Calvin Klein's New "Plus-Size" Model Is a Size 10, and People Are Not Happy About It
It’s no secret that the models who grace the pages of fashion magazines are in no way representative of the average woman, so when a big brand or fashion house features a model who is anything less than 5’10 and bigger than a size 0 or 2 in a campaign, people tend to take notice.
Calvin Klein is the latest label to make such a move, featuring the gorgeous Myla Dalbesio in its latest lingerie campaign, dubbed “Perfectly Fit.” While Calvin Klein hasn’t labeled Dalbesio as a plus-size model per se, various media sources are reporting on “Calvin Klein’s New Plus-Size Model,” despite Dalbesio being a size 8-10, depending on your sources.
While she’s definitely curvier than her campaign co-stars, which include Jourdan Dunn and Lara Stone, Dalbesio is simply not “plus-size,” which traditionally refers to models who are size 12 and up. In fact, she’s still smaller than the average American woman, who falls somewhere between size 12 and 16. Again, Calvin Klein hasn’t specifically labeled her Dalbesio as plus-size; the brand did say that the images from its campaign “are intended to communicate that our new line is more inclusive and available in several silhouettes in an extensive range of sizes.”
As usual, Twitter has been ablaze with commentary about the campaign and its resulting media attention, and consumers are less than impressed with what they consider to be disingenuous publicity, given that it doesn’t actually feature a plus-size model. Perhaps Calvin Klein is more susceptible to criticisms, given that it basically pioneered the waif-model, heroin-chic look back in the '90s with those ads that featured then-rising star Kate Moss. It also doesn’t help that sensitivities around the subject are high, given that just last week Victoria’s Secret came under fire for its “Perfect Body” ads, which featured a line-up of the lingerie company’s famous models.
Published on Nov 12, 2014
It’s no secret that the models who grace the pages of fashion magazines are in no way representative of the average woman, so when a big brand or fashion house features a model who is anything less than 5’10 and bigger than a size 0 or 2 in a campaign, people tend to take notice.
Calvin Klein is the latest label to make such a move, featuring the gorgeous Myla Dalbesio in its latest lingerie campaign, dubbed “Perfectly Fit.” While Calvin Klein hasn’t labeled Dalbesio as a plus-size model per se, various media sources are reporting on “Calvin Klein’s New Plus-Size Model,” despite Dalbesio being a size 8-10, depending on your sources.
While she’s definitely curvier than her campaign co-stars, which include Jourdan Dunn and Lara Stone, Dalbesio is simply not “plus-size,” which traditionally refers to models who are size 12 and up. In fact, she’s still smaller than the average American woman, who falls somewhere between size 12 and 16. Again, Calvin Klein hasn’t specifically labeled her Dalbesio as plus-size; the brand did say that the images from its campaign “are intended to communicate that our new line is more inclusive and available in several silhouettes in an extensive range of sizes.”
As usual, Twitter has been ablaze with commentary about the campaign and its resulting media attention, and consumers are less than impressed with what they consider to be disingenuous publicity, given that it doesn’t actually feature a plus-size model. Perhaps Calvin Klein is more susceptible to criticisms, given that it basically pioneered the waif-model, heroin-chic look back in the '90s with those ads that featured then-rising star Kate Moss. It also doesn’t help that sensitivities around the subject are high, given that just last week Victoria’s Secret came under fire for its “Perfect Body” ads, which featured a line-up of the lingerie company’s famous models.
