“I Mean…What?!?” – Abe Gurko

There is a great article in Sundays’ The New York Times Magazine about Fat Fashion called Plus-Size Wars. It is appropriately titled, because the Battle of the Bulge is a lifetime commitment, most often, a losing one at that. Fat and Fashion rolled into the same conversation is not the sexiest of topics, however it is a growing (no pun intended) market, yet the F word still has its adverse effects on the industry. No one wants to be called fat. Having been a fat child, I know all too well how painful it is to be ridiculed for just walking down the hall in school, or mortified when you are sent to the top floor of a men’s clothing store to the Husky Boys Shop. And when your skinny sister calls you Rospy (short for roasted pig) in front of all her friends, all you can hope for is to wake up from this nightmare…thin. The worst is when in junior high, and everyone wants to play Spin the Bottle, and you see a girl’s face cringing when the bottle points towards your stomach. None of this is fun but what it does, is build character. Enough character to want to kill people, and even more character not to.

Obesity has hit jagoonza proportions worldwide, even French woman are starting to pack on the pounds. When V Magazine did their Rotund Issue, it received unprecedented coverage from the media. Now you know when the media covers the media, it’s big news, and in this case it was big, big news. The fat issue is an issue because we continue to make it an issue. If the majority of the people in the United States are fat, then featuring a Fat Issue of a magazine should not be anything but expected. Yes, Vogue does a Shape Issue, but the real issue is what they deem to be “another” shape is not actually the shape of things in the real world. Vogue’s idea of an alternative shape is what anyone else would consider imperfect. Fat girls should not read Vogue anyway. There ain’t nothing in there for you to consume.

But in defense of Anna Wintour and all the stylish people who don’t appreciate fat, you have to admit, when it comes to the marketing of fat fashion, chic does not come to mind. Check out some of the images from the recent Full Figured Fashion Week. The name alone is enough to scare anyone into wiring their jaw shut. And that logo…oy. First off, Emme, the fat icon, hosted the festoon. She is literally “the” fat chick for hire. But the whole series of activities was  just…well…peruse that website. You’ll see what I mean. As an ex-fatty, I support my chub-chubs in all their attempts to be happy. But, are they really happy knowing about the health issues related to being overweight? Acceptance is one thing, happy is something else. I lost a third of my body weight when confronted with how gross I looked. Am I happy? You betcha.