South Africa twisted a stiletto heel in the face of Western fashion ideals this weekend when Phindi Molefe, a 23-year-old from Soweto, was crowned the country's Miss Fats 2001.
South Africa twisted a stiletto heel in the face of Western fashion ideals this weekend when Phindi Molefe, a 23-year-old from Soweto, was crowned the country's Miss Fats 2001.
A month after the continent brimmed with pride at the news that a Nigerian woman had become the first black African ever to win the Miss World pageant, Miss Molefe's victory highlighted anew the particular dilemma that faces women here: whether to look Western and slim, or African and cuddly.
"Fat is where it's at," said Phindile Mbewe, a 23-year-old contestant, during a quick backstage chat ahead of the final at Johannesburg's Civic Theatre.
"Aids has changed everything in South Africa and really improved the chances of large women. Now the beautiful men in the fancy 4x4s want girls like us, because they can see that we are large and healthy, not thin and sick. Before the Aids epidemic, those guys did not even hoot at us."
Miss Mbewe, a bank clerk who weighs 14st 7lb and wore a stunning outfit sewn entirely from cotton wraps printed with Zulu shields, said black women should be proud of their African heritage and not be slaves to white fashion edicts. "African men prefer large women. You cannot go wrong if you're fat," she said.
But one of the other 21 finalists, Georgina Thupa, aged 25, said her 13st 2lb were nothing but trouble. "I work as a receptionist, and I'm always getting negative comments at work. People are rude. I entered this contest because I think it's not fair of people to tell us we have got a problem. I would like to model clothes for large women because I think we are beautiful," she said.
The impact of Miss Fats, now in its third year and offering a first prize of 30,000 rand (£2,000), a trip to Cape Town and a range of hair care products, cannot rival that of Miss World or even the homegrown Face Of Africa contest, but it is a more realistic reflection of the continent's ideals of beauty.
Ethiopia has given the world's couture houses Waris Dirie and Anna Getaneh. Sudan produced Alek Wek. They are all top-ranking models in the fashion capitals, but the "Western" looks they embody are frequently sneered at as one of the more pernicious manifestations of the colonisation of African minds.
During the Ugandan finals earlier this year of Face Of Africa – a South African contest whose winner gets a modelling contract with a New York agency – a huge row erupted when candidates were repeatedly rejected on the grounds of being "too large", "too short", "having hips" or being "too broad".
Yet large women are undoubtedly more representative of traditional African fashion ideals than are thin specimens. This is all the more true in countries such as Ethiopia and Sudan, where the arid climate leads to droughts and famines. There, thin is not in. It is equated with poverty.
Thus, in a swathe of Africa that runs from Mauritania in the west to Somalia in the east, women are put through gruelling processes to grow as much fat as possible before marriage. In south-eastern Nigeria, girls are kept in "fattening rooms" for weeks, prevented from exerting themselves and given high-protein food. In southern Niger, girls take appetite-enhancing pills and drink excessive amounts of water. In Mauritania, their ankles are bound to increase water retention as they are fed huge quantities of sweetened goat's cream. In those countries, even today, fat means wealth.
The problem, in all its shapes and sizes, ends up on the drawing board of Nada Czerniak. A designer of workwear and uniforms for South African companies, she has to deal with every extreme of human physiognomy.
"Some of my colleagues refer to a 'black fit' because African women often have bigger bottoms, more sloping shoulders and smaller tops than European women. But such a label is stupid, because there are different black nations within Africa, just as there are within Europe.
"If you know the human body you can make clothes for everyone, but you cannot squeeze every woman into the same skirt. When I design corporate wear for South African banks, it is my job to persuade the management that they need to offer three, four or five fits for every item of clothing," she said.
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