Angie Harmon is so modest that she won’t get pictures developed of her and her husband skinny-dipping — she doesn’t want the photo lab folks to see them.
Yet, Harmon is one of five gorgeous women who posed nude for the May issue of Allure, due to hit the stands this week. I, for one, find no reason to object to such inconsistency of thought.
The annual “Look Better Naked” issue of Allure celebrates the various shapes and sizes of the female body. (Why can’t we get a national holiday for that?) And the magazine actually seems to get the concept right. Harmon certainly is not chunky, but she’s not anorexic, either. The same is true of Wilhelmina’s sister, Gabrielle Union.
Also baring all for women everywhere are Dirty Sexy Money‘s Zoe McLellan and Ugly Betty beauty Ana Ortiz. But my favorite nude-model-stereotype-breaker is none other than funky diva Jill Scott.
Scott, who’s a curvalicious size 16, initially rejected the offer to be in the issue. “It was a frightening concept,” she said. “I had to be convinced.” To the person who did the convincing: We who haven’t seen size 10 in 20 years salute you.
“Nobody ever celebrates women whose bodies are bigger than a size 8,” Scott said after the shoot. “But here I am, naked in a magazine at size 16. I hope that I can be an inspiration to all women. We’re all beautiful, each and every one of us.”
Amen.
To the surprise of the participants, the photo shoot was liberating. In fact, watching this TV Guide promo made me feel like getting naked as soon as I saw it. (Fortunately for my coworkers, I resisted.)
What do you think? Do these photos help women feel better about their bodies? Is Allure on the right track? Or does it matter, as long as you get your own copy?
