Denise Bidot

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Most of the time when the fashion industry employs a “plus-sized model,” the term refers to a size 10-12 woman who stands 6 feet 2 inches. The most recent example is the phenomenally gorgeous Robyn Lawley, who was touted as the first official plus-sized model in SI: Swim this year. Back in 2012, Ralph Lauren hired Robyn as their first ambassador into the plus-sized market. By 2014, Robyn was railing against what she called a “derogatory” label. She’s correct. It’s ridiculous that anyone over a size 12 gets shuffled into a different section of the clothing department.

Anyway, the big argument over Robyn’s appearance in SI was that she wasn’t a “real” plus-sized woman because she wasn’t a size 14 or above. This was one of those “gotchas” from the fashion industry. On one hand, it was nice to see a successful model over size 4. But it would be better to see true, plus-sized representation in fashion.

Enter Denise Bidot. She’s the first plus-sized model to walk a runway during New York fashion week. Denise is a true size 14 and stands 5 feet 9 inches. Denise tells Cosmo that she also has a problem with being called plus-sized:

On the meaning of “plus-sized”: “I think other people have a problem with [the term ‘plus-size’] more than I do. I don’t care what you call me. I’m glad to even have a place in this fashion industry. Plus-size, straight-size, in-betweenie — I don’t care regardless. I’m just a woman. I’m a curvy woman, and hopefully some day they do end up cutting out the word plus-size. But, for right now it’s nice to just have a section for us.”

[From Cosmopolitan.com on YouTube]

Denise speaks to her dilemma. It’s a big step for designers to make clothes for plus-sized women, but a better option would be to drop the plus-sized label. What need is there to place a label on certain sizes? Denise also stresses how motherhood has had her more accepting of her body. She wants to spread this newfound attitude to young women. Here’s a clip of Denise’s interview with Cosmo.

View image | gettyimages.com

View image | gettyimages.com

View image | gettyimages.com

View image | gettyimages.com

Photos courtesy of Getty & WENN

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