U.S. Wants Less Skinny, More Curvy Models

Woopie! The glamorous life of a high earning international model is within my grasp — at least if you believe this report, which notes that the inclusion of “plus” (read: normal) models has helped magazine sales. The High Low explains:

The Guardian notes that Look, as well as two other women’s magazines that have chosen to permanently include non-models, all show successful numbers:

• Brigitte (Germany) – up 4% in overall sales after discontinuing use of models altogether
• Look (Britain) – down .5% in circulation
• Essentials (Britain) – up 12.7% in circulation after instating only non-model covers (first non-model cover up 25% in sales)

What this means to me is that this notion we grow up with in this country that only skinny is beautiful is, um, a lie. The numbers show otherwise. What’s more, this idea of thin is a very white-centric one, as many of our readers have commented here and on Facebook, many Latinos prefer women to be a little more curvy, rather than totally thin. One good example is the recent story we wrote, which found that Latina women tended towards bigger boobs and butts when electing plastic surgery — a body type that hardly fulfills the “thin ideal.”

I wrote previously about how, as the Latino population in this country grows, the character of the U.S. will change also. I think this is especially true when it comes to body image. Most of the Latinos I know — whether they be from Guatemala, Chile, Puerto Rico, Cuba, El Salvador, Mexico or Brazil — don’t fit the thin and long body types that we’re all supposed to be aspiring to. It’s a physical impossibility for many Latinos to look this way; it’s just not how we’re made.

But I look forward to seeing this change, to seeing more curvy models selling me clothes, to not having to try to hard to find jeans with enough room for my booty, to being able to pick out more than just blonde women in fashion magazines. That would be nice, you know.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD