Lara Stone Is Lovely

Filed Under: Fashion Smashion Beauty Buzz Marc Jacobs Models Karl Lagerfeld Anna Wintour Givenchy Dolce & Gabbana Vogue Calvin Klein

Lara Stone is a remarkable model - not only for her ability to make clothes desirable simply by wearing them, but also because she's not the pin-thin stereotype that is so heavily reinforced within the fashion industry. At 5'10", Lara is a healthy size 4, but in a world where most models are a size 0, that makes her the big girl in comparison.

"What they say is 'curvy,' but you know they mean fat," says Lara. Of course, she isn't fat. Even fatty-hater designer Karl Lagerfeld says, "Lara Stone has a gorgeous woman's body."

Famed photographer Mario Testino agrees, "I have never thought of Lara as fat. It is just a matter of different shapes. It reminds me of when I started to work with Gisele; everyone used to think that she was too voluptuous. Look where she is now!"

Still, standing next to the emaciated models who comprise the rest of the modeling industry, it would be hard not to feel like the you stick out.

In an interview with Vogue, she says,

"It’s depressing when the clothes don’t fit and you are always the odd one out. I was on a shoot just last week, and the stylist took out this tight corset dress and said, 'Here, put it on,' and I was like, 'Who are you kidding?' There was no way, so that was very rude of her. It's like, come on, she's a woman; whether you're buying jeans at the mall or wearing couture, you know what it's like for clothes not to fit. It's not an easy kind of rejection, because it's very personal. It's your body. You take it to heart."

Sadly, all the negative reinforcement took its toll on Lara: she started to try unhealthy ways to lose weight, even turning to diet pills, before turning to alcohol to ease her woes. "I was waking up shaking. I couldn't do anything until I had a drink. I hated it. I didn't like the person I became. Plus, I was looking like absolute sh*t, waking up with a swollen red face, pimples everywhere."

After having enough, last January she voluntarily checked herself into a rehab center, and hasn't touched a drink in eight months.

Good for her!

Still, it seems body image was an issue for the model. As recently as September, Lara told Elle UK, "I don't want to be the fat one anymore, so I have just started doing pilates every morning, then going to the gym, running and swimming."

But it seems that the pretty girl has finally embraced her gorgeous figure. She tells Vogue, "People still tell me I'm fat, but when I look in the mirror, that's not what I see."

Good! She isn't fat!

In fact, her face and figure have made her one of the top models in the industry. You may recall she came in at number two on the Vogue model count. What's more, the model has appeared in ads for Givenchy, Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss, and she was just recruited to replace Madonna in the upcoming Dolce & Gabbana campaign. She's also walked the runway for all the majors, including Marc Jacobs, Balmain, Isabel Mirant.

Virginia Smith, Vogue's fashion market editor says emphatically, "Lara makes clothes look good. It's refreshing to see her come down the runway. Sometimes I'll call in a piece, it will arrive, and I'll think, 'Why did I think I liked that?' Then I'll remember, 'Oh, because Lara wore it.'"

We're glad she's realizing how beautiful she is.

We think she looks a trillion times better than her skeletal counterparts and, as Anna Wintour puts it, "I hope that Lara's success as a model, even though her image does not fit into the existing norm, will inspire the industry to rethink its current preferences."

Here here!

[Image via AP Images.]

Posted: December 20, 2009 at 10:00 am