Fashioning Fat: Inside Plus-Size Modeling (13 page)

According to French philosopher and social theorist Michel Foucault, power relations define the body in economic terms as both a productive body and a subjected body. Here in this Foucauldian view, the bodies of fashion models are subject to an agent’s gaze. The fashion industry commodifies a model’s body, where each curve determines her economic potential. Consequently, a model tracks her measurements and engages in a number of bodily practices to remain competitive in the field.

A Foucauldian analysis of the body involves mapping the power relations that operate within institutions and ripple down to the individual, affecting daily practices. In this case, the specialization of the modeling industry allows agents to categorize models, subjecting the body to classification. Plus-size models respond to this subjectification by the industry by internalizing the gaze and engaging in new forms of self-discipline. Here, the tape measure is an institutionalized tool of regulation as it measures and evaluates a model’s body. No longer confined to the sole possession of an agent or a fashion designer, models also use a tape measure
to track their bodies. Working within this web of power relations, models become “docile” bodies to fit the desired image of a plus-size model.

Appearance plays a key role in gendered subjectivity, where “doing looks” is integral to the production of gendered social identity. Susan Bordo, in Foucauldian fashion with a feminist twist, acknowledges the productive role women have in bodily pursuits but ultimately concedes that they become “docile” bodies disciplined to survey and improve their bodies, duped into adhering to idealized constructions of feminine embodiment discursively mediated by the culture through a cosmetic panopticon. An internalized sense of disciplinary power, exercised by self-surveillance and self-policing, maintains a model’s gendered subjectivity, resulting in her pursuit of an aesthetic ideal established by fashion. These models internalize a normalizing gaze and, by use of individualized disciplinary practices, reproduce the “subjected and practiced bodies, ‘docile’ bodies.”
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Here, these models actively work on their bodies to achieve a look mandated by the cosmetic panopticon. They judge their bodies through fashion’s eyes and according to fashion’s criteria. When they fail, they experience a sense of shame and insecurity, similar to that of Caroline.

While a group of plus-size models and I waited in the hallway for an open call with an agency, one freelance, size sixteen model, Caroline, anxiously asked the departing models if they had been measured by the agent during the interview. Once Caroline heard that the agent measured the other models “in over a dozen places no one would expect,” she turned to me in noticeable panic, explaining that her measurements had changed from the ones listed on her composite card—a model’s business card—since she had gained weight over the holidays.

Caroline knew it was common practice for agents to measure models. The act of being measured, itself, did not trouble her. Rather, Caroline feared that the agent would chastise her for her failure to maintain her bodily measurements. Caroline believed that the agent would then perceive her as unprofessional and, therefore, refuse to work with her. Caroline depended on securing this agent’s representation to provide
her with work opportunities. As a freelance model, she exhausted her existing contacts and needed new clients. This level of fear-laden bodily consciousness that Caroline exhibited is not only typical but also necessary for a plus-size model, who is subject to fashion’s gaze. Models, like Caroline, experience an overt, constant pressure to maintain their figures, since there is always someone, whether an agent or client, present with a tape measure.

Little did I know that my decision to model had an effect on aspects of my life thought to be unfazed by fashion’s trends and preoccupation with appearance. For example, I reflected more on what I wore to the classroom to teach a class of college undergraduates. I utilized some of the tricks I learned from makeup artists and hair stylists and gained a newfound appreciation for Velcro rollers. I stuck to my six-day-a-week exercise routine of Pilates and cardio on the treadmill and, with due hypervigilance, counted calories and monitored portion sizes using smaller plates and mini snack bowls. Failure to do so would induce a pang of guilt and lead to stress, which would lead to breakouts, so I leaned on meditative prayer and flexibility training with its relaxing stretches as my stabilizing crutch after the time spent dwelling on my body and appearance. I had successfully internalized the self-surveillance and discipline required of models by a fashion institution. I, too, succumbed to the pressure of tracking my body’s measurements daily with a measuring tape, the prominent tool of institutionalized corporal discipline and regulation.

