Cover Girls

Vogue Italia is always ahead of the game and I'm hoping more magazines around the world look to them for inspiration. For the June 2011 issue, Italian Vogue featured three plus-sized models posing for the cover. I couldn't believe it at first, but the surprise was a pleasant one.

By now, everyone must be tired of hearing about the stereotypical weight issues associated with the fashion industry. Model weigh ins, skeletons walking the runways and even deaths caused by anorexia.

Lately many women have been speaking out about having lower self worth after reading a fashion magazine. Air brushing and unhealthy models do not make the average woman feel good about herself or her body. And just because the models featured in June's issue are bigger, it doesn't mean they aren't as beautiful. In fact, these women have bodies, real bodies for that matter.

Editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani told Women's Wear Daily, "We help [plus-size women] dress fashionably. We say: It's pointless for you to buy leggings, take this because this will look good on you. We help them choose. We don't talk about diets because they don't want to be on a diet, but it's not a ghetto. Why should these women slim down? Many of the women who have a few extra kilos are especially beautiful and also more feminine."

Finally, someone is catching onto the idea that not all women are below one hundred pounds while being six foot something accompanied by stick legs and a teeny tiny waistline. And in no way do I believe this is a publicity stunt to increase sales. I am seriously impressed with the cover and the inside spread featuring a lot of food, a lot of nudity and a whole lot of woman.