SIZES MATTERS
Growing craze for girls with curves
“PLEASE find me the biggest size for her.”
Fashion designer Ouma Tema will never forget her mother’s standard request to shop assistants whenever she took her daughter shopping for Christmas clothes.
But Tema’s curves were the inspiration for her career — designing garments that make large women feel sexy.
She has dressed celebs including TV personality Noeleen Maholwana-Sangqu, poet Lebo Mashile, Highveld 94.7’s Anele Mdoda, Metro FM’s Criselda Kananda and comedian Celeste Ntuli.
Tema is one of many South African women referred to as plus-size or curvy, as demand for “big-boned” models grows.
The South African market for
People don’t realise we eat healthy and work out. We maintain a certain look
plus-size models is relatively small compared with the US and Europe, where women such as Tess Holliday and Ashley Graham have become famous for their buxom beauty.
But agencies say it’s becoming more lucrative.
James Emanuel, director and founder of Fan Jam Model Management, points to growing demand for plus-size models.
“More so internationally, but locally our plus-size models do catwalks generally, showcasing curvy jeans and specifically tailored designs.
“It can be very lucrative with a strong management team. However, it can take longer to break into the market than regular-size models.
“Being a confident woman, comfortable in her own skin and able to be as glamorous in the flesh as on her latest billboard is what makes an icon.”
Donné le Grange of Ice modelling agency said there was a “consistent market” for plus-size models in South Africa.
“If a plus-size model is of international standards, we can place her with agencies in Europe and the US and she will travel full time. The international plus-size industry is incredibly lucrative. Some of these models make more than mainstream models.
“Locally, one would not be able to sustain oneself on plus-size work alone — as is also the case with mainstream modelling — so the girls cast for TV and more mainstream work in addition to having a part-time corporate job.”
In September, New York Fashion Week took a bold turn when Graham — the first plussize model to grace the pages of Sports Illustrated — partnered with Canadian retailer Addition Elle to launch her own line of lingerie, a collection she also modelled alongside a number of other beautiful plus-size models. She is a size 16.
But some critics were not impressed with Holliday, who is a size 22, saying she was promoting an “unhealthy body image”.
While the international size for a plus-size model is 12, in South Africa it’s 14 or 16.
South African plus-size model Charnelle Paulse, signed to Ice agency with 11 others, said they were often regarded as “fat models”.
“People don’t realise that we eat healthy and work out. It’s our job and we have to maintain a certain look,” said Paulse.
Geenay Laubscher, a model at Fan Jam, said: “I am not overweight and unhealthy. I just have a different body type — I have muscle tone that isn’t going anywhere.”
Retailers such as Queenspark, Donna Claire, Ackermans, Miladys, Mr Price, Edgars and Jet often book plus-size models for shoots, and bookings also come from local designers such as David Tlale, who in 2011 dedicated his runway show to women of all shapes and sizes.
“It would be unrealistic for me to only dress thin girls. What people see on the ramp is a showcase or marketing space of what I have in my store, but all this is available to women of all sizes,” said Tlale.
For designer Tema, the fact that “some of the clothes from retailers were not flattering or sexy” led her to start her own fashion line, in 2009. Plus Fab caters for women between sizes 38 and 50. “The biggest client I have is a size 50, with the topselling size being 40 and 42. These are mostly women who are fed up with the average shirt, skirt and granny attire that you find in stores in the curvy women’s section. Big girls can also be sexy.”