Size 8 model reveals she has to wear fat suits to model for plus-sized clothing
In November 2021, model and content creator Karoline Bjørnelykke shared a clip on TikTok that sent shockwaves throughout the fashion industry. The model confessed that she is a size 8, and has frequently been asked to wear padding around her breasts, stomach and thighs to model for plus-size clothing, showing how far the modelling industry still has to go to become size-accepting and inclusive.
For reference, the fashion industry usually defines plus-size models as anyone larger than a size 6.
In the now removed video, the Norwegian model, whose TikTok username is @coolquinn, explained that she works as a plus-sized model and is usually hired by brands that carry sizes XL to 5XL.
“If you have eyes, you can see that I’m not that size,” the red-headed model stated in the clip. “So, how do we fix this?”
Bjørnelykke goes on to show her viewers a bag filled with “padding,” which she describes as a “fat suit in pieces.” She explained that she was expected to bring the pieces in for photoshoots with larger clothing sizes. “It’s because they want the neck and the face to look really slim and sharp, which doesn’t just create unrealistic standards, but impossible ones,” the content creator said, reflecting on the practice.
Bjørnelykke then demonstrated how she stuffs the suit with padding to make herself look bigger, adding that the clothes are also sometimes pinned in the back to make it look like they fit. “So if the clothes look really good from the front, it probably looks like sh*t from the back.”
“My suggestion is just to use real plus-sized women because there are so many gorgeous plus-sized women out there,” Bjørnelykke stated before she logged off.
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Of course, this shocking revelation went viral almost immediately and Bjørnelykke’s clip garnered more than 478,000 views in the first weeks after its release.
Many netizens were understandably shocked and disgusted by the idea of stuffing slim women into fat suits for plus-size fashion. So they started to leverage a complicated and nuanced critique of fashion labels for the narrow scope through which they viewed people’s bodies, maintaining thinness as the standard, and classifying averages such as size 8 and 10 as plus-sized.
This will never not piss me off. When I was younger, I spent years wondering how ‘plus size models’ had absolutely no fat on their face, neck, collarbones or arms. I was truly baffled, until around 6 years ago when I learned that it’s much slimmer women wearing fat suits 🙃 pic.twitter.com/QI8ciqa5aQ
— Dr. Jessica Taylor (@DrJessTaylor) July 8, 2023
Watched a tiktok that properly upset me. It was a model saying that certain clothing brands make her wear a fat suit and padding to model the plus size clothes, which is how the models faces and necks and arms are so much thinner, but their body looks thicker.
— Dr. Jessica Taylor (@DrJessTaylor) January 8, 2022
Appalled.
Fat suits are completely unacceptable bc fat people are human and it once again treats us like things. Fat suits dehumanizes fat people. Even when they're worn by people i love like Viola Davis and Sarah Paulson.
— Plus This! Show (@plusthisshow) April 28, 2021
It pisses me off that VS is going to get a pat on the back for finally using a “plus size” model when that’s literally just the size of the average woman. That’s not plus size. pic.twitter.com/4oc7mDDY6l
— 𝐋𝐃 ❤︎ (@moonlithaze_) October 8, 2019
Following the critical conversations the post unleashed, BuzzFeed reached out to multiple content creators, including 25-year-old full-time model and influencer Sharon Clawson, about the padding controversy.
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Sharon has never been asked to use padding, but she told the internet news outlet that she certainly isn’t new to the concept: “I’ve had friends in the industry who had to do this,” she said. “I personally don’t believe it should be a thing. There are so many beautiful plus-size women who should be hired for the job for whatever sizes a client is looking for.”
“Something I notice is that a lot of brands, when hiring plus-size models, tend to lean towards the ‘hourglass look’,” she elaborated further. “Models with the smaller waist, bigger bust, and wider hips. I notice some brands are out making the change and being more inclusive, but I wish more brands would normalize normal bodies.”
When they asked the video creator herself what changes she would like to see, Bjørnelykke responded: “Designers and casting directors are on top of the hierarchy in the modelling industry, so my hope would be for them to be more inclusive in their work.”
“But I also think that us, the consumers, should be aware of where we put our money. If we’re buying more products from a brand who only uses traditional skinny, white models than a more inclusive brand, we are unconsciously contributing to the problem.”
