[Above: Crystal Renn]

1. Crystal Renn

Crystal Renn is leading the charge for plus-sized models. Renn, a size 8, posed for five major ad campaigns and seven French Vogue spreads last year alone.

2. Whitney Thompson

You may remember Whitney from America’s Next Top Model season 10 – she won the entire competition. Whitney went on to pose for Forever 21, Saks Fifth Avenue, People Magazine, Seventeen Magazine and a host of other fashion ads and editorials.

3. Marquita Pring

Marquita is a Ford girl who wears size 41-35-46. She’s been featured in Vogue, Vice, Tush, Harper’s Bazaar and Elle.

4. Kate Dillon

Ms. Dillon’s schoolmates dubbed her “Overweight Kate,” and the teasing took its toll. Kate became severely underweight though she won third place in Elite’s Look of the Year contest, earning the then-17-year-old a $75,000 contract. Kate’s malnourished and two-cigarette-pack-a-day lifestyle eventually made her fed up with modeling. She quit the business and moved back into her parent’s house. At the suggestion of a friend, Kate returned to modeling after a short break – this time as a plus-size model. She’s enjoyed modeling more ever since.

5. Gitte Lill

In addition to plus-size modeling, Gitte is also a dancer. The Norway-born beauty is backed by the Ford agency.

6. Natalie Laughlin

W magazine has hailed her as one of “the brightest stars,” and The Wall Street Journal writes that “people in the industry say the brown-eyed, 5-foot-9 model, size 12-to-14, is at the top of her game.” I can’t disagree. Natalie was featured as Liz Claiborne’s “Elizabeth” girl, and she’s earned the title of “Cindy Crawford of plus-size models” by some industry folks.

7. Alyona Osmanova

Alyona didn’t start out as a plus-size, but she was moved into the category. She’s earned a long list of career achievements, including walking for Marc Jacobs, Prada, Chanel and Givenchy. Alyona’s been featured in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Dazed & Confused and a host of other top-tier magazines.

Thompson, who is still modeling had a lot to say about some top designers and the general failures of a industry that preys on young girls, slave labor and unhealthy images of what is beautiful. Her words aren’t anything new, we’ve all been aware of this attitude for some time, but it’s interesting when such a public person comes out with stories.

On Karl Lagerfeld:

Karl Lagerfeld two years ago was saying the only people who care about plus size are the “fat mummies sitting on their couches eating crisps”. Now he’s shooting the plus issue for V, are you kidding? Really V, you forgot about that? I mean, it was a huge issue. And he has a Chanel line for plus girls and Crystal Renn’s in it and it’s so fake, it’s so phony and people just jump on the bandwagon. So I think it’s important to do research and be smart about the companies that you do support.

On “Naturally Skinny” Models:

The majority of girls who do runway shows are 16 and under. Agencies and designers look for girls who haven’t hit puberty yet and so we ship these girls in from Russia and Brazil and they’re 14 and they don’t speak English and these are the girls that I go to castings with. That’s fine, they’re all great and young and “naturally skinny,” when they’re 14 — most people are. But then once they hit puberty, 16 and 17, they have to do drugs, they’re doing cocaine, they’re smoking cigarettes all day every day, they’re doing the lemonade cleanse because if they don’t then they get shipped back to wherever they came from, and that’s just how the industry works.

A lot of girls get depressed, some girls commit suicide, some girls starve to death, literally, and we kind of just don’t pay attention to it in the industry. We don’t really talk about it, but it’s very common.

On Sample Size:

The samples are tiny to save money. Because when you make a sample, say there’s a Versace gown and it’s hand-beaded and it costs Donatella $40,000 to do. And she makes it for a size six, OK a model’s going wear it on the runway and it probably will never get worn again.

Well, wouldn’t it be smarter for her to make it in a double 0? Because she’s saving all this fabric, which means she’s saving beading, she’s saving work on the dress and it’s cheaper. She’s saving a lot of money by doing it at that size. And that’s I think where it started and basically where it stayed. It goes back to models having no rights or say in the industry and instead of fitting the dress to the model, they fit the model to the dress.

On Model Bookers:

Oh yeah, models get treated like crap. Worse than anyone. We get fed last, we don’t sleep, they treat you like nothing. When you think about it, everyone thinks modeling is so glamorous, but you don’t get to say what you wear, you don’t get to say how you look, what your hair color is, what length it is, where you live, what you do — you have no voice at all.

And the bookers — because I was a straight-size model growing up in high school, and my hips were always one inch too big — and, yeah, you have 45-year-old men saying, “You’re too fat.” You’re a teenage girl. It’s really disgusting. It’s an awful industry and, yeah, there is no soul in modeling.

Now that we know. What should we do about it?

Would love suggestions below the jump…

The first plus-sized winner of “America’s Next Top Model”, Whitney Thompson is already proving she’s got more model potential than many of the shows thinner winners. She’s just booked this Target ad campaign for their new collection, ‘Pure Energy’. More catalog than print ready, the images are a refreshing dose of real women who shop the retailer. Check them all out below.

Next to top name designers and department stores, plus-size clothing companies are among to hardest hit by the economic recession. Today, New York’s CBS aired a segment which pointed out that many stores are cutting back on the purchase of plus-size garments or eliminating them altogether, making shopping much harder and fashions sparse for plus-size shoppers. Blame it on the fact that plus-size clothes cost around 10% more to produce or the fact that demand isn’t as high, but plus-size women, as if it weren’t already hard enough to find well fitted, fashionable clothing, are going to have a hard time dressing themselves as the recession only gets worse. 

So, what next? Plus-size women taking the recession friendly route of starving themselves until they fit into the more abundant, smaller sizes? The plus-size modeling industry will undoubtedly suffer, and models, like America’s Next Top Model Whitney Thompson, will soon enough find themselves in the unemployment line. Basically: chaos…like this:

Jezebel!

Okay, so Lowe is the new face for Marc Jacob’s Marc by Marc Spring 2009 campaign. Rumor also has it that she snagged the DKNY campaign, to be shot by The Sartorialist photographer Scott Schuman. Jacobs calls her “adorable” and and Fashionologie says Lowe could bring about “the death of size zero.” Compliments? Yes. Patronizing compliments? You bet.

Whoever thinks Daisy Lowe is a “curvy” model really ought to have their eyes checked. Let us assess the situation: 

Height: 5′ 10″

Measurements: 32.5″ – 25.5″ – 35″

Lowe is an A-cup, with a tiny waist, the average model hip measurements and a typical model height. She isn’t curvy at all. If anything, Whitney Thompson should be considered curvy and NOT plus sized. And the media wonders why eating disorders are so popular these days.

Thanks Fashionologie.