FEUD

Plus-Size Model Stripped of Crown

Mocked intention of competition, American Apparel says.

Performance artist Nancy Upton wrote on The Daily Beast that she wants nothing to do with American Apparel—and it looks as though the company feels the same way. Upton entered a plus-size model contest with the clothing store by submitting a photograph of her eating chicken and pie to mock what she thought was American Apparel’s attempt to use a “fat girl as a symbol of apology” to a group it had largely ignored. After winning the contest—determined by online votes—Upton was excluded from the winners list. The clothing store's creative director wrote an open letter in response to the decision, saying that Upton discredited the “positive intentions of the challenge.”