Crystal Renn is an American fashion model who started modelling high fashion couture at the age of 14. When she started her career she was told to lose a 1/3 of her body weight, if she wanted to be successful in the highly competitive fashion business. After years of suffering from anorexia, she decided to reassess her lifestyle. She wrote the book: Hungry: A Young Model's Story of Appetite, Ambition and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves, about her experiences in the fashion industry in relation to her several body type transformations.
She went on to become one of the most well-known plus-size models in the world and has since been known as such. Last November she dropped a lot of weight, she says due to yoga and hiking, and is now a US size 8-10.
She has received a lot of modelling work as a plus-size model, but has never appeared on the cover of Vogue magazine, the most coveted cover for models. She finally got her cover this month, as she can be seen on the cover of Vogue Mexico. This makes me wonder if a magazine like Vogue, which is basically the fashion holy grail, will ever feature a plus-size model on the cover. Did they suddenly find Crystal appropriate for the cover because she lost all that weight? They never wanted her before. Even though the fashion world is trying to incorporate more plus-sized models into fashion shows and magazine fashion spreads, do the fashion world really believe that plus-sized models are fashion friendly? Or are they just doing it because they feel pressured to do so? Will it be forever, skinny=success?
