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Julien Macdonald Calls Plus-Size Models a 'Joke'

by Erin Donnelly (Subscribe to Erin Donnelly's posts)
Posted Jun 14th 2010 at 11:20AM  
275 Comments
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Julien Macdonald tall model catwalk London Fashion Week Fall 2009

Designer Julien Macdonald on the runway with a long and lean model. Apparently, the way he likes 'em. Photo: Getty Images

Sometimes fashion designers are better seen and not heard.

Case in point: Welsh designer Julien Macdonald, who joins the ranks of Karl Lagerfeld in the foot-in-mouth department, after calling plus-size models a "joke," The Sun reports.

Macdonald made the controversial comments after defending "Britain's Next Top Model" -- on which he now serves as a judge -- and its decision to not follow in the footsteps of "America's Next Top Model" by featuring curvier contestants, according to the paper.

"There were no plus-size models," Macdonald reportedly said of the show's sixth season.

"This is a serious show. You can't have a plus-size girl winning -- it makes it a joke.

"It's not fair on them -- you're setting them up for a fall. I know what would happen to them. They are looked down on."

Wow -- don't hold back, Jules. Although, if we wanted advice on body image, we don't think we'll be turning to the guy who once wanted Amy Winehouse to be his model.

Macdonald, a London Fashion Week fixture, isn't the first "Next Top Model" judge to talk smack about plus-size models. As we previously reported, "Australia's Next Top Model" judge Charlotte Dawson called the curvy craze "tokenism," saying that plus-size models would be stuck modeling for Target. (Um, not a bad job if you can get it.)

Ugh. Thank God we Yanks still have curve-happy Tyra Banks and André Leon Talley on our side!

Meanwhile, read about former "ANTM" winner CariDee English's painful battle with psoriasis.

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Filed under: Fashion, Beauty, News, Skin & Body, Designers & Brands
Tags: americas next top model, body image, britains next top model, controversial comments, julien macdonald, modeling competitions, models, plus size, plus-size models, reality tv
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READER COMMENTS

(275)Add A Comment

kat, 6-14-2010, 11:33AM

3 stars vote downvote upReport
kat

i dont buy or watch skinny fashions.
i am not fat
i am not skinny
even when i was skinny high school skinny i never watched the fashion shows. the models are too skinny mostly ugly and the clothes are usually ugly to. i wait till the real clothing comes out in stores. there arent that many skinny people in america. i would rather watch bigger models model clothes becuase then i would know if they would look good on me a little skinnier.

Reply »

WendyK, 6-14-2010, 4:43PM

Half a star vote downvote upReport
WendyK

I am a 40 year old mom from California. I have 3 children, aged 11, 6 and 4. My weight before was 187lbs and my body fat was 36.5%. I was fat and miserable, and my family life and my relationship were suffering. I was not able to do anything with my kids, and I was tired and constantly irritated.

I've always counted calories, but this just wasn't working for me anymore. Someone my husband knows had done the Fat Loss 4 Idiots programme: ( HTTP://TINY.cc/FatLossTips ) and it had changed his life, so I decided to do it too. I lost 33lbs within 8 months and kept it off.

In the last 3 months, because of my training and desire to be "hot at 40," I've taken this to a new level. The programme taught me how to control my carb intake and I have lost another 17lbs. My current weight is 137,5lbs and my body fat is 24% and dropping.....

My goal was to be a ‘hot’ 40 year old Mamma, and I think I have achieved that and I am very proud of myself, as are my family and friends.......

»

Patti, 6-14-2010, 12:30PM

3 stars vote downvote upReport
Patti

There are more size 12 women in the world than size 1. Fashion Designers just want more for less. More money for less material. It cost less money to make a size 1 than it does a size 12 thus higher profits. People fall for these rip off artists and listen to them while young girls die every day trying to be what these losers say they should be. How very sad

Reply »

esby77, 6-14-2010, 2:11PM

3 stars vote downvote upReport
esby77

well, no one in the world of new york fashion has heard of julien mcdonald, and with that attitude I hope it stays that way! have fun being tops in the Welsh world of fashion douche!

Reply »

Pamela, 6-14-2010, 2:10PM

3 stars vote downvote upReport
Pamela

Did he look in the mirror??? He is ugly and he is the joke!!!

Reply »

joey, 6-19-2010, 4:02AM

2.5 stars vote downvote upReport
joey

And he's about two feel tall!

»

helaine, 6-14-2010, 2:09PM

3 stars vote downvote upReport
helaine

What a joke. The real world is made up of women of all sizes and shapes and the majority of them are size 12 and 14. Get a life Julien because the plus size models are far from abnormal looking. In fact they are firm and curvy and look like a woman is suppose to look.

