Modeling is similar to these fields, as well as to sex work and acting, which focus on engendered physical capital, where a worker commodifies her body. For example, both sex workers and fashion models modify their physical appearance to achieve a successful performance of the body. As sociologists Jennifer K. Wesely and Alexandra G. Murphy argue in their independent ethnographic studies, exotic dancers manipulate their bodies via numerous body technologies to prepare themselves for their public performance as sexualized bodies for male clients. For example, it is not uncommon for an exotic dancer to undergo breast augmentation to achieve the “Barbie doll” body and receive more attention and money from her clients.
Likewise, the models in this study undertook rigorous and meticulous means to manage their bodily capital and trained to increase what I call their “model physical capital,” measured by body size and shape, runway walk, posing ability, and photogenic features. They cared for their bodies to maintain their buxom figures and participated in ritualistic skin care and grooming regimens. While photographic retouching eliminates the occasional pimple, a model’s complexion needed to be clear and washed thoroughly after a day on set wearing professional-grade makeup. They invested in their smile, straightening and whitening their teeth. Most turned to artificial bodily enhancements, such as body shapers and padding, to achieve a desired, proportionate figure.
For models with less than ideal proportions, Larissa Laurel for PLUS Model Magazine explained a trick of the modeling trade:
Some models, like me, are blessed with big bottoms, but our bust is on the smaller size. So, do you know what we do? We stuff our bras with the pillow cups which we lovingly refer to as “chicken cutlets.” One model I personally know wears a padded panty to help her rear end look fuller.10
While padding may be used to offer extensive remodeling and even gain in overall body size, most models resorted to minor alterations. For example, one model revealed that she secured shoulder pads onto her hips in order to add inches to her measurements. For models, body proportions were more important than size, so they used artificial aids, such as “chicken cutlets,” body shapers such as the popular Spanx, or shoulder pads in unexpected places. These plus-size models artfully manipulated their bodies to achieve the “ideal” body.
These plus-size fashion models possessed great bodily awareness. They attended classes to learn how to walk, turn, and pose. Several of the models that I interviewed attended The Plus Academy, the first training program designed exclusively for plus-size models by former plus-size model Gwendolyn DeVoe. Others painstakingly analyzed the proofs from their test shoot to see which poses best suited their bodies. They knew how to put together an outfit that would flatter the appropriate curves. For each casting, they dressed to impress the casting director. Clients expected these models to wear shapeware (foundation garments worn underneath clothing that slim, flatten, and enhance different areas of the body including the bust, waist, buttocks, hips, and thighs to create a clean silhouette) underneath a stylish, figure-flattering outfit, wear two- to three-inch heels, and generally “be runway ready” with “a touch of gloss and slick hair.”
Focusing on aesthetics, conservative styles dominate the plus-size field, so the models need to present themselves in a conservative, neat manner. Agents strongly discouraged models from getting tattoos and excessive piercings. I overheard an agent yell at a model over an unsanctioned piercing. Samantha admitted that she had her ear cartilage pierced but that she never wore her earrings to a casting for fear that it would leave the wrong impression with a casting director. Hairstyles and manicures, too, needed to be conservatively styled and polished, i.e., hair should be a medium to long length and nails should be short and polished with a discrete clear or nude color. Ultimately, agents stripped their models of the freedom to express their individuality through the presentation of their own bodies. This prevents models from contributing to the construction of beauty since they are no longer in control of their personal aesthetics.
Controlling Appetites and Battling Eating Disorders
Maintaining their model physical capital required self-monitoring and discipline; yet, these models acknowledged the role their appetites played in creating their voluptuous figures and insisted to me that they regularly ate a balanced diet and routinely exercised. As size sixteen commercial print and runway model Nicole told me, “Girl, you know I have to exercise because I love to eat!” With pride, she distanced herself from straight-size models: “I enjoy myself. I go out with friends. We drink. I don’t have to starve myself.” She also clarified, “I’m a big girl, but I keep active. I ran a 5K last year. One day I’ll do the marathon.” Nicole stressed that she can enjoy food and lead a fulfilling life, as long as she balances it with physical activity. As a plus-size model, she does not have to deny herself this basic pleasure of life, as is commonly the case in straight-size modeling.
