There has been a fair amount of scuttlebutt surrounding the September issue of Glamour magazine. In it, 20-year model Lizzie Miller poses nude, tastefully. But the peaches-and-cream Miller isn’t your typical glossy girl. She’s a robust size 12 with a bit of paunch to prove it. Readers have gone batty for the photo, which is used to illustrate a story about self-confidence. Glamour’s website has logged hundreds of comments on the photo, and aside from the occasional mindless insult, most are overwhelmingly positive.
For some odd reason, this is surprising news. Are people shocked that an average American woman wants to see herself represented in the pages of a magazine? After all, more than half of the country is considered overweight. Or, maybe we’ve all forgotten that Dove ran a campaign with real women that was a massive success. Sadly, none of this will cause an immediate change in the models that we see in fashion magazines, but, as an encouraging aside, Miller’s modeling agency has specifically told its new star to stay away from crash diets.
Miller’s appearance in Glamour is fantastic - how rare and refreshing to see a Rubenesque woman plunked down amid the waifish models and Photoshopped celebrities. What would be truly revolutionary, however, would be Miller appearing in the pages of Glamour clothed, as part of a fall fashion pictorial. This would send an even bigger message that women who are larger than a size 4 buy clothes and are interested in fashion. Enough Dove models in underwear and naked plus-size models. For the love of Kirstie Alley, let these women wear some clothes already.
Unfortunately, there’s a reason why you haven’t seen size 12 models in fashion shoots. Designers create specific clothes for the runway, magazine shoots, and the red carpet. Known as samples, these pieces are loaned out for the photo shoots you see in Vogue, Elle, and other publications. The catch is that these samples are only made in petite sizes such as 0, 2, or sometimes 4. I once styled a photo shoot for the Globe with a model who fibbed about her measurements, and spent a very challenging day squeezing her size 6 frame into size 4 dresses.
In his new life as a bachelor, Gosselin has taken to Ed Hardy tees the way Madonna has taken to 22-year-old Brazilian models. So much so that Gosselin is reported (emphasis on reported) to be in talks with Audiger to design for the label. Audiger - the man who also gave the brosephs of the world Von Dutch - has been vague about what may come out of a collaboration with Gosselin, but it may not matter. TLC, the network that airs “Jon and Kate Plus Eight’’ has vowed to digitally blur the Ed Hardy logos that are prominently displayed on the tees. Cheers to you, TLC. I’m sending you a bottle of Ed Hardy antibacterial hand sanitizer. Yes, such a product does exist, and no, I’m not going to make a joke about it, because it’s too easy.
Christopher Muther can be reached at muther@globe.com. 
