Good Lord.

This just made my life. That's all.

A+

The big girls are taking over. PA-POW! That's all I have to say about that! V Magazine's size issue hits stands today and should carry a warning label that says "Dangerous Curves Ahead." There's always so much talk in the fashion industry about using "real looking women" in magazines, and in past attempts I have to say that most publications have failed. It makes me laugh to imagine Anna Wintour, for instance, meeting with the Voguettes and picking out a "big girl": "I can see her when she turns sideways; must be what they want." But, V has a good sized selection. The ladies in the issue, especially in Solve Sundsbo's editorial, are vuluptous and vampy and curvy indeed.

As a woman who has struggled with her weight and has done battle with a eating issues her whole life, I can't explain the feeling of validation that comes from seeing women who kind of, sort of, maybe a little bit, look something like me and my body. This feels especially good coming from an industry that I love so much, and that has been so unified in its acceptance of nothing but boniness for so long. I don't blame the industry for my own image issues, but seeing beautiful bodies in glossy pages helps me feel good and sexy and PA POW myself. Thanks V! You done good.

Kate Is Worth The Weight.

I hate discussions about female celebrity weight gain when are put in demeaning terms. When couch potato Americans scream "thunder thighs!" at glaring television screens from their sofas while their own waistlines balloon. But, every now and then someone puts on a few pounds and is actually praised for it, actually looks better, healthier, glowier. THE original waif herself, Ms. Kate Moss, the formerly super-bony model who inspired angry vandal chicks to scrawl "feed me" on her 1990s Calvin Klein billboards, looks, well, softened. She's rounded out enough to be denying pregnancy rumors. She says just a few added pounds and that she's a woman now, with happy curves. I want to officially welcome her to the club. Here are some pics of a shapelier Moss that ran along side a feature on the model mogul in last week's New York Magazine:

I know, she's no Botticelli babe, but she now looks like my skinny friends instead of a girl I want to throw a five day pizza party. I think she looks smashing, and if Kate is still the trend setter she's always been, keep your eyes peeled for softer looking femmes everywhere.

Photos by Bert Stern for New York Magazine.

Flashy.

Here's a great street piece I came across by paster/photographer/billboard trixter Fauxreel. It was up in NYC sometime last year and I love it:

Yay for the trashy lingerie cruvy girl combo. Catch more of Fauxreel's excellent work here and here.

Ahead of the Curve

I've been listening to Adele for a little while now. At one point her song "Chasing Pavements" was so firmly on loop on my iPod that I convinced myself I could accurately hit all of the British soul singer's smooth notes. My friends (and even a few passing strangers) quickly corrected me. So, needless to say I loved Adele's honey voice from first listen, but by some weird chain of events I never set eyes on a single solitary image of the songstress. Yesterday I came across this profile of the singer from CBS News Sunday Morning:

How amazing that she is so young, so gorgeous, so curvy, and so confident. Girls don't get too many positive, voluptuous role models in the spotlight. It is no news that there's a real lack of real women's bodies in the media, and it is always a welcome change to see someone exist a little outside of the Hollywood beautification/standardization machine (she's not too far outside, the girl is friggin' gorgeous). But still, score one for the curvy girls!