It seems Scott Schman, the man who can do no wrong, may have done some wrong. In a recent post on The Sartorialist, he shows appreciation for “curvy” fashion blogger Angelika Ardasheva, photographed in Milan on two separate occasions. The only problem here, according to a few outraged commenters, is Schuman’s perception of curvy. Usually, Mr. Schuman lends minimal commentary to most of his shots, but here’s what accompanied this post:
“I loved that she’s a bigger, curvier girl than most of the other bloggers who you see in the press and tend to represent the genre. The subtle thing she achieves so successfully in these two looks is to complement the sturdy but beautiful shape of her legs with an equally strong shoe. Tomorrow I’ll post an image of a different young lady I met in Paris with a similarly curvy body type but a different method of creating body harmony.”
One reader responded by saying she was “horrified” and another said she would “weep if I heard your assessment of 90% of normal women’s bodies.” Take it easy, ladies and gents. Still, though the site doesn’t operate as a means to please the audience but rather serve as a digital inspiration archive for Schuman, he still felt the need to respectfully rebut, asking the angered commenters to pay attention both to her height and her “bearing to match.” Admittedly, the girl is likely more than just one dress size up from bloggers like Kelly Framel of theglamourai and and Rumy Neely‘s fashiontoast, whose thighs will likely never touch, but Schuman clearly didn’t mean to elicit anger through ignorance. It’s clear he’s speaking in admiration of the woman’s style, looking genuinely confident, rather than contrived.
Besides, Angelika was more than happy to be featured – commentary and all. She had this to say on her blog:
“ps: about the controversy on his blog because of words like “curvy” or “big” used by him to define my body, I just can say that i never felt hurt. i think i have a normal body neither fat nor thin, curvy is ok, of course my body was pretty different fro the other girls where around there, wheter they are models, editors, bloggers of whatever, I was taller and more…curvy! but I did not mind at all.”
Perhaps once women stop taking the word “curvy” as an insult, we can begin to embrace it. Glad that’s settled. Right?
