This advert is comprised of six women, four white and two black. They are all in their twenties with sylph-like bodies, with long legs, skinny arms, and elegant hands. Because none of the women have the body type I do, I feel that they are designing for a specific size. These women have small breasts and 15% body fat. Miu Miu does sell “plus-size” clothes, but it stops at a certain point and I’ve never seen a fat woman wearing Miu Miu (except the shoes), however, I have seen fat men in Miu Miu. A quick google search agrees, only the shoes universally fit because the clothes sizing stops at a 12. What a pathetic excuse for inclusivity. The average woman is between a 16-18, yet perhaps Miu Miu believes that the average woman should not be wearing Miu Miu in the first place. I believe most big designers are race inclusive (to an extent), age inclusive, yet not size inclusive. In this particular advert, there is a small sign that states “ALL AGES WELCOME” (yet not all sizes…). They are at a New Orleans Jazz Bar, yet only a third of the models present are black. Why can’t all of them be black? Why is there always one token black model so that it’s OK for the rest of the models to be white? Why is it so hard for designers to showcase beautiful bodies that aren’t caucasian? It is also worth noting that the white models are facing each other, yet one black model is leaning in yet being ignored while the other stands at the front of the line, speaking to no one and looking at no one. Almost every other Miu Miu advert I waded through showed white, and only white, models. I chose this one because of the interesting setting. They are waiting in line, just like how American women are waiting for Miu Miu to go up to an 18! “(…)for fat women, these images merely serve as constant reminders of their outsider status.” How can average women feel normal when they are almost never represented, and when they are, it is often simply a ploy to convince the world that this brand is forward thinking and inclusive?
(footnote symbol is not available on here but the quote is from this article)
Peters, Lauren Downing. “When Brands Use Plus-Size Models and Don’t Make Plus-Size Clothes.” Vox. Vox, June 5, 2018. https://www.vox.com/2018/6/5/17236466/size-appropriation-brands-clothes-plus-size.
