Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Crystal Renn: Women as a whole don't separate sizes

Wednesday 16 June 2010 00:00 BST
Comments

Britain's Next Top Model is a reality TV show. Whoever wins it will find themselves facing a career in fashion, and lately the magazines and the runway shows have been using a much wider variety of sizes – that's not a joke. Fortunately not everyone agrees with Julien Macdonald. Jean-Paul Gaultier and Karl Lagerfeld both think differently. So do others.

Part of the problem is this focus on straight sizes and plus sizes. It is creating an "us and them" mentality. We need to change the way we approach the whole thing, and do away with these terms. All we are is a bunch of models, no matter what size. Among women at large there's no separation into straight sizes and plus sizes. The term "plus-size" leaves the public confused. In the industry a size eight is considered plus. In the wider world women don't think like that.

Mistakes in the past have been to base things on extremes. Lots of shows have had size zero and size two girls followed by really curvaceous 16s. When that happens all you see is the size of the girl. The runway needs to be like the street: a variety. If you have more variety then the focus isn't on the size.

We need to do away with the titles that we give to models and to women. I think it's wrong. I would like to see it change. The winner of Britain's Next Top Model will be a beautiful talented girl, capable of performing in front of the camera. Beauty comes in different sizes and colours.

If she is the best, if she cares and has the passion, she'll win the show and have a successful career afterwards.

Crystal Renn is a size 16 and the world's most successful 'plus-size' model

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in