Paul James is an Australian personal trainer and former underwear model who intentionally gained 40kg in five months “so that he could better understand his obese clients.” Seriously.

James ate piles of junk food and did no exercise for five months to achieve his bizarre goal of 120kg. When I say piles of food, I mean piles. Three litres of chocolate milk, crisps and bacon for breakfast. A whole chicken and chips before bed. No exercise at all.

In a testament to the set-point theory (that is, your body likes to keep your weight relatively stable), despite this ridiculous diet, James had difficulty gaining weight at first.

But gain he did, and after keeping the weight on for three months, he has been working hard to lose it all. The Herald Sun has just reported that he’s almost back to his original weight of 80kg. What a fuckin’ surprise.

PJ said the biggest change he made was switching to a healthy diet, and he also follows a regular exercise regime.

“I didn’t do anything drastic because I wanted to show that anyone could make the changes that I made,” he said.

Right.

A man who was not fat works incredibly hard to force his body to bec0me fat. Then said man works out like a demon to get his body back to his starting point.

That’s no fucking insight in that. Fat people don’t drink three litres of chocolate milk for breakfast. We don’t eat chickens before bed. Most of us eat a reasonable diet and exercise. Most of us have spent years changing our diet and exercising in a vain attempt to lose weight. Most of us have failed to lose weight, but then we never started with the physique of an underwear model.

“I achieved what I wanted to. I got a greater understanding and appreciation for anyone trying to lose weight and I am really proud of going the extra mile to relate to my clients.”

In the meantime, he’s also gotten a lot of international press that has cemented what so many people think of fat people: we’re gluttonous, lazy slobs. But no matter, at least he achieved his goals…

Like I said, Paul James is a turd.

Sources: The London Telegraph, the Herald Sun

The future Mrs Frances (humour me), Crystal Renn, is in an amazing new editorial for Elle Canada, January 2010. The people at Elle Canada must love her as much as I do, as this is the third editorial she’s done with them in the last 12 months (check out the other two on Runway Revolution here and here) and this one covers 18 pages.

I love this shoot. The pictures are absolutely stunning, as I’ve come to expect from Leda & St Jacques, and I adore the ultra glamourous New Years Eve styling.

Also, Crystal has the most fantastic hair in the business – hands down.

I know, I know, I know. Every fat woman in the world loves Beth Ditto. But my love for her is still quite new, so I’m still very much in the honeymoon stage. Therefore, she gets a mention on my very exclusive, very prestigious, Women I Love section.

What I love more than anything – more than her brilliant songs with The Gossip, more than the line she did with Evans – is that she’s a chameleon.

She displays her body like it’s an artwork:

Modelling for House of Blue Eyes, September 2008

The Gossip performing at London’s Forum, 13 September 2007

At the 2007 NME Awards

She can be a fierce couture bish:

Love magazine, March 2009

At the 2009 Mercury Music Awards, London

Photo by Alice Hawkins

BlackBook by Shawn Mortensen, May 2009

BlackBook by Shawn Mortensen, May 2009

She’s friends with Jeremy Scott and looks great in his dresses (for this, I will be forever jealous):

via Jeremy Scott's Twicpic account

At the JC de Castelbajac Fashion Show during the 2009 Paris Fashion Week

Photo by zerbit on flickr

NYLON magazine, May (…or June) 2008

And she looks like she’s the sweetest girl in the world:

At the Love magazine launch, December 2008

LOVE YOU, BETH.

That’s the title of an article by David Penberthy currently up on The Punch. The Punch is an Australian opinion site, owned by News Limited. David Penberthy has been a News Limited employee for years, and is the former editor of Sydney’s tabloid, the Daily Telegraph. 

The reason for David jumping on the self-esteem bandwagon is that Australia has been knee-deep in a body image discussion. Last month, the National Advisory Group on Body Image – which was established by the Australian government in March – submitted the Proposed National Strategy on Body Image to the government. Among the recommendations is a Voluntary Industry Code of Conduct on Body Image, which recommends using ‘healthy weight’ models (a pretty ambiguous term), realistic and natural images of people and disclosure when images of people have been digitally manipulated. The report is currently under consideration by the government, and they will release their response in 2010. You can read the complete report here or, if you’re lazy, a summary of the recommendations here.

So that’s all pretty positive. There was a lot of consulatation and the report attracted a lot of national press. But David felt that this process what missing something, and that something was men.

The Punch has today assembled this special package of pieces about female body image through the eyes of blokes.

