How much did you miss me? Was it a lot? It was probably a lot.

My plane landed at Sydney Airport on Friday morning and it’s only now that I’ve fought through enough of the jetlag to type something longer than 140 characters. 

Six weeks doesn’t seem like such a long time, but a few exciting things have happened while I’ve been away: 

Tara Lynn in Elle France, April 2010

• The April 2010 edition of Elle France was dedicated to plus size fashion. The magazine featured an editorial spread of beautiful Tara Lynn (who, after her V Magazine feature, seems to be the plus size model of the minute). The magazine also styled model Johanna Dray, singer Juliette Katz and blogger Stephanie Zwicky.  VivaLesRondes was good enough to scan all the content for our viewing pleasure.
• Plus size fashion and the difficulty of being both plus size and fashionable is – slowly but surely - getting more and more attention in Australia.
  
• Just a few days after that article appeared, an article promoting Health at Every Size also appeared on Sydney Morning Herald’s website. You could’ve knocked me over with a feather.

In news more directly relating to me (= the best kind of news), I bought a pile of new clothes and new accessories in my travels that I can’t wait to show you - watch this space for more multicoloured OOTDs.

Preview: Day 2 of V Magazine’s Size Issue

Tara Lynn by Sølve Sundsbø*

Last week, I showed you the preview of Crystal Renn’s editorial of V Magazine’s upcoming Size Issue. V Magazine are obviously trying to generate a lot of buzz, as Models.com have released yet another preview from the issue: Day 2: Curves Ahead by Sølve Sundsbø. (For the complete editorial and full size images, head to Models.com. All images are copyright V Magazine and respective photographers. The Size Issue is due out on 14 January 2010.)

As the name of the editorial suggests, these pictures place much more emphasis on the curvy body. In my opinion, the fashion is secondary to the thighs, hips and rolls on display.**

Candice Huffine by Sølve Sundsbø

While I am completely in love with the Day 1 editorial, I have a lot less love for this shoot. When a magazine like V attempts to display larger bodies as artworks in and of themselves, it always appears as though they are fighting their fashion instincts.

We all know that fashion magazines digitally retouch. A lot. Freckles, cellulite, shadows, uneven skin tone – anything that is perceived to be a flaw is mercilessly eliminated. However, in this shoot fat rolls, normally an obvious flaw to be removed, must be kept as a feature of the editorial.

So how does a photography team accept the inclusion of fat rolls and present a flawless fashion spread? By doing a really bad job of retouching.

Candice Huffine and Tara Lynn by Sølve Sundsbø

I mean, look at that. That picture is ridiculous. Candice Huffine has a beautiful roll on her back, yet her back does not bulge in any way. Tara Lynn has some adorable belly chub, yet her stomach stops exactly at the waistband and there is no overhang. Fat doesn’t sit so conveniently in real life.

This editorial is trying so hard to present the ‘real’ body and yet the finished product looks disappointingly fake.

*As an aside, that first image of Tara Lynn looks an awful lot like a number of fat softcore pictures I’ve seen. For example, this picture of erotic model that I featured on Hey, Fat Chick. I don’t know if it was deliberate but it sure is interesting…
** Which bothers me, as it’s in a fashion magazine. “Look! Plus size models! We still don’t make sample sizes for them, but look how nice they are naked!”