Contrary to cultural perceptions of fat women, plus-size models are disciplined and engage in constant monitoring and management of their bodily capital. Sociologist Loïc Wacquant utilizes the case of the boxer to explain this concept of bodily capital:

The successful pursuit of a career [in boxing] . . . presupposes a rigorous management of the body, a meticulous maintenance of each one of its
parts, an attention of every moment, in and out of the ring, to its proper functioning and protection. . . . The pugilist’s body is at once the
tool
of his work—an offensive weapon and defensive shield—and the
target
of his opponent.
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Here, the boxer’s body is a form of commodified physical capital, requiring monitoring and training in order to win a match.

In this way, bodily capital becomes essential to the boxer’s habitus, a bodily state of being that is both a medium and outcome of social practice. Both Wacquant’s boxers and the plus-size models in this study convert their bodily capital, i.e., the shape and active capacity of a body, into economic capital. For the plus-size model, her body is her career. The condition of her body—the size, shape, and muscle tone—determines her chances for employment.

Training the body increases its utility and capital. In their ethnographic study of aging ballet dancers, Steven P. Wainwright and Bryan S. Turner refine Bourdieu’s concept of bodily capital. To better describe the athletic nature of the professional dancer, Wainwright and Turner divide the concept of “athletic physical capital” into four criteria: speed, strength, stamina, and suppleness. All four aspects are present in athletes with differing levels of concentrated development. While a dancer may focus on increasing suppleness, a boxer will train to increase strength and speed.

Modeling is similar to these fields, as well as to sex work and acting, which focus on engendered physical capital, where a worker commodifies her body. For example, both sex workers and fashion models modify their physical appearance to achieve a successful performance of the body. As sociologists Jennifer K. Wesely and Alexandra G. Murphy argue in their independent ethnographic studies, exotic dancers manipulate their bodies via numerous body technologies to prepare themselves for their public performance as sexualized bodies for male clients. For example, it is not uncommon for an exotic dancer to undergo breast augmentation to achieve the “Barbie doll” body and receive more attention and money from her clients.

Likewise, the models in this study undertook rigorous and meticulous means to manage their bodily capital and trained to increase what I call their “model physical capital,” measured by body size and shape, runway walk, posing ability, and photogenic features. They cared for their bodies to maintain their buxom figures and participated in ritualistic skin care and grooming regimens. While photographic retouching eliminates the occasional pimple, a model’s complexion needed to be clear and washed thoroughly after a day on set wearing professional-grade makeup. They invested in their smile, straightening and whitening their teeth. Most turned to artificial bodily enhancements, such as body shapers and padding, to achieve a desired, proportionate figure.

For models with less than ideal proportions, Larissa Laurel for
PLUS Model Magazine
explained a trick of the modeling trade:

Some models, like me, are blessed with big bottoms, but our bust is on the smaller size. So, do you know what we do? We stuff our bras with the pillow cups which we lovingly refer to as “chicken cutlets.” One model I personally know wears a padded panty to help her rear end look fuller.
¹⁰

While padding may be used to offer extensive remodeling and even gain in overall body size, most models resorted to minor alterations. For example, one model revealed that she secured shoulder pads onto her hips in order to add inches to her measurements. For models, body proportions were more important than size, so they used artificial aids, such as “chicken cutlets,” body shapers such as the popular Spanx, or shoulder pads in unexpected places. These plus-size models artfully manipulated their bodies to achieve the “ideal” body.

These plus-size fashion models possessed great bodily awareness. They attended classes to learn how to walk, turn, and pose. Several of the models that I interviewed attended The Plus Academy, the first training program designed exclusively for plus-size models by former plus-size model Gwendolyn DeVoe. Others painstakingly analyzed the proofs from their test shoot to see which poses best suited their bodies. They
knew how to put together an outfit that would flatter the appropriate curves. For each casting, they dressed to impress the casting director. Clients expected these models to wear shapeware (foundation garments worn underneath clothing that slim, flatten, and enhance different areas of the body including the bust, waist, buttocks, hips, and thighs to create a clean silhouette) underneath a stylish, figure-flattering outfit, wear two- to three-inch heels, and generally “be runway ready” with “a touch of gloss and slick hair.”

