FASHION Magazine

Never far from controversy, clothing company American Apparel is in the news again after a plus-size-model search gone awry. Recently, they launched a contest to find “booty-ful,” “XLent” girls 18+ “with a little extra wiggle room where it counts” to model their new, larger sizes in basic styles. Nancy Upton, being “super ooged out by American Apparel in the past,” decided to poke a little fun at the company, and sent in pictures that she thought were equally as condescending and mocking as the search itself.

These pictures include Upton in the following scenarios: posing naked, in the position of a pig on a spit, with an apple in her mouth; bathing in ranch dressing; splayed on the kitchen floor, guzzling chocolate syrup; and fully clothed, old Hollywood—glamour style, in a pool, shoving a roasted chicken into her mouth.

Upton won the contest by an overwhelmingly popular vote but received a letter yesterday from creative director of American Apparel Iris Alonso, scolding her for her pictures and her attitude. Alonso, for some reason, also sent her snippy letter to various media sources, essentially giving the press another reason to prey on the company’s practices.

It’s a shame that your project attempts to discredit the positive intentions of our challenge based on your personal distaste for our use of light-hearted language, and that “bootylicous” was too much for you to handle. While we may be a bit TOO inspired by Beyoncé, and do have a tendency to occasionally go pun-crazy, we try not to take ourselves too seriously around here. I wonder if you had taken just a moment to imagine that this campaign could actually be well intentioned, and that my team and I are not out to offend and insult women, would you have still behaved in the same way, mocking the confident and excited participants who put themselves out there?

Turns out that although she won the contest, Upton will not be used to model the clothes, which doesn’t seem like something she wanted to do anyway. After reading extensively on this story we are hungry and exhausted, and even more weary of AA’s business practices.