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Plus-size model

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A plus-size model is a woman who is employed to exhibit clothing or other products, usually on her own person, and who is distinguished from a customary fashion model in that she wears a dress size 12, or better (in North American sizing). The term invariably refers to female models, and is most commonly encountered in the fashion world.

Plus-size models who acquire mass-media celebrity status are sometimes referred to as "plus-size supermodels."

Inasmuch as it represents the idealization of a figure type that is more generously proportioned than the dominant standard in the contemporary fashion world, plus-size modelling is seen by some as a revival of the voluptuous Classical ideal of feminine beauty, as defined by sculptures such as the Venus de Medici and the Winged Victory of Samothrace--i.e., the aesthetic ideal that generally prevailed throughout Western history, until well into the twentieth century, when more androgynous standards began to emerge.