- "This was a full-blown, very plump damsel, fair as waxwork, with handsome and regular features, languishing blue eyes, and ringleted yellow hair...the blooming and luxuriant younger girl had her contour of jaw and chin -- perhaps a little softened, but still imparting an indescribable hardness to the countenance, otherwise so voluptuous and buxom."
- -Bronte, Jane Eyre.
Charlotte Bronte's sensual description, quoted above, of her peripheral but unforgettably seductive character Georgiana Reed, reminds us of the traditional definition of the word "buxom" as signifying a well-fed, full-figured vixen. Although, like so many historical terms describing female attractiveness, the term is routinely misused and abused in the modern day (and now often refers to tanorexic waifs with bodies disfigured by synthentic material), it is actually a venerable adjective signifying timeless feminine charms.
How fitting, then, that the term defines the identity of a West Coast enterprise that promotes plus-size beauty.
Buxom Entertainment (which also operates a "Buxom Boutique," and refers to its models as "Buxom Bombshells") maintains a Web site that publishes online editorials showcasing the work of aspiring full-figured models. The Buxom layouts often feature girls whom the organization's founder, photographer Chanel Rene, has previously tested.
What we especially like about Buxom is that it consistently celebrates the efforts of young women who are curvier than the narrow and dated size-related standards to which certain elements of the fashion industry still cling. Buxom regularly features models size 18 or better, and in so doing, is performing an invaluable service--giving fuller-figured talents some vital shooting experience.
As the plus-size industry increasingly embraces more generously-proportioned models, (a move that Buxom may well accelerate,) this organization will help create a talent pool on which clients will be able to draw, when seeking more opulent representatives to showcase their apparel.
We also appreciate the style of Ms. Rene's photography, which is very size-positive, and quite attractive. Chanel has no compunction about photographing her girls in such a way as to celebrate their curves--all of their curves--and in this, too, Buxom is at the leading edge of the industry.
The nature of the Buxom editorials is rather sensual, occasionally even steamy, but always in a tasteful way. More recently, Buxom has refined its style to introduce a more softly romantic quality to its imagery, and this new development is proving highly popular with the public--and is, in fact, the proximate reason for this post.
* * *We first noted Ms. Rene's work in a test shoot that she did with plus-size model Tiffany Kaelin. Although the styling was more contemporary than we generally prefer, the softness of Ms. Kaelin's look was still apparent, and we were impressed that Chanel in no way diminished Tiffany's curves, or tried to suggest that the model was any less curvaceous than she was.
Buxom's most attractive girl, and probably its most talented model, is one Angela Perez--seen here in a commercial image for the Buxom Boutique,
and in a test photo by Ms. Rene. Angela has appealing facial features, softly rounded and with prominent cheekbones, and a very shapely figure--which she and Chanel proudly showcase, in their collaborations.
Plus-size models always look particularly captivating in states of repose. Shooting outdoors, on the grass, and featuring the model barefoot, adds a welcome hint of sensuality to an image that nonetheless serves as a fine commercial test. An image such as this effectively promotes the dress and sweater that the model displays, while also achieving a size-positive result, in unapologetically celebrating the model's natural contours.
Of the models who appear with some frequency in Buxom's editorials, Claudette Rangel is undoubtedly the most attractive and talented. The image below showcases the model's plus-size figure in that unique Buxom way, which is quite alluring, yet still commercially viable. What makes the image so progressive is that it presents the model's generous waist as being just as seductive as her hourglass traits (which it surely is). The wrap-dress style is always becoming on a fuller figure, and the model's pose is graceful rather than overt, and thus highly effective.
Ms. Rangel is also the "star of the show" in a highly entertaining behind-the-scenes video, showing the "making of" one of the Buxom editorials. Claudette appears in a peach-coloured sweater, which lovingly embraces her figure,
and she strikes a variety of expressions--from warm and genial to excitingly haughty and spoiled--which are the stock-in-trade of the professional plus-size model.
Click on the arrow in the centre of the picture to play the video:
Buxom's greatest accomplishment to date is undoubtedly its current online editorial, a romantic and dreamlike Valentine's Day-themed shoot which features several plus-size models in bridal lingerie, and wearing angelic wings, in the manner of the Victoria's Secret girls. However, these Buxom models, with their generous proportions, far more closely resemble how angels have been conceived and depicted in Western art throughout the ages than the ill-nourished cadavers who walk the VS runways.
The standout image from Buxom's angel editorial is the following. Observe how delicate and ethereal the fabric seems, against the fullness of the model's figure, with her especially attractive arms (soft and shapely, not "toned").The model's pose references a legendary Barbara Brickner lingerie editorial in Mode magazine, and the expression is fittingly gentle, yet with a slight suggestion of desire. Note the brilliant hair and cosmetics work, and particularly the enchanting flowers in the model's tresses--a timeless, feminine touch, if ever there was one. The shimmering shoreline location contributes to the dreamlike quality of the image, and confirms, yet again, that the plus-size industry can find its best aesthtic inspiration in present-day bridal editorials and commercial campaigns, which exhibit timeless beauty in every way, except in their choice of models.
You may click on the image to see it at a larger size, and view more of this editorial at the Buxom Web site, linked below.
* * *We applaud Buxom for giving fuller-figured models a chance, and for leading by example in encouraging the industry to dispense with its hypocritical and glaringly outmoded restrictions on size.
True, the Buxom talent may be a tad inconsistent--but that is true of the board of any professional agency. Although it is not an agency itself, Buxom should nudge professional plus-size model divisions to start representing fuller-figured girls, or else they will find their clients turning to Buxom, for girls who more closely represent the proportions of their customers.
From a size-positive point of view, Buxom is on the leading edge of the industry, and the aesthetic of its imagery is improving steadily. We look forward to this organization's future contributions to size celebration, and hope to see its most notable girls achieve greater visibility.
- Buxom beauty . . .