Over the weekend, model Jourdan Dunn announced she wouldn't appear in Dior's couture show because of her boobs.
Ahahahahahaha I just for cancelled from Dior because of my boobs! I❤ fashion #Couture
Jourdan Dunn
@missjourdandunn
Ahahahahahaha I just for cancelled from Dior because of my boobs! I⤠fashion #Couture
I'm normally told I'm cancelled because I'm 'coloured' so being cancelled because off my boobs is a minor : )
Jourdan Dunn
@missjourdandunn
I'm normally told I'm cancelled because I'm 'coloured' so being cancelled because off my boobs is a minor : )
Dunn has the quintessential runway model figure: super tall, super thin, legs for days, etc.
She's one of the best models working today, so if Dior wants to cut her for having a chest, it's their loss.
Dunn probably didn't stand a strong chance of getting cast for the show, anyway, since none of the 48 looks in Dior's fall 2013 ready-to-wear show were modeled by black women. Also excluded from the show's cast: busty women.
This kind of casting makes very little sense when Kate Upton, who's partly famous for her bosom, is the hottest thing to happen to modeling since the '90s.
But the fashion industry and world at large still isn't used to a model with a rack. Just Monday in Women's Wear Daily, the fashion industry's daily must-read, Kate Upton was described as "full-figured" in an article about September cover stars.
Upton, who has a chest, yes, but hardly seems "full-figured," is the only person in the story whose body type was commented on. Jennifer Lawrence, Taylor Swift, Jennifer Aniston, Blake Lively, and Jennifer Garner, among others, were all mentioned, but none were described as "thin" or "curvy" or "full-figured." The difference between those stars and Upton is that Upton is still primarily a fashion model. And fashion models are of a type — thin and flat-chested with chiseled muscles — that Upton doesn't fit into. You don't see Karlie Kloss randomly described as "thin" in most articles. Because she's a model, and that's what we expect, so why state the obvious?
But the wonderful thing about Upton and Dunn is how they've shattered the mold of what a modern top model is. It's not just a super-thin white girl with a small chest who can fit seamlessly into a Dior runway cast. It's a girl with a personality, a Twitter following, a vivaciousness that doesn't come from looking like every other model or being able to wriggle into a couture gown. It's a girl who stands out, which much of the industry seems loath to embrace. And sadly, standing out in fashion as a model right now is apparently as easy as having breasts. You know, those things that most women have. It's a good thing fashion isn't trying to sell us stuff. Oh wait.