HSG

One of the earliest URLs that we created for the Judgment of Paris was our Timeless Beauty page, which juxtaposes images of plus-size models with works of art from throughout Western history, to indicate that full-figured beauty is an eternal ideal of femininity, reaching back to the days of Classical Greece and the dawn of civilization.

IGIGI has now capitalized on this idea in a very clever manner. A new accessories promotion published on the site's "Glam Guide" features some of the finest works of Classical sculpture adorned with IGIGI items.

Particularly notable is the image of the Winged Victory of Samothrace, (2nd century B.C.), one of the most accomplished creations of Classical Antiquity.

The strategically placed handbag obscures the most sensual aspect of the original, a soft, full waist seen through diaphanous raiment.

For those who have not viewed the Winged Victory with their own eyes, its presentation in the Louvre is astoundingly magnificent. It appears dramatically perched at the top of the Daru staircase.

The sculpture was originally located in the Samothrace Temple Complex, and present-day onlookers feel a sense of wonder before this splendid work that approximates the religious worship that the original Greeks experienced in its presence.

Next in significance is an IGIGI ad featuring the famous Venus de Milo (c.130 B.C.).

It too is found in the Louvre collection (as are all of the sculptures in IGIGI'S "Beauty Is Timeless" promotion).

Its situation is no less dramatic than that of the Winged Victory, framed as it is by a splendid archway. Splendid as the fore view of the statue may be, however, the Venus de Milo was actually intended to generate its most sensual effect when viewed from reverse.

The third "Beauty is Timeless" image presents the Vénus Accroupie from the same era as the Winged Victory.

An example of the "Crouching Venus" motif in Classical sculpture, this work and its related exemplars are distinguished by the visible fullness that they exhibit at the goddess's waist.

For the final two images in this promotion, IGIGI has selected more contemporary works executed in the Neoclassical style.

Venus with an Apple is from the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, c. 1805.

And a work by Etienne Falconet, titled The Bather (1757), appears in the final IGIGI slide.

The Classical sources on which Falconet drew to create his sculpture are unmistakable.

Bravo to IGIGI for yet another extremely creative fashion campaign inspired by works of art. With these images, the full-figured fashion label illustrates the continuity of curvaceous beauty, and demonstrates that today's plus-size models are the reincarnations of the Classical ideal of femininity that provided Western culture with its richest source of inspiration throughout history.

- IGIGI Glam Guide