"No one wants to see curvy women". The absence of diverse models in magazine advertisements: A 10-year perspective.

Abstract

With the body positivity movement being popularized through the internet (e.g., social media, websites) around 2010, the question remains whether fashion and beauty advertisements have embraced diverse body shapes and traits or continue to promote idealized appearances throughout 2010-2020. With this quantitative content analysis, we examine female models in popular Belgian high-end fashion magazines 'Elle' and 'Marie Claire'. Our study analyzed 1310 female models in 1111 fashion and beauty advertisements from Belgian magazines 'Elle' and 'Marie Claire' between 2010 and 2020. Results revealed that less than 0.5 % of models were plus-size, and only 8.08 % had an average body size. Average and plus-size models were not sexualized more than slim models, though this might be due to their low prevalence. While diverse appearance traits were present, they often followed societal 'micro-trends' focused on facial attractiveness (e.g., having big brows), neglecting broader diversity traits such as cellulite. These findings highlight the limited representation of diverse body sizes and appearance traits in luxury fashion magazines, urgently calling for greater inclusivity in the fashion industry.