Vogue’s Hairspray Video Missed The Plus-Size Plot

Source: Bruce Glikas / Getty

Vogue released a Hairspray-inspired April cover video starring Gigi Hadid. Predictably, it did not center any visibly plus-size people. The iconic fashion magazine dropped the teaser on social media and were immediately called out for excluding fat bodies.

Someone even commented, “Did anyone actually watch the musical before making this?”

There was not an absence of diversity in the full-length video, inspired by the 1988 John Waters’ film and 2002 award-winning musical. People across the gender spectrum of various racial backgrounds and skin tones pranced around in good lighting against colorful backdrops, singing the anthemic “You Can’t Stop The Beat.” There was even diversity behind the scenes, with amazing manicures from the beauty genius Gina Edwards. 

But the presence of that very important diversity did not stop the galling erasure taking place. I enjoyed Gigi and her pink wig, and I will watch anything if you put Laverne Cox and her glass skin in, but this was not it. 

Erasing Plus-Size Bodies

A beautiful, mid-size curvy, Black woman appears at the twenty-five-second mark and the one-minute-six-second mark before disappearing in a flash. At the two-minute and 45 second mark you see her melding into the background. That is it.  

Choosing not to put a fat body front and center in any interpretation of Hairspray is erasure. Hairspray is a story about celebrating differences. Those differences include body sizes. It is core to the visual language of the story. 

You can play with it, you can expand it, you can pick it up, flip it and reverse it but if there is no fat body centered in it you’re getting it wrong. 

Somebody on set should have said something. Somebody on set should have done something. This is an example of people being so satisfied with themselves that they forget about other marginalized people. 

Plus-size influencer and theater lover Megan Ixim dragged them in the comments. 

“Imagine creating a hairspray inspired ad while ignoring the ENTIRE PREMISE. NOT A SINGLE PLUS-SIZE PERSON!?!? Who was in the room making these decisions? Truly was a swing and a miss,” she wrote. 

Model Alexa Rosa commented as well. She wanted to know who in casting decided thin was in. “The hair and makeup team nailed! The sets are cute! And yet the biggest takeaway from all of it is the plus size erasure. Surely, there was someone on the creative team who pitched size inclusivity. Who was the person that told them по?” 

Reclaiming Plus-Size Narratives

Hairspray is one of the few stories where the fat girl is not the sassy accessory. Tracy Turnblad is the heroine. She has main character energy. That means something to fat people. It is what has made the story so special to us. 

But somehow, in this high fashion interpretation of it, we couldn’t even get a solo dance break? We’re not even secondary characters. We are set dressing. This is not about checking boxes. It’s about integrity and true inclusivity. 

It was not just the ladies who spoke up. Worship leader Derrick Lionel chimed in as well. 

“So Yall are gonna double down on this. Not one plus-size person in an ad inspired by a musical with the message of plus-size inclusion. Tone deaf,” he wrote. 

Losing Hope For Plus-Size Perspectives

Plus-size people do not have enough stories to afford to be left out of one that focuses on us.  I’m not one of those people who think we need to burn down the fashion bible in order to move towards a more inclusive climate. I love Vogue. I keep the Coco Jones cover on my console table, and the Edward Enninful farewell cover has a permanent spot in my entryway.

All institutions are problematic, so I was happy when the publication began to acknowledge its missteps because of my love for it. I thought we might be in for a new day when I heard their promises to do better. 

But it turns out that when it comes to fatphobia in high fashion, you can’t stop the beat.

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