In the language of image and presentation, a woman's overall lack of body fat speaks to her elevated station in a man's world as defined and seen by men... thin is in, apparently, and last I heard fat was a feminist issue. In keeping with this proclamation, women hold themselves and their peers accountable to this visual vocabulary, editing out what does not neatly and nicely resonate with the definition of a stereotypical female icon. Over the last few decades, the entire experience of the fat female has been either ignored by the glossy billboards of pop culture, or, even worse, marginalized. This absence of a media-based iconographic history relegates the description and presentation of the larger female body to the far-flung outposts of collective cultural imagery and imagination.

Recently, however, those waystations out yonder have begun to phone in persistent and provocative messages, and suddenly, unexpectedly, miraculously, the word on the street is that big is beautiful. Larger ladies, once shuttled to dimly lit sections of decrepit department stores to buy tent-like dresses, are now referred to by fawning fashion magazines as "plus-size," "luscious" and voluptuous"; KISS plays at a fatchick fashion show featuring Amazonian beauties clad in revealing lingerie, and models between the sizes of 12 and 18 command as much as any skinny minnie to pose for major labels and designers. Even Vogue, whose female models barely look alive--let alone womanly--picked up on this remarkable trend and published a photo shoot with a woman whose thighs actually touched. Whether these new images of a large female body have any lasting and meaningful impact on the modern iconographic lexicon certainly remains to be seen; to the best of my knowledge fat chicks have never worn a gown by Adrian or get laid in Hollywood, and God forbid a woman above a size 8 poses for Playboy. But hope, as they say, springs eternal... or, in this instance, we'll have our cake and eat it, too.

Chicago native Stephanie Sack has always been on the larger side of things. Her boutique, vive la femme (2115 North Damen, (773)772-7429) offers clothes exclusively for "the woman of size and style."

See these other American Icons stories:
American Icons: Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly
Glam Sham: The changing shape of icons
Garbo Lives: Pondering the created quality of Hollywood stars