Nevermind that the report is aimed at both sexes (though it should be noted that there is a focus on females) and is primarily targeted to school-aged people. Forget that. David wants to talk about chicks he thinks are hot.

We were moved to embark on this project because the one missing feature from the important national debate about female body image is that at no stage has anybody asked the blokes what they think.

It’s a pity – because there is now some interesting evidence that women are laying a serious guilt-trip on themselves and reinforcing stereotypes about their size and shape which have absolutely no bearing on whether men find them attractive or not.

This is the most petulant statement I’ve read in a long time. ALL THIS TALK ABOUT HOW WOMEN FEEL ABOUT THEMSELVES AND NO ONE ASKED MEEEEEEEEEEE.

I get that this, though obviously sensationalist, was well-intentioned and that too many women think that they are unattractive to others. But it’s so fucking ridiculous for anyone to think that the magic cure to low self-esteem is what men find attractive. Get your hand off it, Dave.

It’s possible that men haven’t been quizzed on their sexual preferences as part of the consultation process because a woman’s body image should not be tethered to what men find attractive. How revolutionary.

I was contacted by a brand new blogger, Dominique Silva, asking me to put the call out for her. Dom has created the blog A Body Revolution.

In her words:

I created this blog to help women learn to love themselves. … I hope that one day whether you are a size 2 or a size 22, whether your nose sticks out more than you think it should, whether your knees have scars, whether you believe your skin is too light or too dark, I hope that you will go out into the world with your head held high. Be confident and accept your body.

The Body Revolution is looking a wee bit empty because she is counting on us, dear readers, for her content.

Dom wants you to send her pictures of the parts of your body that you used to hate but have since come to accept, or even love. It can be something small (freckles, hair, fingernails), something big (belly, legs, back), or it can be your entire body. She’d also like a paragraph or two about why you used to hate it and how you came to love it. Please send your pictures and your stories to thebodyrev@gmail.com.

I think this is a smashing idea and I’m jumping right on board. This is the picture and story I have sent in:

I hated my bottom for years. Growing up in a white coastal town – surrounded by thin, blonde, ample breasted surfer girls – it was obviously wrong. It stood, and continues to stand, between me and pants. I wished there was some way I could just cut it off and look like everyone else.

Until I started to like not looking like everyone else.

Now, I like how it curves so arrogantly. The way my bottom sticks out is unashamedly sexy. It’s intimidating. It’s indecent. My arse breaks hearts!

I love my bottom and will never again want it to look like everyone else’s. I love every glorious jiggling centimetre of it.

(Yes, they are stretch marks on my hip. And I love them too.)

I’ve been thinking about writing a post on this for months, but was given a kick in the pants by a post on Big Fat Deal titled ‘Fat Fetishists on Tyra’.

First of all, we need to work out our definitions. There are very clear differences between fat admiration (a preference for fat people), fat fetishism (can only be aroused by fat), and feederism (actively wanting/making your partner fatter). People have used these terms interchangeably and they shouldn’t.

More than anything, my problem with the whole Tyra thing (that bastion of media integrity) is that those who are attracted to fat women are considered so odd, their preferences considered so bizarre, that they have a whole segment dedicated to them. Really, Tyra? REALLY? You wouldn’t base a segment on men who prefer blondes, so you’re revealing yourself to be incredibly judgemental by treating fat admiration as an ‘issue’ to be dissected.

Straight up: I have no problem whatsoever with fat admirers. I was introduced to the online fat admiration scene by a boy. At that time, my self-esteem wasn’t the best – I tolerated my body, but I certainly didn’t love it. I figured guys were attracted to me in spite of my body, not because of it. As taboo as this is to admit in the Fatosphere, it was a huuuuuuge revelation to find that people not only thought I was sexy, but preferred my fat self.

Don’t get me wrong – some guys on those websites are creeps. I’d get ridiculous messages that were obviously written with one hand. And I am not defined by how many people find me attactive. Having said that, realising that there were people out there who thought my body was perfection meant that I could finally let go of all the ‘my body isn’t good enough” bullshit that I had held onto for years.

I’m not saying that external validation is the only measure of worth. But I can’t ignore the fact that fat admiration was a significant part of my fat acceptance.

Thanks to blogs like The Manfattan Project and Curvy Street Style on Saks in the City, I’ve been noticing more and more how many well dressed fat women there are walking around. So I am officially hitching myself to the Street Fashion Bandwagon with my new feature, Seen In…

Giddy up!

