The statement nobody got: Mark Fast and healthy curves

Curve skeptics!

In all the debate over Mark Fast’s runway show, nobody seems to be asking the obvious question: Why do we see healthy women’s bodies as flawed?

In case you haven’t heard: Fast did the unthinkable at this year’s London Fashion Week: He sent plus-size models down the runway in skin-tight material. Bye-bye, baby doll tops, and let the controversy begin: The outfits were “unflattering”—a “detriment” to plus-size models, critics said.

Yet bone-hugging fabric on underweight women? We heard not a peep about how unflattering that is. Those women are not flawed, you see. And that, my friends, is where the problem lies.

We hide “muffin tops” with fervor and learn young how to minimize our “worst” assets. So when Fast revealed the secrets under the camouflage, the “oh my!” gasp traveled worldwide.

The plus-size women looked healthy. By contrast, some of the regular models looked very underweight. So tell me, why are these outfits flattering …

• Look 6
• Look 14
• Look 26
• Look 30

… and these aren’t?

• Look 5
• Look 12
• Look 23
• Look 25

Bravo, Mark Fast, for keeping the conversation going.

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