Lizzie Miller Nude in 'Glamour': Redifining Beauty

Lizzie Miller is nude in the September issue of Glamour magazine. Many could care less, unfamiliar with the name Lizzie Miller. Many are curious, however, to find out who Lizzie Miller is and, of couse, to see what she looks like (nude and otherwise). But the real news is not that Lizzie Miller is nude in Glamour magazine, where beautiful women are often shown in various stages of undress. What is special about Lizzie Miller being nude is her relative size to the models that usually appear in Glamour magazine.

Lizzie Miller is a size 12. That doubles the size of many models.

But there she is, big as life on page 194 of Glamour's September issue. And she is a hit.

In the fashion world, where thin is always in, there sometimes appears an individual that might just break that superficial mold, that unofficial rule of beauty promoted by the fashion industry and society that a woman must be small and petite, tall and thin, athletic or toned. Lizzie Miller could do that. She doesn't seem to fit the established parameters of the regular concept of the supermodel.

Wrote Cindi Leive, editor-in-chief of Glamour magazine, in her blog:

"It's a photo that measures all of three by three inches in our September issue, but the letters about it started to flood my inbox literally the day Glamour hit newsstands. (As editor-in-chief, I pay attention to this stuff!) 'I am gasping with delight...I love the woman on p 194' said one...then another, and another, and another and another and another."

And interest in her is high. People are looking; people are talking. People want to know who that nude model is on page 194 of Glamour. Even Lizzie Miller herself could not believe the interest in the nude photo. She told the "Today Show" Monday that she couldn't believe that people actually liked the photo.

It is a sad testament to the American social mindset that she would even question that the picture would be acceptable.

Unwittingly, though, Glamour magazine may have started something -- something good -- by placing Lizzie Miller's nude photo in their periodical. There could be a redefining of body image that is more in keeping with the average citizen, a redefinition of beauty to include women who may be a little larger in size (called plus-size or fuller figured) than the average runway model.

Beauty is subjective, a judgment call. The standards of beauty are set by society and what the collective generally holds as looking good, attractive, and beautiful. But those rules are amorphous. Somewhere through the years, equating a large body with not being beautiful became de rigueur. And it did not matter if a female had a cute, pretty, or beautiful face. If their body weight or their size seemed a bit large, it became a qualifier to how pretty or beautiful the individual was. Over time, this became problematic for individuals that were perceived as overly large or outside what society saw as the "perfect body." Body image disorders and eating disorders became more prevalent, along with a neverending succession of fad diets, cosmetic and anatomical surgeries, and societal pressures to slim down. In addition, there exists a virtual deluge of reminders of what beauty is supposed to be, presented in color daily in every form of media.

But being a larger person whose size or weight is outside of the supermodel norm should never be equated with ugliness. Nor does having a larger body mean that one is obese, which can be unhealthy. It simply means that one is larger than a perceived average. But that perception can lead to many problems.

For instance, body image issues lead to self-esteem issues and self-worth issues, all of which can be debilitating and sometimes lead to life-threatening circumstances. Promoting a healthier body image of people who aren't super-thin could do wonders for the many women (and men) who struggle with weight issues or size issues that are not unhealthy or debilitating except in that those same issues erode their ability to operate at their optimum.

Perhaps Lizzie Miller's nude picture in Glamour magazine can help change all that. With the help of stars like Queen Latifah, whose commercials for Maybelline cosmetics are helping break the size barrier and reestablish the lines of what constitutes beauty (both superficial and internal), perhaps the fashion industry will soon become more inclusive as to what can be considered standard beauty.

The recent flap over Kelly Clarkson's airbrushed cover photo on Self magazine becomes a case in point. A recent controversy erupted over the slimming of pop star Kelly Clarkson via artificial means (photoshopped, as it were) and the editor of Self justifying it by saying that it was industry standard. What made the magazine cover particularly distasteful to many was that Kelly Clarkson, in the published interview inside the 'doctored' cover, said that she was happy with her body, which is a little bit larger than your average swimsuit model. The argument became, if Kelly Clarkson was happy with her body and had a healthy attitude about it, what gave Self magazine the right to alter her shape to promote healthy lifestyle and fitness. Wasn't that a bit self-serving and fraudulent on the part of the editors at Self?

Lizzie Miller is a 20-year-old model. She weighs 180 pounds. And she is beautiful. Period. In a society that seems to pursue superficial perfection to the point of obsession, there are many who might consider Lizzie Miller not very attractive if they were to look below her neck. But there are those who do find her altogether attractive and appreciate what Glamour magazine has done by placing a nude photo of her in the magazine. Some might even consider Lizzie Miller brave, a special person not willing to accept the social stereotypes of larger people, finding it unacceptable that she should not be considered attractive, pretty, or beautiful because her body size happens to be a little larger than that of Heidi Klum.

And the message should be made clear. The fashion and entertainment industries should take heed. There is absolutely nothing wrong with, incorrect, or unhealthy about wearing a size 8 dress, fitting into size 10 jeans, or presenting a speech in a pin-striped size 12 business suit. What is unhealthy is constructing a social mindset that predisposes people to think that there is something wrong with it at all.

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The Lizzie Miller nude photo in Glamour that has everybody talking.

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Sources:

Glamour magazine
"Today Show," NBC Television
MSNBC. msn.com