?

Catherine StrawnApril 15, 2008 //

France’s lower house of parliament adopted a bill today that would make it illegal for anyone, including fashion mags, advertisers, and websites, to incite extreme thinness. The bill still needs to be approved by the National Assembly and then go through the Senate, so who knows whether it will actually go into effect, especially because people in the couture industry aren’t into this idea. They believe there shouldn’t be legal boundaries on beauty standards. “Never will we accept in our profession that a judge decides if a young girl is skinny or not skinny,” said Didier Grumbach, president of the French Federation of Couture. “That doesn’t exist in the world, and it will certainly not exist in France.” [CNN] Keep reading »

Fit For A Queen

SimchaApril 2, 2008 //

There’s a new queen in England, and she’s got more poise than Her Majesty and more cleavage than Elton John. It’s 17-year-old, size 16 beauty queen Chloe Marshall! She’ll be strutting her stuff in the Miss England Pageant in July, but she’s already become a media darling. “What I am promoting is a healthy girl who looks after herself and doesn’t try to force her body to be something its not,” Chloe told Hello Magazine, which was excited to get her to slip into something less comfortable — the white rhinestone bikini she’ll be confidently wearing in the competition. Proudly flying in the face of skinny minnie pageant girls like the tragically dumb blonde Miss Teen South Carolina, Chloe is a refreshingly smart spokesmodel who is bravely going where no plus-size girl has gone before. This pretty warrior princess couldn’t be happier to show off her ambition. “It’s what I was born to do – posing for the camera. And as I keep saying, I love my body. People seem desperate to get me to say that I don’t, that deep down I’m not happy and would rather be thin, but the fact is I wouldn’t change myself at all.” We wouldn’t change a thing either, hot stuff! [Dlisted] Keep reading »