It’s easy to see why a fashion magazine for full-figured women looks like such a promising idea on paper. Some 65 percent of American women wear a size 12 or larger, the range that is usually defined as plus-size. In other words, most of the clothing on display in Vogue, Elle, W and Harper’s Bazaar doesn’t come in sizes most women can wear.
   That no one has yet been able to succeed with such a magazine hasn’t stopped publishers from trying. This week marks the launch of Figure, a new 300,000-circulation fashion title that aims to harness the potential of the plus-size audience with an unusual distribution model.
   “We are not a world of size 2, 4 and 6,” says Geri Brin, Figure’s editorial director and associate publisher. “We’re just not.”
   Figure launches with heavy support from Charming Shoppes, the owner of three leading plus-size clothing retailers: Lane Bryant, Catherine’s and Fashion Bug.
In most respects, Figure, published by New York-based Brinsights LLC, reads like a typical women’s fashion and lifestyle magazine, with articles on flea market shopping, party etiquette, makeovers and so forth.
   But while the debut issue features ads from companies including Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo and J.P. Morgan Chase, the only fashion advertisers are Charming Shoppes’ three chains, and their clothes are the only ones featured in Figure’s fashion spreads. In return, Charming Shoppes is selling copies of Figure at each of its 2,250 stores, its primary avenue of distribution for now.
   Brin, a former editorial director at Fairchild Publications, says this arrangement benefits both parties while giving Figure more visibility than new magazines typically enjoy.
   “I have realized for a long time that retailers have a lot of leverage that they don’t appropriately use,” she says. “They have newsstands, when you think about it.”
   In its first four days on sale, Figure has already sold 68,000 copies, she says.
   But with only one company represented in the fashion spreads and apparel ads, will readers see Figure as a souped-up catalog rather than a real magazine?
   Brin claims that they won’t, arguing that so few designers offer plus-size fashions, there’s hardly anyone to leave out.
   “It doesn’t compromise the fashion coverage one bit given the world of plus-size fashion at this point,” she says. “Even if it was going to be open to everybody, it wouldn’t substantively change the complexion of the fashion spreads. It’s kind of academic.”
   Brin says Figure will differ from previous plus-size fashion magazines, such as the 200,000-circulation Grace and the now-defunct Mode, in its unswerving dedication to showcasing women who are truly full-figured, not just by the standards of the fashion industry.
   “Our models are never going to be less than a size 14 or 16,” she says. “We really are going to be very obviously for the plus-size woman in terms of the fashion.”
   That philosophy is evident on the cover of the debut issue, which features three ample women in form-fitting red sweaters.
   “We purposely didn’t make the cover glamorous,” says Brin. “It was intentionally done that way to show she’s got a stomach, she’s got big hips.”
   Brin rejects the argument that readers, whatever they look like, prefer their fashion models ultra-thin.
    “I think it’s great that magazines are aspirational, but I can tell you that women who are bigger certainly don’t care about those magazines.”
   Advertisers, on the other hand, do – which is one of the reasons that, despite the occasional proclamation by Vogue or Elle that curves are back, mainstream fashion models continue to hover around size 0.
   “They’re just not going to get the advertising if suddenly they put bigger women throughout those magazines,” says Brin. “Ralph Lauren doesn’t want to see his clothes on size 18 women. He doesn’t make size 18 clothes.”
   Even cosmetics makers and other non-apparel marketers are reluctant to advertise in a plus-size magazine out of fear for their image, she says.
   But with Americans getting steadily larger, Brin believes that women’s magazines are going to have to learn to reflect reality if they hope to revive their declining readership.
   “Business is down because I think magazines have become very content in what they do, very fat and happy, and then suddenly things are not good anymore,” she says, no pun intended.
   “They just don’t stay ahead of the curve.”

August 27,2003© 2003 Media Life

-Jeff Bercovici is a staff writer for Media Life.

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