I was doing my nightly scroll through Facebook yesterday and something disturbing caught my eye, "CALVIN KLEIN," it read, "FIRST EVER PLUS SIZE MODEL!" As you probably know, Calvin Klein is a designer, and I just recently began shopping there so I'm still not all too familiar with their sizes. I clicked on the link to keep reading and I came across a picture of said "plus size" model, and let me tell you this girl can't be more than 150 pounds soaking wet.
This is Myla Dalbesio, Calvin Klein's newest "plus size" model. You may hear size 10 and think, "okay, yeah maybe she could be considered plus size...barely." Then you look at what Calvin Klein is calling a size 10 and it all goes down the drain.
I've had the same body type pretty much my entire life, and I've never considered myself fat, well, ever. Yeah, I have hips and my chest certainly isn't flat but isn't that the look flaunted by the Kardashians? After seeing this ad, I'm starting to second guess myself. My initial thought was, "If this girl is plus size, then what does that make me?" A size 10 isn't plus size and never will be, so my question is why and how is Calvin Klein allowed to get a healthy, realistic-looking model and slap the words "plus size" on her? They should have more regular models like her to show what the clothes will actually look like on people.
It's so hard to become a model nowadays because not many people have the body that designers are looking for. Why? Because it's virtually unattainable. I applaud Aerie's 'Be Real' campaign because they're taking girls with all different body types and having them model their clothes.
These are what teenage girls are supposed to look like and seeing these girls modeling the clothes and undergarments makes me more inclined to purchase their products.
Calling Myla plus size is not only fueling the body image issues in young women, but it's also false advertising. If I'm a size 10, does that mean I can no longer buy regular clothes? Will I have to shop in the plus sizes now? (Not that there's anything wrong with being a plus size) All of this controversy makes me second guess the places I'm buying my clothes and I know that now I will not be buying anything from Calvin Klein anytime soon.