There is a big uproar about Calvin Klein’s recent campaign with model Myla Dalbesio and Twitter is to blame.
The stunning 27-year-old is being featured in the new Calvin Klein lingerie ads. Soon after the photos made their way online, a Twitter storm began when the brand allegedly labelled Dalbesio a plus-size.
However Calvin Klein never called Dalbesio plus-sized. The campaign wasn’t a plus-size campaign either. But it seems the confusion began on Twitter after the model spoke to Elle magazine and talked being cast as a plus size model for other campaigns – not Calvin Klein.
People who responded on Twitter must have not read the article and jumped right away to comment that Calvin Klein is using a size 10 model as “plus size”.
What’s the real story? Dalbesio told Elle:
“I’m not the biggest girl on the market but I’m definitely bigger than all the girls [Calvin Klein] has ever worked with, so that is really intimidating,” she said. “No one even batted an eye. It’s not like [Calvin Klein] released this campaign and were like ‘Whoa, look, there’s this plus size girl in our campaign.’ They released me in this campaign with everyone else; there’s no distinction. It’s not a separate section for plus size girls.”
Dalbesio confirmed to TIME that “plus size” was “never part of the picture in any way” while she was working on the Calvin Klein shoot.
This is GOOD news. This means that a major brand like Calvin Klein is using a regular-sized model for their campaign. I say “regular” because she’s not plus-size and is not a “sample” size in the fashion industry.
Dalbesio told Elle, “I’m in the middle,” she says. “I’m not skinny enough to be with the skinny girls and I’m not large enough to be with the large girls and I haven’t been able to find my place. This [campaign] was such a great feeling.”
So what category does Dalbesio fit into? “Regular” or “average”? “Inbetween?” I dislike the labels but they do exist. I’d just love to see more women like Dalbesio in ads and hope that this will open the doors for other brands to work with all sizes.
