The Sartorialist Sparks Body Image Debate

Photographer Scott Schuman, aka The Sartorialist, has stirred controversy in the fashion blogging community by calling one of his subjects "curvy".

Yesterday Scott Schuman posted a picture of up-and-coming blogger Angelica Ardasheva, writing on his blog, "I saw this young lady in Milan several times this past season. She is one of the crop of new bloggers. 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."

Schuman's usually loyal readers seemed ataken back at his comments, with one responding, "I do appreciate you featuring a woman who is a centimetre or two larger in her measurements than the usual girls you photograph. But I'm a little horrified by the fact that you are referring to her as if she is plus size."

Another added, "This girl is big? Please. Not only does she look perfect, healthy, gorgeous, etc...she actually IS thin, too, and to call her anything but is silly."

Schuman later updated the post to defend himself after more than 1,000 people replied, asking his readers to remember that "curvy is a body shape, not a weight."

"I get emails all the time from self-professed curvy girls who want to see representations of their size on the site. What sucks is that when I try to put a photograph up to talk about these issues, the post is hijacked over the political correctness of the words."

Ardasheva also took to her own blog, saying she doesn't feel hurt by Schuman's comments.

"You cannot imagine how excited I feel for being on The Sartorialist," she said.

Regardless of Schuman's intentions, his comments seem to have put the body image debate back in the spotlight.

What do you think? Has the Sartorialist gone too far, or are his comments warranted?