After a fashion show, I followed a group of plus-size models to the kitchen prep area where they helped themselves to a platter of leftover sandwiches and brownies. While piling a second sandwich onto her plate, size eighteen commercial print and runway model Anna appeared conflicted, “I need to watch what I eat.” To which Jackie, size sixteen showroom and runway model, quipped, “Yeah, I watch what I eat . . . as it goes in!” Beneath the levity of this exchange was an earnest call for self-discipline. Anna recognized that she needed to negotiate her hunger with the physical requirements of modeling. She realized that, at a size eighteen and already at the end of the marketable range for plus-size models, an increase in size would lead to a steep decline in work opportunities.
Complicating this management of model physical capital, several of the models revealed past disordered eating patterns (such as binge eating, compulsive exercising, or yo-yo dieting). Mary, for example, a size fourteen fit model, spent most of her adolescence loathing her body and tried dieting to correct this “defect”:
I even tried this crazy liquid diet and wore little acupressure balls behind my ears. All I ate was a liter of milk and mushy cabbage. After a month, I only lost twelve pounds, and I had to stop because I was too weak to even move.
Having such a strained relationship with food and her body, Mary needed to strike a balance between managing her body and controlling it via excessive means. This required Mary to focus on long-term solutions to body management, e.g., a portion-controlled diet and workout regimen of cardiovascular exercise, like Zumba workouts, and weight training. Mary began eating organic fruits and vegetables, switched to a mostly vegetarian diet with some lean chicken and fish added for protein, and eliminated alcohol from her diet:
I try to eat healthy, cook simple, easy meals for me and my boyfriend. I’m conscious of calories, but I’m not hyper-vigilant about it anymore. I made long-term changes because I care about myself and my body. If I didn’t, it would show and I wouldn’t book any jobs.
Similarly, Anna and Janice, both recovered binge eaters and compulsive exercisers, made long-term, sustainable adjustments. In order to continue to cultivate her body and remain competitive, Anna made minor shifts in her lifestyle:
I stopped drinking soda. It was so hard. I was addicted. I drink tons of water, now. I always carry a bottle with me. I heard it helps my skin. But, sometimes I’ll sneak in a can of Diet Coke.
After eliminating soda from her diet, Anna noticed positive changes to her body and energy level. Switching to water helped even out her complexion. On the other hand, Janice found that the natural pace of living in Manhattan facilitated a sufficient level of bodily management. “I do not go to the gym,” she confidently stated. “Never again. I walk everywhere, take the subway, [and] live in a fifth floor walkup [apartment].”
These models managed their physical capital daily, from making minor adjustments in lifestyle to investing in more intensive body projects involving dermatological and orthodontic treatments. Some had to binge and overeat to increase their size. Samantha confessed that on more than one occasion she had pur
posefully ingested salty foods the night before a meeting with a client in order to retain water and be the correct, slightly larger size for a fitting.
Unlike athletes who have coaches to monitor their progress, these models labored over their bodies alone. They became their own coaches and cheerleaders. Their bodies were both subject and object, mindfully managed through self-monitoring and discipline. For these plus-size models, they were their bodies and their bodies were their careers.
As we see from this aesthetic labor process, these women went from “doing looks” to “doing plus size.” Working within an institution that places a high economic value on the physical body, these models wage a personal battle to control and discipline their bodies. This pressure intensified for those women who work as fit models.
