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"&amp;amp;#8220;There isn&amp;amp;#8217;t a category to describe me as a model,&amp;amp;#8221; says the gorgeous star of our March issue fashion feature, &amp;quot;The Shape of Clothes to Come.&amp;quot; She gets real with us about her ups and downs in fashion. My whole life I&amp;amp;#8217;ve been a boundary breaker. I went to a Christian school that had a dress code, so I dressed like a goth. Coincidentally it implemented uniforms the next year. The same applies to my career as a model: Over the course of 12 years, I&amp;amp;#8217;ve basically had three modeling careers. A decade ago I was what the industry calls a &amp;amp;#8220;straight-size model&amp;amp;#8221;&amp;amp;mdash;and suffered from an eating disorder. Luckily I realized that I&amp;amp;#8217;d be a better woman and model if I could actually function on the job and not be starving or crazy. I saw an opportunity to model at a different size while I could recover from an awful thing, and I took it, becoming plus-size. That was my second career. But then I noticed there was this huge distinction between different types of models: You&amp;amp;#8217;re either straight-size or plus-, with nothing in between. I was very thankful that plus-size had become an option, because it allowed me to heal. But forcing myself to gain weight [to keep plus-size bookings] is as much an eating disorder as forcing myself to lose weight, and I didn&amp;amp;#8217;t want to go back to that mentality. The truth is, in modeling we have a big, big, big middle ground that is not acknowledged. In the late eighties and early nineties, modeling at a &amp;amp;#8220;middle size&amp;amp;#8221; [a 4 to an 8] was normal, but it has not been normal now for many years. Still, I have chosen to accept myself in this middle area. It is my happy medium. I am a woman, and changes are naturally going to happen. I cannot predict what my body will do next year. This is not about weight; that&amp;amp;#8217;s not my fight anymore. I don&amp;amp;#8217;t want terms like plus-size and straight-size, or even a clothing size&amp;amp;mdash;currently I&amp;amp;#8217;m an 8&amp;amp;mdash;to define if I&amp;amp;#8217;m beautiful or not. Why do we have to be a category? Right now there isn&amp;amp;#8217;t one to describe me as a model, and I actually love that. Even if there were some word for it, I don&amp;amp;#8217;t want to own titles anymore. I&amp;amp;#8217;m not supportive of one body type versus another. I encourage women to accept themselves as they are. &amp;amp;mdash;as told to Lauren Bernstein For more from the issue, check out this video or subscribe now for instant access to the digital issue. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/fashion/blogs/dressed/2014/02/crystal-renn-gets-honest-about>