Why are curvy models ignored?

making a mark

A  photo of Philomena Kwao elicits a guttural “oof,” as in: she’s so pretty it kind of hurts. Her eyes are serene but lively, her cheekbones and forehead elevated and her round chin narrow. Her look is distinctive, but not so much so that it distracts.

In other words, Philomena has a face made for makeup — to show off its transformative power and the skill of its artists. But she and other ‘plus-size’ models like her are largely ignored by the beauty industry. “Beauty brand work is nonexistent,” said Philomena, who is originally from London. “I’ve been lucky enough to do a few editorials in the UK, but I’ve never even been on a casting for mainstream commercial work. When I try to understand it, I think people are scared to try something new. It’s like, ‘I have a formula, why change it?’”

There’s no size requirement to fit a lipstick, so why are there no curvy models in beauty? One view says the commodification of beauty is to blame. “Beauty is about imagining where you may be in the future,” said Brooke Erin Duffy, an assistant professor at Cornell University, USA who specialises in feminist media studies and consumer culture.“This promise of future reward creates need.” Brooke points out that this idealised, aspirational woman will usually look one way: patrician features, tall, typically white and thin. This fashionable ideal was born out of the classism and racism of the 1920s, she says, when American consumer culture and the modeling industry burgeoned simultaneously.

Unchanged standards

While some elements of that ideal shifted over time, the body standard remains. “People often cite the 1950s as a time when curviness was in, but that’s not entirely true,” said Elizabeth Wissinger, author of This Year’s Model and a professor of fashion studies at the City University of New York Graduate Centre. “Curvy bodies were popular, but the people had those achievable, accessible physiques, represented by movie stars like Marilyn Monroe. Fashion was still very separate and models were thin.”

Practical and business forces are at work, too. “Plus-size models are obviously needed in fashion because there are plus-size clothing lines,” said Jennie Runk, a curvy model who gained popularity after a 2013 H&M swimwear campaign. “But when you’re thinking about images where bodies aren’t involved, there’s not much discussion of size diversity yet.” Fashion companies may garner publicity and good will when they feature curvy models. Ostensibly, beauty companies would not get that same bottom-line boost, because bodies aren’t involved in their advertising imagery. “Also, people just don’t think to go to plus agencies or boards,” Jennie said. On an agency site, the first faces you’ll see are those of “straight size” models.

Niche market

If an agency does have a curve board, it’s a few clicks away, leaving casting directors unlikely to see (and subsequently book) a curve model unless they’re actually looking for one. There have been some exceptions. In the 1990s, plus-size model and TV personality Emme Aronson became a spokesmodel for Revlon cosmetics. Queen Latifah has been the face of CoverGirl’s Queen Collection, a makeup line for dark skin tones, for more than a decade.

And four years ago, MAC did a collection with musician Beth Ditto. “There is no formula,” said James Gager, creative director and senior vice president at MAC Cosmetics, speaking of how the company picks its collaborators. “If a model has confidence in who she is and how she carries herself, size is irrelevant.” Even so, he added: “People are accustomed to seeing beauty in a singular way, and it takes time to open up.”

Beauty contracts are modeling’s holy grail — highly visible and lucrative. So they are reserved for a small pool of top actresses, pop stars and big-name models.

Because the plus-size category is still a niche in the US market, it’s harder for those models to reach household-name status. But that is all beginning to change. “Instagram has given the girls a voice,” said Becca Thorpe, a former model who is now agent to Muse NYC’s curvy models. “I can push them in a new way. Companies get to know what a model is about and whether or not that persona aligns with their brand. If they’re looking for different, bold and street, they’re going to start looking at Instagram.”

Writer-model Paloma Elsesser’s unpretentious, cool-girl vibe is skillfully articulated through her Instagram account, which caught the attention of makeup artist Pat McGrath. Last fall she chose Elsesser as a face for her makeup brand Pat McGrath Labs. “There is something exquisite in the mix of eccentricity and beauty,” Pat said. “Beauty brands are slowly starting to embrace diversity, but there is still much progress to be made before women of all colours, sizes and gender and sexual identities are equally represented. I am able to do this because I am doing this (line) on my own terms.” Perhaps most promising is the growing mainstream appeal of curvy models.