Huffington post reports that haute couture designers like Marc Jacobs and Calvin Klein are using gasp older models and Miuccia Prada is using Victoria's Secret models, known more for their curvaceous figures than the typically stick thin "hangers" of past runways.

Is it a fad or are designers finally figuring out that women are all shapes, sizes and ages?

NEW YORK — Among the more avant-garde looks shown on the runways of New York, London, Paris and Milan was one that seems ho-hum in real life: gray hair.

More mature models – some even in their, gasp, 40s – were stars at the previews of fall styles. And in the fashion world, that's a radical turn from the use of models not old enough to drive a car, let alone wield a credit card.

"I wanted something different," said Francisco Costa, creative director for the Calvin Klein Collection. "I wanted a cast that really represented a customer I design for, and that's not really a 16-year-old."

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Might be a trend, but hopefuIIy its more common sense. SeveraI years back ItaIy banned aII runway modeIs that did not have a heaIthy bmi. Its reassuring that some standards may finaIIy be met. I recaII the shock tactics of the earIy 90's (think it was earIy 90's) with the "cocaine chic" Iook that CaIvin KIein kicked off. ModeIs with bIank stares and ribs poking out their bodies. The weird thing was that it seemed to set a standard for a whiIe..where it was no Ionger as shocking to see modeIs with Iegs as thick as their arms anymore. And..as most trends from the runway, however bizarre they are, fiIter down into other areas..it seemed to spark a trend for actresses to get thinner and thinner. "IoIIypop heads" the press caIIed them. Even in recent times young actresses and modeIs have died from eating disorder reIated iIInesses. HopefuIIy a curvier trend wiII encourage a more womanIy figure..BUT..as the fashion worId goes for the extreme, my concern is that it wiII spark an unheaIthy "manufactured" hourgIass shape. In the form of breast and buttock enhancements and Iipo around waist areas and corset biding to re-moId the shape etc.

You mean like the Kim Kardashian look?

SBK

Ive seen this trend starting since a few years now? was it some international fashion week in either spain or milan in 2006/7 or something like that, where size 'zero' models were banned?

and they actually made some requirements that the models should be BIGGER than such and such measurements

google it...should come up I hope

Might be a trend, but hopefuIIy its more common sense. SeveraI years back ItaIy banned aII runway modeIs that did not have a heaIthy bmi. Its reassuring that some standards may finaIIy be met. I recaII the shock tactics of the earIy 90's (think it was earIy 90's) with the "cocaine chic" Iook that CaIvin KIein kicked off. ModeIs with bIank stares and ribs poking out their bodies. The weird thing was that it seemed to set a standard for a whiIe..where it was no Ionger as shocking to see modeIs with Iegs as thick as their arms anymore. And..as most trends from the runway, however bizarre they are, fiIter down into other areas..it seemed to spark a trend for actresses to get thinner and thinner. "IoIIypop heads" the press caIIed them. Even in recent times young actresses and modeIs have died from eating disorder reIated iIInesses. HopefuIIy a curvier trend wiII encourage a more womanIy figure..BUT..as the fashion worId goes for the extreme, my concern is that it wiII spark an unheaIthy "manufactured" hourgIass shape. In the form of breast and buttock enhancements and Iipo around waist areas and corset biding to re-moId the shape etc.

Sophia Loren! I'll have to stay seated all day now, for fear of standing up....

SC

Glamour's September 2009 issue featured Lizzi Miller with a pretty fatty belly. In spite of being printed on page 194 (!), her photo caused thousands of comments and gained some popularity to Glamour. It is claimed that the photo had not been airbrushed (without airbrushing plenty of models would end up looking in the same way on magazines' covers )

Anyone ever watch the Dove Commercial about airbrushing etc? Pretty amazing.

Glamour's September 2009 issue featured Lizzi Miller with a pretty fatty belly. In spite of being printed on page 194 (!), her photo caused thousands of comments and gained some popularity to Glamour. It is claimed that the photo had not been airbrushed (without airbrushing plenty of models would end up looking in the same way on magazines' covers )

Sat like that I think anyone would show a little roll, even the scrawniest of cartoon stick characters.

I think fashion designers should use dog-ugly models, to show the benefit of their clothes.

I'm going to get stick for that, I know...

Maybe they do...and they're geniuses

SC

Sat like that I think anyone would show a little roll, even the scrawniest of cartoon stick characters.

True, but still Ms. Miller, who looks happy and healthy, is not nearly as skinny as the lady in a pic below (who, without doubt, is heavily photo-shopped). The funniest thing is that clothes of 0 size in Europe is for runway only, not for a regular shop.

Sat like that I think anyone would show a little roll, even the scrawniest of cartoon stick characters.

True, but still Ms. Miller, who looks happy and healthy, is not nearly as skinny as the lady in a pic below (who, without doubt, is heavily photo-shopped). The funniest thing is that clothes of 0 size in Europe is for runway only, not for a regular shop.

Yuk. She should be taken into care by the social services

SC

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