No more size zero! Former plus-size model Crystal Renn calls for size 8 samples so magazines feature more diverse body shapes

Former plus-size model Crystal Renn has called for sample sizes sent to magazines for fashion shoots be made bigger.
The 26-year-old believes that designers should change from the standard U.S. size zero or 2 (UK 4 to 6) to a U.S. size 8 (UK 12).
'By having a size 8 sample, you are giving freedom to a designer,' she said at a panel discussion hosted by The Model Alliance as part of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week at Pace University in New York.

Calling for change: Former plus-size model Crystal Renn believes that designers should change their sample sizes from the standard U.S. size zero or 2 to a size 8

'Most of the models are going to be size 6 and 8, and you could have 10s. If a really amazing model walked in who was a size zero, you would tailor the dress down to her.'
Ms Renn, who was once a U.S. size 12, did have praise for designer Zac Posen, thanks to his attempts to add diversity to the catwalk by using a variety of different body shapes in his models.

 

She explained: 'There are some people who lead and Zac Posen is one of those people. Modelling is about beauty, but it's also an energy. That's not a size.'

'By having a size 8 sample, you are giving freedom to a designer. Most models are going to be size 6 and 8, and you could have 10s'

The supermodel is not the first to address this issue, though it has not been raised to high-profile degree in several years.
In 2009, the editor of British Vogue accused designers of forcing magazines to hire skinnier models to fit the clothes they make.
Alexandra Shulman said that many of the garments sent out to magazines for photoshoots are so small they do not even fit the star models.
In a strongly-worded letter not intended for publication, she said she had been forced to hire girls 'with jutting bones and no breasts or hips' simply so they could get into the garments.

Balanced perspective: Ms Renn, pictured on the catwalk in September 2010 (left) and February 2010 (right), when she was larger, was once a U.S. size 12 and classified as a plus-size model

She said Vogue was now regularly retouching photographs to make models look bigger and healthier.
'We have now reached a point where many of the sample sizes don't comfortably fit even the established star models,' read the letter, which was sent to the likes of Karl Lagerfeld, John Galliano, Prada and Versace.
'Instead we are having to use girls with jutting hip bones and no breasts or hips, to fit them.
The panel discussion also saw top modelling agent Chris Gay, president of Marilyn Model Agency, slam the 'ridiculous' standards of the fashion industry.
He told the assembled guests: 'The industry standards are ridiculous. They're not standards a woman can keep through her life or her career ... You're replacing good models with new models because of unrealistic standards.'