'Elle' anoints trend to plus-size models

It has featured naked women on the cover and even actresses without make-up.

But now one of the world's leading fashion magazines has created a real shock for France's fashionistas by tackling the last taboo: plus-size models.

The latest edition of French Elle has a picture of model Tara Lynn wearing a white jumpsuit on the cover.

Lynn is a plus-size model who sports, it says, an "adorable belly fat" and inside appears with three other larger models for 32 pages of a "special edition" dedicated to plus-size fashion.

It comes a month after Italian Vogue launched an online section called "Vogue Curvy" dedicated to fashion and beauty for larger women.

In January, US glossy magazine V ran a plus-size-themed edition featuring Lynn and other models under the headline "Curves ahead".

And last September, the issue was again in the spotlight after British designer Mark Fast's London show caused a storm when his stylist allegedly walked out over a decision to use larger models.

Some see Elle's decision to challenge the national stereotype of slender, chic Parisian women as breaking down the last bastion of a super-slim aesthetic that has gripped the fashion world.

However, many doubt the French will ever accept a larger body as an acceptable look. Some said the Elle shoot was simply a "gimmick, not a trend".

Others disagree. Velvet d'Amour, a US model who lives in Paris, has conquered both fashion and television at size 28.

She has been a catwalk model for Gaultier and Galliano and is now a popular television commentator.

Shops and websites for larger women are becoming highly visible.

Parisian fashion writer Sakina said the Elle cover was a wonderful initiative.

"It's almost unbelievable to see such a huge magazine cover a real plus-size woman. Along with Vogue dedicating a section to curvy women, it's the most shaking news I've seen.

"Fashion has created a gap between itself and real women.

"From skinny, to curvy, to fat, the population is made of very different bodies and the contrast between the women represented in fashion or advertising has been so important that most women don't feel good about themselves.

"I, too, have had body issues: I tried to fight what I genetically am because I always thought that being beautiful could never mean being curvy."

Although far behind the US and the UK, the French are getting significantly bigger.

Statistics show that 42 per cent of French women are now classified as overweight or obese, while more than half the male population - 51 per cent of French men - are officially overweight or obese.

But one Parisian fashion industry insider, who did not want to be named, said French Elle was acting less out of desire for change than "to respond to the criticisms directed at them for showing only thin models".

"It's a gimmick," he said. "Having one edition that you fill with big girls is like world women's day: one day a year is reserved for them and the rest of the time you go back to normal."

He said the capital's fashion elite was far from changing its mind about bigger models.

"You know why? Because clothes don't look as good on bigger people."

Fat French gain on US

The trend towards bigger bodies is growing so fast that by 2020, France will have the same rates of overweight and obese people as the United States.

Anorexia in France is estimated to affect 1 per cent of the population, while 11 per cent of young women have compulsive eating behaviours.

The fattest town is Roubaix, in northern France, where 51 per cent of the population is overweight or obese.

About 55,000 French people die of obesity-related illnesses each year.

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