The fashion world isn't known for being kind to models who weigh more than about 110 pounds, but earlier this month, three decidedly plus-size ladies landed on the cover of Vogue Italia. Actress, plus-sized model and photographer Velvet d'Amour, who famously walked the Jean Paul Gaultier runway in 2006 in Paris, is pleased that three women are featured in the mag, but she's still not thrilled with fashion's treatment of heavier ladies.

The three women on the cover aren't wearing much in the way of clothing, and d'Amour has a few theories why. For one thing, finding designer clothes in sizes above a 4 is difficult; the standard sample size encourages the selection of skeleton-thin models. "The way I see it is, that we need fashion to catch up to women of size, in order to make a stunning fashion orientated editorial," she says in an interview with Frockwriter. " If you were to take the average Vogue Italia editorial, and attempt to dress these same models in the clothes, best of luck to the stylist to find their size." Plus, d'Amour adds, Rubenesque ladies are traditionally sexualized where thinner gals aren't. Fleshy, curvy women have been relegated to men's magazines, whilst edgy editorial fashion in particular, has been inundating us with imagery glorifying adolescence ... We have been fed a steady diet of rail thin, white, tall, youth for the most part," she observes