I really don’t understand when some so-called fashionistas complain about magazines using celebrities instead of models on covers and inside of magazines.  They often say that celebrities “aren’t models” and therefore don’t deserve to be in magazines.  They believe that putting, say, Eva Longoria, on the cover of Vogue is done only in the name of selling more magazines and that “real models” are of better use, since they’re “better trained.”  While that may be true, they’re also missing something very important.  These very fashionistas often complain about the lack of size diversity in models.  However, when a publication uses a celebrity, they are creating said diversity.  Most celebrities are NOT shaped like models, despite being very thin.  These so-called “fashionistas” seem to believe that size 0 is size 0, REGARDLESS of height.  Can’t they tell the difference between a short person who wears size 0 and one who is 6′ tall?  I could go on about the whole height issue, but this really isn’t the place for it.

DelectablyChic! webitor-in-chief Cynthia Cheng Mintz with her May issue of Vogue Magazine (with Reese Witherspoon on the cover)

Then, there’s the whole issue of training.  Yes, models may be “better” at posing for editorials (since red carpet photos are a different breed), but you can’t overlook celebrities, since anything can be learned.  Besides, looking good in an editorial isn’t all about an individual’s ability to pose, but about the photographer and everyone else involved with the shoot, before, during and after.  There’s more to a photograph than the person who is in the picture.  And who says that non-models look worse?  Beauty, after all, is in the eye of the beholder.

I think a lot of those who complain just want some sort of status quo maintained, no different from those who want certain kinds of traditions maintained, “just because.”  And in any case, weren’t the supermodels of the 1980s and 1990s “celebrities” in their own right?  That said, it’s better to see a mix of celebrities and models in magazines (which is really what we’re getting right now, anyway) than just models.  The latter would just be boring, and a step backwards in a move towards more diverse sizes.