Fit Models
During an ordinary research-oriented evening sitting in front of my computer and perusing a stack of articles from Women’s Wear Daily (a fashion-industry trade journal), I received a call from an agent at the modeling agency with which I was signed. The agent informed me that there was a new “fit” client who wanted to see me. “Great,” I hastily replied, until the agent continued, “for lingerie and swimwear.” Up until that point, I had modeled casual and evening attire. The thought of parading in underwear for a couple of strangers while being poked, prodded, and pinned roused all of my bodily insecurities. In lingerie or swimwear, you cannot hide, securely nestled within a pair of control top pantyhose or Spanx. The flesh is on full display, and, depending on the style and cut of said garment, my body—flaws and all—would be visible.
I could not decline the casting, lest I forgo my relationship with the agency. So, for the next few days before the scheduled meeting, I resumed my lapsed Pilates and cardio routine and fasted with a detoxifying cranberry concoction. I prepped both my body for its possible full disclosure and my self-conscious mind for humiliation and, what I feared most, the client’s revelation that I was absolutely clueless about fashion design.
The day of the fit casting, I headed to the specified address in midtown Manhattan, where I was buzzed inside a design factory showroom. A drone emanating from the rows of active sewing machines accompanied my stroll to the back, where I was handed a pair of pajamas and asked to change behind a screen. The client then measured me, took snapshots from the front, side, and back, and asked me questions about the feel and fit of the pajamas. I was then asked to try on a nightgown, as she explained that these were items from a new line aimed at mature women, designed for a private label brand of a leading discount department store. Within a span of ten minutes, the casting was done and I had dodged a scantily clad bullet.
Fashion designers and clothing manufacturers hire fit models to try on garments at various stages of production to determine the fit and appearance of the garment on a live person. Thus, a fit model’s job is to comment on the material and the cut of the garment with respect to its fit and feel as she moves about the way the customer would in the future. The model gives this feedback to the designer before the garment is mass-produced. As one agent described to me, “The fit model is the designer’s muse.” Fit modeling jobs are billed hourly, with New York City rates ranging from $125 up to $300 per hour, and designers prefer to use the same model throughout a design season; hence, the hours can add up to profitable work. For example, one fit model in my sample earned on average $27,000 a year from fit clients alone. In addition, fit work may potentially lead to print work for the client.
It is essential to this process for the model’s measurements to remain constant in order to ensure a consistency of sizing and fit in garment production.11 As a fit model warned, “If she [the model] is bloated and they [the designers] fit the garment larger, women [in the stores] will think they lost weight.” In other words, a designer’s usual size fourteen pant may feel roomier than last season’s version to the average consumer. While based on a form, the true fit and size of a garment are dependent on the fit model used during fittings. Therefore, the model needs to maintain specific dimensions and proportions, often to within an inch of those she had when she started working for the client.
A fit model is not hired for her perfect body but, rather, for her consistent body. So, throughout the process, clients record and track every inch of a model’s body. Changes in her dimensions and proportions could mean lost jobs. Clients fired models whose weight fluctuated. Sarah, a size fourteen/sixteen model, explained to me that she had a recurring working relationship with one designer until she lost ten pounds:
I was diagnosed with Celiac disease and couldn’t eat bread anymore, so I lost weight because I couldn’t eat the major food group of my diet. The client was not too happy with my weight loss and fired me. I don’t know what I was more pissed at—losing a client or losing bread.
Those ten pounds meant the end of her steady work opportunity.
For some models, this amplified pressure to maintain one’s exact measurements in fit modeling countered the financial benefits. Holly, a size sixteen model, refused to work fit jobs because of her history with an eating disorder. She explained, “I know I can make some good money but the last thing that I’m gonna do is worry like that. I can keep this [body] in check but I’m not gonna worry about every pound.” Holly successfully disciplined her body so that she maintained her size in order to work in commercial print and runway, but she feared that the added strain of working as a fit model would trigger an eating disorder relapse.
