Sometimes, we get reduced to a blubbering pile of Demoiselle after coming across something truly thought-provoking. Honestly, this doesn’t happen all too often in the land of Fashion-&-Body-Image, but every so often we find a jewel that really makes us think.

Plus-sized model, Crystal Renn, and Spring 2010 Fashion Week darling Jacquelyn Jablonski faced off before the camera of ultra-photographer, Terry Richardson, for the January Issue of V Magazine (which hits newsstands on January 14).

Renn has been getting some media attention for her size as of late, having just released a book documenting her experience as both a “regular”-sized model and her transformation into a plus-sized model. The book is called Hungry: A Young Model’s Story of Appetite, Ambition and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves.

Here, she faces frames with an average-sized runway model, Jablonski, who is just 17 but managed to book over 50 runway shows last season. The girls are both wearing super-luxe, high fashion duds from design houses such as Dolce & Gabbana, Proenza Schouler, and Versace.

What do you think of this unique photoshoot?

While I can’t deny that my inner-chubby-girl is “rah-rah“-ing from the rooftops, I have to take a step back and really look at this shoot – I encourage you to do the same.

Before starting off with the “____ looks better than ___”s, let’s examine the concept at play – One size fits all. The originating magazine, V, claims that “[The photographer,] Terry Richardson finds that Spring’s most sizzling looks can work on any figure.”

Is that what’s really going on here? Maybe. But regardless of the intention, there are several ideas at play. I, for one, applaud this kind of display and – while there’s definitely a difference of *ahem* signals being sent by each of the models, I love that Crystal Renn comes off as a saucy saucepot vixenator who looks like she could eat you, and your Balenciaga boots, too. Jablonski? She looks great, as well – but a completely different type of “great”. The important idea here is that, aside from the fact that they shouldn’t be compared to each other, they really can’t.

I’d like to carry on in my life resting assured that the will behind this photoshoot wasn’t aiming to over-sexualize curvy women, but instead liberate them and tell them: Look at hot as you want, regardless of what size you are.

Then again, there are folks out there who are eager to find something wrong here. For instance, this Newsweek article on the shoot has both Jen and me pretty disgusted. Look at this:

The spreads featured Renn and a skinnier counterpart in nearly identical clothing and poses. Renn looked awesome and, frankly, outdid her skinnier counterpart in a number of the photos. [...] Then, I did a little research, and it suddenly dawned on me: Renn is by no means plus size. While she is admittedly larger than the average model, Renn’s body does not represent the rest of us. In fact, she has dimensions that most American women would envy: a 31-inch waist, which turns out to be six inches smaller than that of the average American woman, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Not to mention  that at 5 feet 9, she’s about a half foot taller than the average American woman as well.

…So they’re officially invalidating the photoshoot strictly because Renn is not a visual example of what we expect to see when we hear “plus sized”? So every body is beautiful, as long as every body is visible represented? Come on – this is nitpicking to the point of nonsensical complaining. Do women with 31 inch waists have it easier? Should they be less represented? Newsweek, we are disappointed.

Oh, and to the comment that “Renn’s body doesn’t represent the rest of us” – well, guess what. She also doesn’t represent…

• Naturally thin women
• Black women
• Short women
• Women with clef palettes
• Anemic women
• … I could go on.

We have to remember that, just because our body type is not represented, it does not mean that there’s no representation occurring at all. Steps forward may not always be in your immediate direction, but forward is forward!

First of all, the average female waist size as referenced by the CDC is 37 inches?  Holy crap. Ladies, please visit Getting Healthy and work on that – stat.

On to the photos: When I first saw this shoot, my reaction was blase.  As I told Elle, I already know that women with boobs and booty can look just as amazing in designer clothing as straight-figured women, so there was little shock coming from my direction.  At the same time, I was a little disappointed that the poses each of the models did were merely similar to each other – I wish they’d either been exactly the same, or totally different.  Why?  Because I worry that the photos V chose to represent each of these models will further one of the stereotypes our society has about plus-sized women: that their only claim to beauty is sheer sex appeal.

Don’t get me wrong: I love the way Renn showed off these designs.  She oozes confidence, and pulls off each outfit with an effortlessness that Jablonski just…doesn’t.  (In my opinion, that has more to do with the models’ ability to do print work rather than their size – Jablonski is known for runway, so this isn’t a huge surprise to me.)  My fear is that the public will compare these women’s interpretations of each pose – as they’re expected to – and come away thinking that Renn’s poses were “a sexy version” of Jablonski’s.  And if people choose to focus on that, instead of Renn’s ability to carry the designs on her larger frame, the point will be lost.  Instead of One Size Fits All – plus size girls can rock designer duds just as hard as skinny models – the idea will morph into One Size Fits All…as long as the plus-size model is overtly sexy. Like Elle says, you can’t actively compare the two – you just have to know that both of them work.

But if the public doesn’t try to box these two models in – furthering the idea that having breasts and a butt mean you have to be overtly sexy, and not having them makes you androgynous or “edgy” – then this could be another step forward in opening up the fashion world, along with social consciousness, to a whole new array of different body types and beauties.  We could begin to see more designer garments on models with 30-something-inch waists, more “edgy” looks and poses from each and every body type, and more perceptions shattered about what “beauty” and “sexy” really are.