Fashioning Fat: Inside Plus-Size Modeling by Amanda M. Czerniawski

and now she’s going to their side. It is sad that she’s turned her back on us. 3
    This sharp criticism even applies to plus-size celebrities. As one model who championed herself as a feminist pointed out to me with disgust, “Have you seen her? Jennifer Hudson lost weight. She has sold out.” Hudson’s dramatic weight loss bothered many in the plus-size community. In particular, many criticized her “I Can” campaign with Weight Watchers for perpetuating thin privilege, i.e., the often invisible and unearned advantages granted to those of the desired body size that manifest in weight discrimination. In the commercial, the Oscar winner stated that before her partnership with the weight-loss chain in 2010, her “world was can’t,” but after her weight loss, she was liberated. Viewers received the message that you cannot be a success unless you are thin. Missing from the ad was the revelation that she won an Academy Award for her portrayal of a fat Effie White in the movie musical,
Dreamgirls
, in 2007.

    Left
: Crystal Renn Before Weight Loss in
Glamour Magazine
, May 2009.
Right
: Crystal Renn After Weight Loss in
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition
, 2012.
    Jennifer Hudson is another in a long line of celebrities who suffered from Celebrity Wasting Syndrome—a trend identified by Sondra Solovay and Marilyn Wann in which fat celebrities lose weight as they gain success. According to Beth Bernstein and Matilda St. John, these fat celebrities:
    specifically exploited their size to appeal to a perpetually underrepresented audience—fat women. Their subsequent frantic efforts to reducetheir size, coupled with their pathologizing comments about weight, both negated their initial positive impact and left their fat fans feeling used, duped, and rejected. 4
    As Hudson achieved success in her career, she abandoned her ceremonious role as fat icon. In doing so, she alienated the original fan base that supported her burgeoning career—fat and all.
    In sharp contrast, when Queen Latifah signed on as a celebrity spokesperson for national weight-loss chain Jenny Craig in December 2007, she was careful not to offend the plus-size community:
    If anything, I was worried about alienating my big girls. I didn’t want them to think, hey, she’s leaving us. But if I can be an example of loving yourself regardless of what you look like, I can be an example of loving yourself and being healthier. 5
    Unlike previous campaigns that featured the dramatic weight losses of spokespeople Kirstie Alley and Valerie Bertinelli, her campaign offered a new angle to weight loss—the emphasis on small changes in weight, measured by percentages of total body weight rather than pounds, and behavior to improve overall heart health.
    These plus-size models recognized that they fight for every job and media appearance. They struggle to gain acceptance of their work. They hope to expand their presence in fashion. At a casting for print work, I met Wendy, a size eighteen model who worked primarily in runway and showrooms but was aiming to branch out into commercial print modeling. While we sat together in the waiting room filled to the brim with a bevy of plus-size models, a young, slender man entered, searching for his appointed studio room. Upon noticing him, Wendy turned to me and remarked, “Look at that guy. Did you see that? Fear. For men, this is either heaven or hell. It is too much [for them] or a candy shop. Surrounded by all this, he thinks we are hungry.” By her comments, Wendy confronted the cultural stigma attached to “big girls,” whose voraciousappetites supposedly can swallow men whole, while acknowledging that there was, indeed, a niche for them, as well.
    This incident at the casting, provoked by a sheer look, revealed the tensions evoked by the presence of these women in the fashion industry. These models knew that they were fat and did not fulfill the normative expectations of a traditional fashion model. Those, like Wendy,