Cut curvy girls some slack!
My body is none of your business, but I’m going to go ahead and say it: I teeter on the edge of “plus size”. A size 12 will fit me about 50% of the time: just small enough that I can still shop in “regular” stores, but just big enough that I face regular disappointment in the change room.
The last time I was a size 8 was after the six-weeks I spent in Jordan being an intrepid archaeologist. Oh, how fit I looked after a month and a half of back-breaking labour, sweating over handpicks and shovels in the desert, eating the same bland rice and chicken every day. That stomach parasite I picked up from eating salads washed in unfiltered water really did wonders for my waistline.
Yeah, fuck that.
I don’t consider clothing not fitting me my problem. I like my body. If properly attired, it can look super hot. If you, as a major fashion retailer, can’t come up with something to fit my body, you are failing at your job. Which is your loss, because I’m addicted to shopping and you could probably use the revenue. The fact of the matter is that designing clothing for skinny bodies is easier than designing for curvy bodies because it requires less conceptualization and detail work, ie. less talent, less manpower, less stitching. And draped jersey is cheap cheap cheap!
There was an article in the New York Times today about stores like Forever 21 and Target launching plus size lines aimed at young women who don’t want to wear tracksuits. Imagine that! I checked the Forever 21 line—Faith 21—out online, and behold:
What a bunch of fatties! Uhh, these women look normal and totally cute. If you’re not designing clothing for people who look like this, who are you designing for?
I’m not even calling out high-fashion design houses, I’m calling out mall stores. I’m also calling out mall stores that think they’re above being a mall store, like French Connection. How dumb are you? According the the NYT article, plus size clothes targeted to women 13-34 was a $5.8 billion industry last year, and that was during a recession. It’s insulting AND bad business.
In conclusion, can somebody please make me some pants that look good? Thanks.
June 18, 2009 7:16 pm
Wandering Coyote said:
Link to this comment
Thanks for this post! Excellently put, Karen. I struggle with the same things, though I am quite a bit bigger than you are. It’s so ironic that as the population – ahem – gets bigger, there are fewer options out there for bigger people. It pisses me off no end. I have no problem finding pants, but I have a hell of a time finding cute tops, especially in the summertime. I’m very low budget with my clothing, and shop a lot at Wal Mart, but even I would spend the money if I could find something decent out there that fit properly and looked flattering.