Full Figured Fierce is ecstatic to present our first guest blogger to the site. And wouldn’t you know it, it’s a LOVER of CURVES, Jim Willgruber of the Robust Beauty. Check it out.
WHY ONE SIZE DOES NOT & SHOULD NOT FIT ALL
What do 2016 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover model Ashley Graham, 2016 Wimbledon champion Serena Williams and singer of the 2014 hit “All About the Bass” Meghan Trainor, all have in common? They are all Robust women, defined as having bust and/or hip measurements 36 inches and above. They are also gorgeous. Ashley Graham rocks it in a bikini. Serena Williams wore a mini-dress (among other outfits) for her Glamour photo shoot. As for Meghan Trainor, she has the double gifts of a great voice & great looks.
Who am I to sound off on all of this? I’m not an academic. I’m Jim Willgruber, a resident of Philadelphia, who has admired full-figured ladies since I was 13. I started researching images of women in the late 1980’s for a book & business idea. (The book is on hold, the business launched in 2014). My research revealed that the models used by Madison Avenue have figures & weights that are statistical outliers. That means, they stand outside the normal range of adult female bodies, which constitute a Robust Majority. I’m not the only one to emphasize this. In January 2012, an article in Plus Model Magazine offered these statistics:
- In the 1990’s, the average fashion model weighed 8% less than the average woman. Today, she weighs 23% less.
- In the 2000’s, plus-size models averaged between size 12 and 18. Currently, plus-size models on agency boards are between a size 6 and 14.
Still, it isn’t all gloom and doom. Thanks to the Internet, blogs like this one, exist. Robust women and their fans no longer have to wait for the Fashion Industrial Complex to recognize them. Bloggers are creating their own buzz by: spotlighting designers who are creating attractive clothes for “Heart Of Robust” and Big & Beautiful women; and promoting outfits which they like; as well as publishing essays with their own fierce fashion and body beauty opinions.
Yet, we still live in the USA where women feel the need to conform to the tall, thin 5’10’ size 2 ideal perpetuated by Hollywood & Madison Avenue. Unfortunately, this has contributed to anorexia, bulimia and a diet industry that is built more on sales; than it is on concern with overall health. It has also contributed to body-negative self-hatred for millions of women (both robust & slender).
It is the Ashley Grahams of the world that are showing the other side of the story. That is: one ideal of tall, thin beauty does not fit all; and cannot be the ideal for the Robust Majority. That Robust Majority constitutes 65% of all American adult women. The multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-color beauty of 2016 America cannot be represented by a tall, emaciated ideal; which constitutes 1% of all American adult women. Serena, Ashley, Meghan and many other robust women are embracing and celebrating who they are; and they are encouraging other women (and the men who love them) to do the same.
As a male cheerleader for that Robust Majority, I’m all for it. No woman or girl should be made to feel inadequate for not being 5’10” size 2.
Jim Willgruber of Philadelphia is the owner of Robustbeauty.com, an e-commerce site devoted to celebrating the beauty of the full-figured (Robust) majority of American women with inspirational T-Shirts & Beauty Posters.
Sources:
http://www.plus-model-mag.com/2012/01/plus-size-bodies-what-is-wrong-with-them-anyway/
https://issuu.com/plusmodelmag/docs/plus_model_magazine_plus_size_january_2012/61
Copyright Robust Images, Inc 2016
Make sure to go to http://robustbeauty.com/ and check out their tees. Thank you so much Jim for being a Cheerleader from the Guy’s Side. I have GOT to get one of those posters. AWESOM SAUCE.
Full Figured Fierce 