Focusing on aesthetics, conservative styles dominate the plus-size field, so the models need to present themselves in a conservative, neat manner. Agents strongly discouraged models from getting tattoos and excessive piercings. I overheard an agent yell at a model over an unsanctioned piercing. Samantha admitted that she had her ear cartilage pierced but that she never wore her earrings to a casting for fear that it would leave the wrong impression with a casting director. Hairstyles and manicures, too, needed to be conservatively styled and polished, i.e., hair should be a medium to long length and nails should be short and polished with a discrete clear or nude color. Ultimately, agents stripped their models of the freedom to express their individuality through the presentation of their own bodies. This prevents models from contributing to the construction of beauty since they are no longer in control of their personal aesthetics.

Maintaining their model physical capital required self-monitoring and discipline; yet, these models acknowledged the role their appetites played in creating their voluptuous figures and insisted to me that they regularly ate a balanced diet and routinely exercised. As size sixteen commercial print and runway model Nicole told me, “Girl, you know I have to exercise because I love to eat!” With pride, she distanced herself from straight-size models: “I enjoy myself. I go out with friends. We drink. I don’t have to starve myself.” She also clarified, “I’m a big girl, but I keep
active. I ran a 5K last year. One day I’ll do the marathon.” Nicole stressed that she can enjoy food and lead a fulfilling life, as long as she balances it with physical activity. As a plus-size model, she does not have to deny herself this basic pleasure of life, as is commonly the case in straight-size modeling.

After a fashion show, I followed a group of plus-size models to the kitchen prep area where they helped themselves to a platter of leftover sandwiches and brownies. While piling a second sandwich onto her plate, size eighteen commercial print and runway model Anna appeared conflicted, “I need to watch what I eat.” To which Jackie, size sixteen showroom and runway model, quipped, “Yeah, I watch what I eat . . . as it goes in!” Beneath the levity of this exchange was an earnest call for self-discipline. Anna recognized that she needed to negotiate her hunger with the physical requirements of modeling. She realized that, at a size eighteen and already at the end of the marketable range for plus-size models, an increase in size would lead to a steep decline in work opportunities.

Complicating this management of model physical capital, several of the models revealed past disordered eating patterns (such as binge eating, compulsive exercising, or yo-yo dieting). Mary, for example, a size fourteen fit model, spent most of her adolescence loathing her body and tried dieting to correct this “defect”:

I even tried this crazy liquid diet and wore little acupressure balls behind my ears. All I ate was a liter of milk and mushy cabbage. After a month, I only lost twelve pounds, and I had to stop because I was too weak to even move.

Having such a strained relationship with food and her body, Mary needed to strike a balance between managing her body and controlling it via excessive means. This required Mary to focus on long-term solutions to body management, e.g., a portion-controlled diet and workout regimen of cardiovascular exercise, like Zumba workouts, and weight training. Mary began eating organic fruits and vegetables, switched to a
mostly vegetarian diet with some lean chicken and fish added for protein, and eliminated alcohol from her diet:

I try to eat healthy, cook simple, easy meals for me and my boyfriend. I’m conscious of calories, but I’m not hyper-vigilant about it anymore. I made long-term changes because I care about myself and my body. If I didn’t, it would show and I wouldn’t book any jobs.

Similarly, Anna and Janice, both recovered binge eaters and compulsive exercisers, made long-term, sustainable adjustments. In order to continue to cultivate her body and remain competitive, Anna made minor shifts in her lifestyle:

I stopped drinking soda. It was so hard. I was addicted. I drink tons of water, now. I always carry a bottle with me. I heard it helps my skin. But, sometimes I’ll sneak in a can of Diet Coke.