Reply »

Frances, 6-14-2010, 2:15PM

3 stars vote downvote upReport
Frances

He's a JERK!!!!!

Reply »

jst4gp, 6-14-2010, 2:15PM

3 stars vote downvote upReport
jst4gp

What a pompous little Weenie!!!!

Reply »

Kent, 6-14-2010, 2:15PM

3 stars vote downvote upReport
Kent

Give me a break. I never liked Twiggy and the scrawny models of the 60s and 70s, nor did I like waifs like Kate Moss. I like women with curves. The classic measurements are 36-24-36.

Designers need to understand that men don't like women who are 32-20-30 and wearing an A-cup bra. We like C-cups.

Reply »

Pam, 6-14-2010, 2:35PM

3 stars vote downvote upReport
Pam

Personally, I think it's a joke for men to be designing for women. They choose bone thin models because these models closely resemble their own bodies, flat. They just don't know how to design for real women. Or maybe they're just jealous because we have curves and they never will!

Reply »

bobbo mailand, 6-14-2010, 2:19PM

3 stars vote downvote upReport
bobbo mailand

I'll take a plus sized model any day over the little 'skinny twits' models that judge other people for being natural.

Reply »

Charlotte, 6-16-2010, 6:51PM

2.5 stars vote downvote upReport
Charlotte

you're doing the same thing as this idiot designer. there's no need to denigrate thin women to show this guy is an ass. thin women are also "real", not robots, tyvm

»

Al Sanchez, 6-14-2010, 2:25PM

Half a star vote downvote upReport
Al Sanchez

The modeling business has always been glamorous with a lot of thin girls that can put on the clothes fast and take them off just as fast. I don't think there's anything wrong with being curvaceous, but, we should not "glamorize" being large because we just can't stop eating as a society. When I went to high school in the seventies and eighties, the fast people were far and few between. And, those that were had negative looks pierced at them. Or, they were just the "fun fat person." We need to slim down as a society and be more healthy. So, I don't think that truly overweight women or men should be making a career out of modeling. I'm not PC and I'm stating the facts. There are too many fat young people out there -- a lot more than just 15 years ago. It's not good.

Reply »

karenione, 6-14-2010, 2:38PM

3 stars vote downvote upReport
karenione

TO: Al Sanchez... Actually it has nothing to with getting in and out of clothes. Someone is always there to do that for them. It is how the clothes lay on the body. You know, like on a hanger. No boobs and no ass. Also, do you know why models walk and stand the way they do? Well, if you have ever seen them standing with their feet together and straight on, you can run a truck through their legs. And as far as bathing suits go, never, ever will you see them stand that way.

»

Bill, 6-14-2010, 4:48PM

Half a star vote downvote upReport
Bill

If you're a female and you're 5'3" and over 115 lbs, you're fat. If you're 5'6" and over 125 lbs. you're fat. If you're 5'10" and over 140 lbs, you're fat. I'm definately not into plus sizes, I'm into attractive females which do not include plus sizes. excuses, excuses, back away from the table and work out.

Reply »

clahain, 6-14-2010, 5:36PM

3 stars vote downvote upReport
clahain

Gee, you've got some pretty strict guidelines there. Do you work quality control in some type of factory? Machines and buildings can be built to specifications, people fall into ranges. You must be a real joy to be around...carrying a height-weight chart to social functions...hauling a doctor's scale on vacation. Do you iron your briefs?

»

Jeff, 6-14-2010, 6:58PM

3 stars vote downvote upReport
Jeff

Someone needs to back away from the keyboard and take his meds.

»

BecauseImRight, 6-14-2010, 7:14PM

3 stars vote downvote upReport
BecauseImRight

Wow..are you serious? How nice that you can claim to know who is fat just from their height and weight...which btw....you have wrong. Last time I checked, the normal healthy body weight to height guide had women weighing in at 10 lbs more than your little list. Saying your into attractive women and not plus sizes...are you saying that even women who might be a little overweight can't have attractive faces..or just that you never bother to look at their faces? And did you know that plus size models start at size 8...not even in the double digits. Aside form all that....Women should be happy with how they see themselves.....not how you fail to see them.

»

Heather, 6-14-2010, 8:09PM

3 stars vote downvote upReport
Heather

I'm 5'5" and 147. I work out three times a week. You call it fat, my boyfriend calls it curves. I'm proportioned and toned.

Sometimes I wonder about men who prefer stick-thin, boyishly slim women. Nothing wrong with those women, that's the way they were made. . .but I wonder more about the men who seem to prefer EXCLUSIVELY them.

*T*

»

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