Beware of the "Fat Mommy"

Loyal readers will know that while I aspire to dress like Andy in The Devil Wears Prada post-makeover, I actually end up dressing like Andy pre-makeover most of the time. My fashion desires are one thing, but the reality consists mainly of yoga pants, jeans, sturdy running shoes and practical, easy-to-clean cotton.

I do, however attempt to follow the fashion world, so that secretly, inwardly if I had the means, time, lack of spit-up and destination, I would dress like all those up-to-the-seconds on the fashion circuit. Hell, I would even be so fashionable as to not even be in fashion yet!!!

So it was with a bit of laughter and a bit of sadness that I read in the paper today a fashion high point and a fashion low point. Just in time for Berlin's Fashion Week, Brigitte Magazine announced that after reader-polling, it was firing all their wafer-thin traditional models, and instead employing women like ourselves to model the clothes, cosmetics and accessories in the magazine. Karl Lagerfeld quickly denounced this action as catering to the "Fat, chip-eating jealous Mommy", no doubt with a disdainful sniff and toss of his impeccably silver coif.

I am of two minds. The feminist in me says "good for you, hooray for realistic portrayals of women in the media". The secret fashionista is conflicted. Haute Couture is art, and as such was never designed for the average person. It is an elevated art form of our everyday pret-a-porter selves that 98.5% of the population will neither ever fit nor afford. Does this decision then both compromise the artists' vision and pervert the manipulation of the "canvas"? While Lagerfeld tends towards the dramatic, this "Fat Mommy" feels he may have a point.

Thoughts?