American Apparel's latest class act: Grading large women

Dov Chaney's soft-core clothing company, up until now fixated with outfits that are best worn by teenage waifs, is discovering larger-sized merchandise with something called "The Next Big Thing" modeling contest. Of course, big is all relative - American Apparel's XL size is the equivalent of a size 12/14, which is what the average American woman wears. Here's the topper: L.A.-based AA is selecting its plus-size models by asking applicants to send in photos for its website. Then we all get to vote on a five-point scale, and the results appear next to the woman's photos. Nice way to be humiliated, eh? From the site:

Calling curvy ladies everywhere! Our best-selling Disco Pant (and around 10 other sexy styles) are now available in size XL, for those of us who need a little extra wiggle room where it counts. We're looking for fresh faces (and curvaceous bods) to fill these babies out. If you think you've got what it takes to be the next XLent model, send us photos of you and your junk to back it up. Just send us two recent photographs of yourself, one that clearly shows your face and one of your body. We'll select a winner to be flown out to our Los Angeles headquarters to star in your own bootylicious photoshoot.

In case you're wondering, there have been more than 300 submissions. From Jezebel:

Maybe we should be excited that another company is acknowledging the existence of (slightly) larger women, but carrying a freakin' 12 just seems long overdue. Plus, it isn't like American Apparel is offering all of its women's clothing in the larger size. There are only 21 items for women in the "XL & Larger" category online, and four of those are unisex. Even though American Apparel desperately needs customers, it still doesn't want to see its hipster getups on anyone who actually wears a "plus-size."