Is the plus size trend here to stay?

Image courtesy Models.com/V Magazine

CNN has published an interesting piece, examining whether 2010 will be the year plus size models become more than just a trend. Is this the ‘year of the plus’ they ask?

It’s a good question. There have been two high-profile magazine spreads featuring larger models in recent months. The first, from Glamour, included Crystal Renn, Amy Lemons, Ashley Graham, Kate Dillon, Anansa Sims, Jennie Runk and Lizzie Miller, all in the buff. Then, in V Magazine‘s January issue, several more plus size models were shown both nude and clothed. The pictorials received a lot of attention and positive feedback from readers. So are agents and models gearing up for more business?

Yes and no, according to CNN.

The network quotes one model who said she has seen more work.

Krista Mays, a size 12 model who has already graced Glamour’s pages for editorials on finding the perfect pair of jeans, is optimistic that this year, the trend will stick. “The work is picking up — I do agree that 2010 is going to be the ‘year of plus.’ The industry is constantly growing,” Mays said.

However, long-time agents have seen spikes of interest in plus size models before.

V magazine’s issue proclaims that big is in, but [agent Aida] Brigman said it is doubtful that these splashes of acceptance in the fashion world will translate into having more than one major runway show for plus-size models. Remember, she cautioned, this has all happened before. “In the late ’90s and early ’00s, [plus-size] was supposed to hit big and it didn’t,” she said. “Grace and Mode [magazines] didn’t survive; the Lane Bryant fashion show ended. We live in a country where it’s a trend for five minutes and that’s it.”

Another interesting point brought up in the CNN piece: Why are these photo spreads so obsessed with nudity?

“We don’t have to take our clothes off for you to be able to see that we’re plus-size,” Ashley Stewart says to CNN.

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