ROLL of tummy fat, check. Generous thighs and fleshy hips, check.

Meet Lizzie Miller, the 20-year-old model who was photographed wearing almost nothing in this month’s issue of Glamour, a women’s magazine in the US.

The photo, used to illustrate an article on feeling good in one’s own skin, generated a flurry of positive feedbackand media interest.

All because Lizzie, a model whois between a US size 12 and 14, doesn’t fit into the reed-thin model stereotype.

Previously, Lizzie was told at some auditions that she was“too large” to be a plus-size model.

The “ideal” sizewas between a US size 8 and 10.

But Lizzie’s photo has received more than 200,000 hits on the magazine’s website, according to the magazine’s blog. E-mails have also reportedly flooded Glamour editor-in-chief Cindi Leive’s inbox. Already, Glamour has promised that the upcoming November issue will feature more “real-sized” women.

Can someone like Lizzie Miller start a similar trend in Singapore?

Modelling and talent agencies here doubt so.

Even the two plus-size models from Create Talents, a modelling and talent agency, The New Paper spoke to know all too well that being slim still sells.

Miss Mayuri Thong, 20, a mass communications diploma student at Management Institute of Singapore (MDIS), signed up with the agency as a part-time model about a month ago.

But Miss Thong, who wears aUKsize 12, has not yet been booked for any job.

Nevertheless, the newbie, who is of Chinese and Thai heritage, is already feeling the pressure to be thin.

She said: “It is definitely a challenge. All the famous models in Singapore are really slender.

“If they were to see a plus-size model on a magazine cover, mostpeople would ask ‘Is this a joke?’” Standing at 159cm and weighing 52kg, Miss Thong is far from obese. But she readily acknowledges that she is not the skinny ideal that most magazine editorials and advertisers here go for. Like Lizzie, she points out she has a tummy. Nevertheless, she gamely stripped down to a bikini for our shoot.

She decided to go into modelling “for the fun” of it and to see herself appear in commercials, she said. “I wouldn’t even be upset even if I were cast as the fat person for a slimming advertisement because I accept that my body isn’t perfect.

“If that happened, I would think it’s pretty funny and something that I can joke about with my friends,” she added.

Stereotyped for his size

Being cast in a negative role for a commercial because of his size was something Mr Fredrick Yong, a part-timemodel in his early 30s, used to get upset over.

The 88kg civil servant, who stands at 180cm, said he tends to get stereotyped into certain roles because of his large size.

The part-time model of six years has been in print and television commercials, in roles ranging from a bully to an unhealthymanwhocannot climbup a flight of stairs.

When he started modelling, Mr Yong tipped the scales at a hefty 117kg. In about three years, he lost almost 30kg through exercise.

Said Mr Yong: “I used to get upset when I got cast in a negative role, butnowI just take it as part ofmyjob. “Now, I approach the role like an actor, I’m just playing a role.”

Besides, some of the commercials ultimately have positive messages such as advising viewers to adopt a more healthy lifestyle, he added.

Because of his size, he is also often cast as the reliable businessman or husband, he said.

But there’s no denying that he gets fewer jobs than his slimmer counterparts, Mr Yong said.

He said: “In Singapore right now, we don’t have anyone famous and glamorouswhois plus-size. I guess we just need someone to start the trend, like Lizzie.”

Mr Yong declined to reveal how much he earns from his part-time modelling gigs.

He said: “I may go for auditions without landing the job, but it’s okay. For me, I’m doing this part-time, I’m here to learn and I enjoy being out on shoots.”

And while Miss Thong is now confident of her curvy frame, she had previously resorted to extreme diets to lose weight. She said that earlier this year, she starved herself, having only a bite of bread or a biscuit when she could not tolerate her hunger pangs. She lost 4kg in less than two months.

But she soon gave up the diet because friends and family told her they preferred her to be plump.

Miss Thong, whose idol is the late blonde bombshell Marilyn Monroe, also a UK size 12, said mindsets can be changed if more women like Lizzie are celebrated andnot ridiculed.

She said: “Not only will it boost the confidence and self-esteem of plus-size women,it will also change the mindsets of those who torture themselves to stay slim.”

This article was first published in The New Paper