Subterfuge.

Definition: Something intended to misrepresent the true nature of an activity; used to evade a rule, escape a consequence, hide something, etc

Bonjour mes amies, hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. As you know, I like to have a rant every now and then and aim for the blog to be a perfect mix of talking about frivolous and superficial aspects of the fashion industry and debating and writing about the more serious, controversial side. I wanted to get your thoughts on something which as outraged and anoyed me and to draw attention to the issue for those of you who may not have heard about it.

 

For those of you who don't know of  her, Crystal Renn is a 24 year old, super successful, plus size supermodel (one of the first of her kind), famous fo turning her back on the 'size zero phenomenon'. Her pioneering success, confidence and vocal message that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes is made even more inspiring when you consider the fact that for years in her late teens, Crystal suffered from anorexia. After being told to lose over 5 stone or a third of her weight at just 13 years old before she would get signed, she commenced down a path of starvation and extreme excersizing until one day, she'd had enough. 

When she realised that being a successful model didn't have to mean being rail thin, she chose life and health over unhappiness and self-destruction. For those of you that want to hear more about Crystal's inspirational life story, she wrote a bestselling book 'Hungry'  which makes for a truly great, inspiring read.

 I am of course summarizing what is a very serious, long, complex and inspiring story. I am painfully aware that overcoming eating disorders is an extremely lengthy and slow process, but I am only skimming because this isn't a post about Crystal Renn herself, eating disorders, or about the use of plus size models in the industry (an issue which regular readers wll know has been discussed extensively on the blog).

This post is about a recent controversy involving airbrushed photos that appeared of a T shirt charity campaign, Passion for Fashion, for photographer Nicholas Routzen. Routzen had asked Crystal, in the full knowledge of her plus size status, to be a part of the campaign which she gladly agreed to, however when the pictures came out, I think it's fair to say that Crystal, and the thousands of people who looked up to her, were less than pleased with the end result. Mass hysteria ensued and Crystal fans felt that she had "betrayed" them. The problem? In the photos (below) Crystal Renn bears more resemblance to her anorexic days than her present appearance.

Routzen had airbrushed the images of Crystal to the point where Crystal, an American size 10 (UK size 14) was made to look like a size 2 (UK size 6) "at most".  Crystal has expressed her outrage in various interviews and on US talk shows such as ‘The Today Show’. Of the airbrushed images in question, she said; "When I saw the pictures I was absolutely shocked, I sat in silence for a good five minutes. It was not an accurate portrayal of my body in any way.”

However Crystal can’t be accused of not knowing the industry she works for: “I understand a certain amount of retouching - if there's a zit or you want to smooth things out - but to change my body completely, that's not what I'm about and that's not the message I want to give."

“I don't want young women to think being thin is the only way to be beautiful. Beauty is not a pant size. I'm known for my body and I'm proud of my body.”

She admits however, to losing a bit of weight recently but puts it down to healthy exercise which she is now in a "safe and healthy" place to do, with no plans to lose any more weight.

 After admitting that he "shaped her", Routzen insisted in his defence that "I did nothing that I wouldn't do to anyone. I'm paid to make women look beautiful." Not exactly an apology or at the very least, a recognition of why there has been so much controversy.

Now for my two cents. I am 100,000% behind Crystal Renn and I think that the fact that she has gone on television to express her outrage makes her even more of a role model as she is letting insecure, impressionable girls and women everywhere know that it is not real, and it is not acceptable.

My support of her is increased further with the knowledge that she was not naive to the fact that airbrushing in the industry takes place. She expected the pictures to be airbrushed slightly, just not to the point where she is barely recognizable and looks like every other skinny model, something which she prides herself and inspires others, on being the very opposite of.

I understand that the use of plus size models in the industry is highly controversial and divides opinion, but like I said, this post isn't about that. Whatever you think of plus sized models, the fact is that designers and photographers have a choice whether to book them, instead of  "average" models or not. If Nicholas Routzen wanted to showcase the T shirts on a skinnier frame, why didn't he just ask a skinny model to do the job?

It makes no sense to me to go to the effort of booking Crystal Renn only to make her look like, well, not Crystal Renn. Plus it's incredibly dangerous and irresponsible in my opinion. Renn is a role model for being curvy, and with his comment that he is 'paid to make women look beautiful' he is implying that only thin is attractive and what kind of message is that sending out?

 So what do you think about this issue mes amies? Do you think Nicholas Routzen was out of order to ask her to be part of the campaign, only to then airbrush her down to size? Or is Crystal's outrage misplaced as, whilst unfortunate, it is to be expected? Hope you're all superduper.


Stay safe and chic mes chéries,
English Rose x