Raven's Quill

[Twice now I meant to bring this up in an email to a friend, but twice now I've totally forgotten to until after hitting send, but I have enough to say on the subject to warrant a post, so here it is.]

This season of Project Runway, there's a twist!

Most competition do this, especially the longer they are on the air. A twist on the season to keep contestants on their toes and audiences in their seats.

This season, the twist is based on something that Tim Gunn in particular has brought up in the past, both on the show and in interviews. This season, the models represent a broader variety of sizes. A number of them still seem to fit into the typical model sizes--weight and height--but there are taller models and curvier models, and every challenge has the models randomly assigned to a designer, so no one designer can choose their ideal model each time.

In theory, I like this idea. Gunn has spoken about the need for the fashion to represent the real women who are and who want to buy trending fashions. But all too often, fashion is designed with the smallest women in mind, and trying to find clothes in stores that are fashionable but fit larger women is a struggle.

In the past, Project Runway has usually had at least one challenge each season that involved designing for a "real woman." I distinctly remember a few seasons ago when that challenge was the female relatives of fellow designers. One designer's client was another mother, a sweet woman who was bigger. And he complained and was, frankly, pretty rude to her, and in the end, she walked down the runway wearing an ill-fitting tent that did nothing to accentuate her figure or make her feel good or comfortable or beautiful.

Very few people want to wear a tent, particularly when given the opportunity to have an outfit made specially for them.

Don't get me wrong. I am a bigger gal, and I find a well-worn pair of jeans and a giant t-shirt one of the most comfortable outfits I can put on. But even I love a dress that hugs my curves just right and showcases my hourglass figure while smoothing out the other bumps and folds.

While some of the designers have taken this "twist" with enthusiasm (Samantha Rei being one of the most positive), others have expressed worry and concern. Among those, some are positive, saying they think this is a great thing, but are worried about doing it right. Others just seem worried and discouraged.

The frustrating thing, for me, is two-fold. Firstly, that every episode has had designers talking about their nervousness in designing for larger women or relief at having a model who fits the more "standard" model size. Secondly, that everyone seems averse to using the word "fat." They are plus-sized, and atypical, and curvy, but never fat. And I get, I do. I did the same here, going for more generalized (and neutral) terms (particularly since some of the models are "atypical" because of their height, but whose weight is still within the typical model numbers). But still. There's still so much stigma wrapped around the word fat.  I struggle with it myself, trying to use the word to describe myself because it's accurate, but without feeling the negativity so ingrained in it. It's tough. But with the whole purpose of this season's twist being to represent a wider variety of body shapes, I was hoping there would be a little more effort to de-stigmatize the words that create this us vs. them dichotomy of "normal" women and "plus-sized" women.

(I could do a whole other post ranting about the false claim that it's so much more expensive to design for bigger women, but there are articles out there that say it better than I ever could. Short version: even if it's costs a little more for more fabric, those costs are negligible considering the mark-up on retail in general, so the extra mark-ups on plus-sized clothing is BS, as is the claim that it would hurt companies to sell more clothing in larger sizes. BS, BS, BS. /mini rant)

Let me end with a shout out to Liris, one of the "plus size" models, and one of my favorite people on the show this season. She has curves and she loves them and she wants every designer she's paired with to love them, too, and highlight them in the best way. And she will not take "I hope so" or "I'll try" for an answer. "Oh no. We don't hope. We do," she says in the first episode, and it continues to be a rallying call for me as I watch this season.