The-F-Word.org

If for no other reason than the hilarious quote above, I am posting this great article on plus-size model Crystal Renn. Four years ago, Renn epitomized the size-zero super-wraith model: 98 pounds and about to starve herself even thinner. Now back to a healthy size 16, she’s on a mission - and, ironically, more sought-after than ever. Writes interviewer Judy Rumbold:

To be honest, I expected Crystal Renn to be bigger. All right then, fatter. In the mind’s eye, the term ‘plus-size model’ is liberally coated in doughnut batter, and I had her down as a gloriously buxom woman-mountain. Along with a name that sounds as if it’s jumped off the embossed-foil cover of a Danielle Steel bodice-ripper, I’m anticipating a formidably blowsy, lipsticky package.

So when the 21-year-old American walks in, I am taken aback. She’s not particularly large. With scrubbed skin, a serviceable ponytail and clothes that look like the result of an absent-minded scramble through a trucker’s overnight bag, it’s hard to recognise the glossy pout and hourglass curves that have made her the most in-demand plus-size model in the world, a favourite with Dolce & Gabbana and Jean Paul Gaultier - probably the only girl over size eight who gets fashion stories in American Vogue.

But at a healthy size 16, she’s no bigger than any other woman in the street. It’s only in the skewed world of fashion that her proportions count as ‘plus-size’. She’s philosophical about it. ‘I use the term because it’s the one everyone recognises. But plus-size is normal. It’s every girl.’

After being discovered at age 14, Renn immediately set out to lose weight, and after winning a modeling contract at 16, she moved to New York. There her weight plateaued and despite a punishing exercise routine and diet consisting largely of lettuce, her agency told her to lose more weight. “I didn’t know what more I could do,” she said. “I’d eliminated virtually every major food group.”

With catwalk stardom at the front of her mind she made friends with iceberg lettuce. Breakfast was some vile-sounding stuff called Fiber One and steamed vegetables. Lunch was lettuce and Diet Coke. Dinner - more lettuce. ‘I knew I had an eating disorder, but I was so focused on the job, I didn’t care’.

As Renn continued to starve herself and lose weight, friends and family grew concerned. Her agency was thrilled - well, nearly thrilled.

With a swimwear shoot looming, she forced herself to work out for nine hours, two days in a row - ‘My body literally felt like it was crumbling’ - before seeing her bookers again. ‘They looked me up and down and said, “Your legs. You need to bring your legs down.”‘

It was at this point Renn says she “snapped.” She spurned her agency and a $40k offer, walked out and treated herself to a salad. “Not, you might think, much of a celebration, but not jettisoning the avocado and walnuts was a big step.” Renn focused on recovery and signed with a new agency, Ford Models, who suggested she become a plus-size model. She now appears in advertising campaigns for Saks Fifth Avenue, D&G and Nine West as well as numerous Vogue spreads. She’s also the new face of the British high-street chain Evans.

‘How can you be happy if you’re working out for five hours a day? People want to hire happy models. You need fat to think!’ If that means cake, so be it. Alongside a healthy, largely organic diet, she doesn’t worry about indulging herself. ‘I do what my body wants, and I don’t care about gaining weight. I don’t think about calories.’

Renn has strident views on the sizeism that blights the fashion industry and is keen to see more balance on the catwalk. ‘We need different-size models. Bigger women need to not feel bad about their size. It’s super-important to put that message across.’

The husband and I are fans of Make Me a Supermodel. Last week, judges told the last remaining female contestant, Holly, that she needed to firm up her body. My husband and I sat aghast as judge Cory Bautista, founder of New York Model Management, told Holly: “We’re not holding you to a standard that is normal for human beings. You’re a model, that’s different.”

Wrong, Cory. Models, like everyone else, need to be held to human - not superhuman - standards.