American Apparel’s branding is so knowing, nudge-wink and self indulgent that hipsters won’t even go near it anymore, but this latest kerfuffle sees the brand in danger of being hoisted on their own petard, as their gimmicky and insulting plus-size model search looks close to being hijacked by a woman who has entered it as a joke.

Nancy Upton has taken umbrage with the ‘cattle call’ nature of the contest, and its over-focus on size:

“I don’t believe that beauty should be qualified as BECAUSE of someone’s size or IN SPITE of someone’s size. Beauty is beauty, it’s fluid, it’s objective and it doesn’t need to be justified to or by anyone.

Nancy, who is 5’7” and a UK size 16, is currently second in the poll, which closes later today, but has emphatically stated that if she does win, she won’t be accepting the job:

“I most certainly would not model for American Apparel, because (pretty obviously) I don’t agree with their business practices. I also would not expect to be asked to do so, even if I receive a majority of the votes (something I never planned on)”

Despite the obviously distasteful way this contest is being handles, it’s great that AA are making bigger sizes, because at present it’s pretty difficult to wrestle a normal pair of jugs into some of their clothes (not that we shop there any more, anyway). We can ignore the fact that the notoriously size-obsessed label (which has been rumoured to subject its shop assistants to weigh-ins...) is pretty obviously doing this as a last-ditch attempt to sell more stuff and avoid bankruptcy. 

Of course, it helps that Nancy is drop dead gorgeous, and carries her weight in all the right places, but what really matters here is that she’s making a stand and being noticed. AA would be lucky to have her, and she will probably win and be offered the job, but she’ll be turning them down because of their ethics. As Pacey Witter might say, she’s the best model American Apparel will never have.