A picture of a woman

Lizzie Miller in the September issue of US Glamour. Photograph: Walter Chin/Glamour I don't normally write about fashion photography on this blog, or go out of my way to see fashion images. E doesn't really buy magazines so it's not lying about the house either. But like any other person living in a big city, fashion photography is absolutely everywhere, something that we practically breathe in every time we step outside. In the case of major women's magazines, I find the images that they publish to be almost invisible given how repetitive they are.

The unhealthy fetishisation of thinness in fashion and women's magazines is not exactly breaking news. Angry opposing voices have been heard for some time on the issue, but little has changed except that we are probably likely to see more ultra-thin model flesh than before. When I came across this image (not flipping through Glamour magazine unfortunately, but on the Guardian website), it stopped me in my tracks. For a split-second I wondered whether this little belly had been photo-shopped onto this woman's body? That first reaction quickly turned into amazement. Amazement that I couldn't remember having seen another image like this, that this image of a woman whose body is just slightly closer to some form of reality could possibly be this unusual, that people are actually having a debate about whether this woman is fat, that I could have had such a ridiculous sub-conscious reaction. As the author of the article suggested this image being published definitely shouldn't be newsworthy, but unfortunately it is.

As an aside I find it highly amusing that an article written to highlight the ridiculous body image standards of women's magazines should have the following url: www.../lizzie-miller-model-fat