In famously slender France, can the tide turn against 'fatphobia'?

Cindy Solar, wearing hot pink Minnie Mouse fleece pajamas, is having her hair and make-up done under the glare of chandeliers in Paris’s grandiose City Hall. In one corner of the room a woman in black – all curves – practices her strut.

She and Ms. Solar are getting ready for a plus-sized fashion show in a city-run campaign to fight fatphobia, or what the French call “grossophobie.”

“Until I was about 13 years old, I got called fat and ugly all the time, then I rebelled,” says Solar, who has piercing green eyes and hopes to pursue a modeling career. “Now