Vogue takes on weight

You might want to save that next issue of Vogue. "Dreamgirls" star Jennifer Hudson is on the cover.

Sure, it's noteworthy because she's only the third African-American woman on the cover in the magazine's 115-year-history.

But look again. This is Vogue, the fashion magazine with unprecedented power to sway fashion trends and where skinny girls -- the size 0s or 2s without round hips, big butts, or God forbid, voluminous cleavage -- historically have been considered the most beautiful.

Now it seems Vogue's editor, Anna Wintour, who has been so notoriously size-conscious that she even asked Oprah Winfrey to lose weight before appearing on the cover in October 1998, has new ideas about weight. With Hudson on the cover, Vogue's new full-size message, not only to the millions of people who live for the magazine's style insight but to the weight-obsessed fashion industry, is that too-skinny might soon be so last season.

"It's history in the making," says Durham native Andre Leon Talley, Vogue's editor-at-large, who wrote the story on Hudson after helping style her for this season's awards shows.

The March issue, which publishes Tuesday, is timed beautifully. In recent months, Madrid and Milan have set weight guidelines for runway models in the wake of several deaths of models who suffered from anorexia. Then last week during Fashion Week, several unhealthy and dangerously thin models were pulled from runway shows while the debate over too-thin models continued among designers, modeling agencies and show producers. However, New York's fashion industry has yet to set restrictions, instead offering an education plan to teach models, fashion designers and others about healthy eating and eating disorders.

In her March "Letter from the editor" column, Wintour hints change might be coming.

"There is no more inspiring example of the power of talent and tenacity than Jennifer's rise from American Idol reject to Golden Globe winner," Wintour writes. "[She's] also a style icon whose happiness in her own skin is something we can draw strength from. The question of body image is a current one, and I can't think of a more compelling and beautiful argument for the proposition that great fashion looks great on women of all sizes than the sight of Hudson in a Vera Wang dress on the red carpet..."

A matter of health

Vogue isn't the only industry player to take a stand on healthy body image. Tyra Banks, the former supermodel who has been ridiculed by tabloids for adding about 20 pounds to her 5-foot-10 frame, will speak out about her weight gain on her Monday TV show. She'll wear the bikini she posed in when she graced Sports Illustrated -- with a few pieces of added material -- to show that she's still beautiful at 160 pounds.

But for Vogue, which sets fashion tones and influences style around the world, taking this step likely will have a broader impact. According to a 2002 study cited in the Journal of Counseling and Development, many girls rely on magazine and TV ads for information on weight loss and appearance. Those who value those sources possess the most negative body image, according to the study. An earlier study found that women who read fashion magazines reported a lower ideal body weight and had greater body dissatisfaction than women who read news magazines.

Those pushing for industry changes say Vogue's move is a positive first step.

"I'm hoping they are taking a health stance," says Cynthia Bulik, a UNC professor of eating disorders and director of the school's Eating Disorders Program. "I hope they are the first ones to stick their necks out and acknowledge this."