The Shame of Losing Weight
What happens if a model fails to maintain her weight? The case of fit model Janice offers a telling tale of what can happen when a plus-size model loses weight. When I spoke to Janice, she had recently lost weight as an unintended consequence from an attempt at bodily improvement. She invested in a retainer to straighten her teeth; however, it was not until after the retainer was made that the doctor instructed her that she would have to wear it for twenty-three hours a day. In order to eat, she would have to remove it and then brush her teeth before she put it back on. As a result of the inconvenience this orthodontic treatment caused, Janice lost twenty pounds in a matter of weeks.
When Janice went to her fitting jobs, she noticed a marked difference in the reactions of the clients who disapproved of her weight loss. A designer client, who hired Janice to fit dresses, sweaters, and shirts for the past three years, stood in horror and exclaimed, “I am going to have to measure you. You lost weight.”
To Janice’s own amazement, she had lost three inches in her waist and four inches in her bust and hips. The client then replaced Janice with some other “big girl.” Because of this dramatic weight loss, Janice no longer fit the position as fit model and lost about $5,000 a year from this one fit client alone. Having lost the weight and a well-regarded job opportunity, Janice experienced a shame equivalent to that one feels after gaining weight. Confused, she confided, “I hate being told it [the weight loss] is wrong. It is my body.”
At another job doing line work for a nationwide retailer, where fit models of various sizes literally line up to model the latest design collection for corporate directors, Janice tried on her usual size eighteen pant, but after buttoning the waist, the pants fell to the floor. She was immediately given a smaller size pant:
I felt like I was being arrested. The looks I got from these people. I started to give a monologue to the directors, saying I had just had food poisoning and made cracks about eating muffins to gain the weight back.
Conflicted by the demand from her clients that she needed to gain back at least ten pounds and worry about paying bills, Janice broke down under the pressure and bought weight gaining powder.
In an industry where the body is a commodified object, a model may sometimes need to engage in deviant behaviors to remain marketable. As in the aforementioned case, when fit clients fired Janice because she lost too much weight, she returned to the binge mentality she learned years ago while in college, where she would binge on carbohydrates and cheese and then exercise the n
ext day. This time, however, she did not exercise the next day but, instead, “walked slow” and carried a jar of peanut butter in her bag, consuming it by the spoonful. Janice suffered flashbacks from that previous episode in her life and could no longer stomach her daily Ensure shakes mixed with strawberries and ice cream.
As a newly slimmed down plus-size model, Janice experienced resistance from fit clients, who demanded that she return to her larger size. Janice struggled with the issue of having to gain weight in an unhealthy manner, something she never thought she would have to do as a plus-size model. Here, the fit clients demanded a specific body that Janice could not provide.
This push toward fatness and gaining weight is counter to what contemporary American culture dictates about women’s bodies. While fashion urges everyday women to lose weight, fashion urges plus-size models, at times, to gain weight. One model admitted that her agent took her out to dinner and encouraged her to eat in order to gain a size. Models push their bodies to extremes. Fashion allows these women to be fat, and, sometimes, urges them to get fatter in order to build their model physical capital.
Who’s the Beauty Boss?
In the fall of 2011, TLC premiered a reality program called Big Sexy that featured five self-identified plus-size women who worked in the fashion industry as models, stylists, and makeup artists. Their mission was to challenge contemporary bodily aesthetics that privileged the thin body and equate fat with sex appeal. In an interview for The Huffington Post, one of the featured women, Heather, explained, “You can be whatever size you want to be and work in the fashion industry.”12 However, in the first episode of the program, the audience learned that her statement was an exaggeration as we watched another cast member, Tiffany, meet with her modeling agent. In the exchange, the agent informed Tiffany that a client wanted her to lose weight and that “it’s a waste of time and money if the numbers are not right.” Tiffany’s measurements had increased since the agent last took her measurements, and Tiffany would need to lose between seven and ten pounds to meet the client’s size expectations. At her present size, Tiffany was dangerously close to exceeding the boundaries of plus size required of models.
Fashioning Fat: Inside Plus-Size Modeling Page 10
