Fashion/Lifestyle Magazines for Plus Size Women

Let’s talk a little about print again, shall we? After my last Cosmo article, I wish to talk about a specific type of niche publications. When going to a newsstand, you will find a large selection of fashion magazines and lifestyle sources, all trying to outsell each other. Big titles such as “Glamour”, “Cosmopolitan”, “Myself” or “Vogue” will try to get your attention with perfect models on their covers and the promise of the newest trends and flirting tricks. But what about magazines directed at curvy women, catered specially towards their needs? This gap is mostly filled by blogs here in Europe, but I was excited to find that there are professionally created magazines for this specific niche group. Unfortunately they are all US based, so the events they advertise are out of my reach, but I still decided to take a closer look regardless and I was not disappointed. I was immensely happy to find the magazines, even though still in online format, to be very similar to the fashion press I find in the stores. The fashion shoots with plus size models are gorgeous and incredibly uplifting and inspirational! But before I get ahead of myself with descriptions and praise, let me introduce the two treasures I have found.

First we have Plus Model Mag, which in my mind can be more closely associated with magazines such as Vogue rather than Cosmo. It contains more glamorous fashion images than lifestyle advice, but the professional photography shows how beautiful curves can be and that bigger women can be amazing models as well. The fashion can be very inspirational as well, though the garments are from high end designers and thus not suited for those who wish to research affordable day-wear. But a little investigation into what is ‘in’ in the world of glitz and glamour never hurt anyone, right? Besides, a girl can always dream to own some fancy garments.

And then we have Daily Venus Diva, something more akin to Glamour and Cosmo. From what I have seen, it comes both in print as well as in online format, making it easily accessible to everyone. Their updates contain everything from fashion to beauty tricks as well as lifestyle and relationship questions. It is definitely interesting to make some direct comparisons with the mainstream fashion press.

Overall, I find Daily Venus Diva more lighthearted than Plus Model Mag, but I guess it’s a little hard to directly compare something such as Vogue with something like Cosmo. But both have their own merits and both are immensely interesting. Especially when aimed at women my size. What my point is ultimately however, is that I wish such magazines existed in print here in Germany as well. Being plussize is still such a shameful thing and I think that such magazines would help bigger women feel better about themselves, more sexy and desirable. Reading Cosmo is entertaining and fun, as I mentioned already, but it is also nice to find a magazine aimed especially at your demographic. I am just amazed that no publisher here as recognized the potential of this particular niche market yet. But perhaps society is simply not ready yet to accept that curves are really beautiful and is just throwing about empty praises about them instead. But maybe one day I can walk to a newsstand and actually pick up a Lifestyle and Fashion magazine with a woman on the cover I can actually identify with.