I’ve heard it reported many, many times since the size zero phenomenon that “curves are back”, with little concrete evidence to follow. Granted, a designer might choose to go against the grain and send one plus-sized model down the catwalk, but it’s hardly something that’s going to have a long-lasting or far reaching effect – especially when there’s one hundred (more?) anorexic-looking models for every one curvaceous one sent down the catwalk.
But now, it seems, curves are at least slowly creeping back into fashion. First there was Lara Stone: the D-cup supermodel appears to have just about achieved world domination. In November she will once again grace the front cover of British Vogue.
Then there was Crystal Renn – a one-time skinny minnie (she’s admitted to having had an eating disorder in her younger years), Renn made a comeback as a healthy and voluptuous plus-sized model. During fashion week, she walked on three different catwalks in Paris alone – and all major ones too (Chanel, pictured below left, Zac Posen and Jean Paul Gautier). Although she’s slimmed down a little lately, she’s still bigger than your average model and is looking well these days – she seems to have found a good balance between plus-size and skinny.
Even the waif-like girls seem to be getting in on the trend: images of Abbey Lee Kershaw with an eye-popping cleavage (enhanced no doubt by her corset, but the point still stands) at a masked ball have just been published. This marks a big shift in the fashion silhouette – if the noughties was the decade of the leg, where any hint of cleavage was considered cheap or vulgar, it looks as though we’re entering a new era of celebration of curves. And about time too.
Rosa Abbott is an arts, fashion and culture obsessive originating from Yorkshire, England, and currently living in Dublin, Ireland. On top of being a student at the illustrious Trinity College, she is a freelance journalist, writing for a number of Irish publications, and also edits the visual arts section of entertainment magazine Totally Dublin.
When she’s not up to her eyeballs in writing, Rosa works as an assistant to stylist Aisling Farinella and volunteers at various art galleries. Her musings on life, style and art can also be found over at her blog, Too Gallant.
