In an industry where not only is thin “in”, it is a mandatory standard, America’s Next Top Model has surprised the world and the high fashion industry by selecting a full-figured girl to be this cycle’s competition winner. The winner of this season’s cycle is Whitney Thompson, pictured right here with the runners up Fatima Siad (left) and Anna Bradfield (center) at the CW Network 2008 Upfronts held at the Lincoln Center in Manhattan. You’d never guess by looking at Whitney that she is a plus-sized, but in high fashion, any size that will not fit into sample runway sizes is plus-sized, and those generally range from size 2 to size 6. And this was Whitney’s struggle all season when she would run into designers who didn’t have her size 8 in stock. Nonetheless, all through the season Whitney was making history by being the first ANTM plus-sized girl to get “this far”. It should come as no surprise that she’s the season winner, as Tyra Banks, show producer, has been speaking very loudly about women’s health and weight concerns, and there are even some rumors that Whitney won the show so that she, and the show, could be used as a platform to showcase this for Tyra. Either way, the fashion industry has made a very bold statement, let’s hope this is not just “for looks” and that there is some follow through here, as waves like this could certainly sway industry norms for a long time to come.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 18th, 2008 at 2:53 pm and is filed under ANTM, Celebrities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.