Imogene, Sydney CBD

Corporate wear can be so frightfully dull, but I saw Imogene’s sweet blouse and suit combo from about 20m away. (Then I raced over to her and nervously babbled about taking her picture for my blog. She was nice about the whole thing, which was quite good of her, so extra points for Imogene.)

I received an email from the people at the plus-size brand IGIGI that opened with “I know you are a big fan of Fluvia Lacerda…” (Is it really that obvious? I thought I was being subtle.)

IGIGI have commissioned a short film titled ‘16′, directed by fashion photographer Mark De Paola and starring my beloved Fluvia Lacerda.

In the company’s words:

This film is about beauty – real beauty. Not the artificial, airbrushed, enhanced, starved beauty we are bombarded with everyday. It is about a powerful, sexy woman who loves herself and her body.

It’s certainly an interesting idea. The film is beautifully shot and Fluvia looks UH-MAY-ZING.

For more information and to have some input into the second chapter of ‘16′, visit IGIGI’s website. The beautiful dress worn by Fluvia in the film is also available at IGIGI.

There goes Karl Lagerfeld, running his mouth again.

“No one wants to see curvy women,” Lagerfeld was quoted as saying on the website of news magazine Focus on Sunday.

“You’ve got fat mothers with their bags of chips sitting in front of the television and saying that thin models are ugly,” he added.

The world of fashion is about “dreams and illusions”…

I get that much of Karl’s anti-fat outlook probably has to do with the fact that Karl used to be a fatty. Not only that, when he was a fatty he had ACTUAL FACIAL EXPRESSIONS.

Proof fat people are jolly.

So maybe he’s not some twatty body fascist. Maybe he’s still navigating the body acceptance journey. Poor little dear. Karl, if you need it, there’s a hug waiting for you in my now ample bosom.

I agree with him on one point. Runway shows are, for the most part, about “dreams and illusions”. Even I, from my casual flirting with fashion (read: I look at pictures of fashion shows every so often when avoiding work), can see that the catwalk relies heavily on the theatrical. But I fail to see how this is exclusively the domain of the skinny model.

Crystal Renn in the finale dress for Jean-Paul Gaultier prêt-à-porter S/S06

Johanna Dray for John Galliano, S/S06

Velvet d’Amour for Jean-Paul Gaultier, S/S07

See? Fierce as shit, hips and all.

While runway shows look amazing, they don’t exactly translate to the street very well. Which is where Brigitte comes in.

[Lagerfeld dismissed] as “absurd” the debate prompted by Brigitte magazine which said it would no longer feature professional models on its pages.

Brigitte, one of Germany’s top women’s magazines, said last week it would only publish photographs of “real women” after readers complained they could not identify with the models depicted.

The magazine’s editor-in-chief Andreas Lebert told The Guardian last week that he was sick of having to retouch photos of underweight models.

“For years we have had to use Photoshop to fatten the girls up,” he said. “Especially their thighs and decolletage. But this is disturbing and perverse, and what has it got to do with our real reader?”

He said he would invite German women to put themselves forward as models for the magazine. According to The Guardian he is likely to extend an invitation to Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The magazine will stop using professional models from 2010.

There is a reason why blogs like The Sartorialist and all the fatshion blogs out there are so popular – we want to see how trends translate onto a real body. Professional models take very nice photographs, but someone like me with a body like mine is not exactly inspired to try out, say, the jumpsuit when shown a photo like this:

Carmen Kass in Spanish Vogue, May 2009

But put it on a body like this:

via Fat Girls Like Nice Clothes Too

Or even a body like this:

via Le Blog de Betty

And you’re more likely to get my money.

This is not about banning skinny models from catwalks or only allowing fat(ter) women in magazines. This is about allowing consumers to relate to fashion in a more meaningful way through a wider spectrum of bodies. The validation women will get for their body shapes is just gravy. From a cold, hard, financial standpoint, it makes sense for fashion magazines, advertisers and clothing brands to get on board the Everyday Woman train.

Oh, and Karl?

Article source: Sydney Morning Herald
Picture source: Fat Girls Like Nice Clothes Too!
Picture source: Le Blog de Betty

Allen, Bedford Ave. (photo by Greg Speck)

Everyone should check out The Manfattan Project post-haste.

In the words of the moderator:

[The Manfattan Project is a] collection of photographs of stylish everyday people in New York City. These people are beautiful, they are well-dressed, they are confident. They are also, without apologies or contradictions, FAT.

Hana Malia, Union Square Farmer’s Market

I never realised how rarely I see the everyday street fashion of fat people until this site came along.

Jess, FIT.

Well, go on then. Clickety click your way over there.