"Vogue goes size 16!

Have you seen the latest cover of Vogue magazine? I almost dropped on the floor when I received my April issue and read the title "Perfect Fit. Dressing for Every Shape from Size 0 to 16"
WHAT?
Thoughts of all kinds started racing through my head.
Happy thoughts like "My gosh, even the most resistant of them all has finally given in, and is actually addressing that America, in fact, wears a size bigger than a 4.
Nervous thoughts like, "Holy crap, if this is genuinely an editorial featuring real people with real bodies with size 14+ clothes on them, like perhaps those that belong to a competitor, why the hell did I not know about this and, consequently, why the hell are we not in there?
I mean we are talking about one magazine that can make or break an old or a new designer, create a best seller out of anything or make sure that your stuff is downgraded to some sixth rate department store to which it takes a five hour drive from any decent metropolitan city.
The last, but not the least thought I had, was a mixture of disappointment, relief and, ridicule as I rummaged through the pages and figured out that the "shapes" they referred to turned out to be tall, pregnant, thin and curvy (a size 4, not 14)!
Excuse me?
I went through the magazine thrice and made sure that my colleague Jennifer did as well just to make sure that I was not missing something. I wasn't, but Vogue sure is!
I was more than disappointed to not see any verbal or visual image reference made to a size 16 as the title indicated, and to see that besides the thin and the tall "shapes" the only other two featured were a size 4 and a pregnant lady. Where is the 16?
The four "shapes" that they covered were, hold on tight:
Shape #1: Tall: Model Alexandra Weston, nightclub owner, (5'10 ½")
Apparently having the ability to tower over majority of the female population in the world gives you a shape. And what will the rest of us average 5"5' shapeless midgets do?
Perhaps eat through our misery to pregnancy?
Shape # 2: Pregnant: Model Kate Young, stylist, (blessed with child)
This is probably the saddest and the funniest "shape" as I have the feeling that this is the one the article referred to as a size 16.
It is sad because, first of all, the model is pregnant! PREGNANT! Second of all, as pregnant as she is, she does NOT look like she is a size 16! So why don't you just stab a knife through me and twist it too!
Did you get that all you chubby people out there? Not only are you FAT, but we also have a sneaky suspicion that you may be, or are, in fact, pregnant because why else on earth would you be so freaking big?
So why don't you get on some organic, detox diet with unpronounceable ingredients and get thin, which apparently is a shape as well.
Shape # 3: Thin: Model Susan Winget, creative director, (stick figure)
I thought that being thin was a matter shared between someone's scale and her perception of what number it should say when that someone exerted their presence on them.
For example, according to the body mass index calculations, I am thin. According to my body mess calculations, I am not thin. According to my best friend and most people I know, I am not thin either, but I sure have a shape.
I am a medium-built, size 8, hourglass with curves, but I guess I will have to go down to a 4 to be considered curvy according to the folks at Vogue.
Shape #4: Curvy: Model Shaile Freyer, fashion entrepreneur, (maybe not)
Curvy is probably going to be one of the most discussed words in the dictionary as the world population continues to weigh heavier and heavier, companies that make clothing and other supplies to meet that demand grow, and magazines like Vogue continue to splash images of size 4 ladies labeled as curvy on their pages.
What is really curvy? What is plus-size?
Nobody hates the word plus-size more than I do. I work in this industry at a company that makes clothes for ladies who wear woman's sizes 12-32. If the market research companies are not blowing smoke, and 70% of Americans truly wear a size 14+, then there isn't even a need for the term anymore.
I think anybody who is not very straight like a rectangle and has a waist narrower than her hips, is curvy, no matter what size they are. Just buy the number that your measurements say you are and make sure it gives your body a flattering look.
I am not saying that you can't be a size 4 and curvy. Not at all! I am saying, do not false advertise, better yet, do not insult advertise.
When you say you have coverage on how to dress when you are a size 16, have someone who is a size 16, and preferably, make sure it is someone who is not growing another human being inside.
TillnextTime
The Fashionistique

http://www.igigi.com/lifestyle/index.cfm/2008/4/1/Vogue-goes-size-16#more