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Fashion industry fails plus sized women
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If you picked up the December 2009 issue of Marie Claire, you would notice that there is a second column of “Big girl in a skinny world” written by Ashley Falcon. In the past two issues, she gives advice and comments on being a big girl in the fashion world. So far, each issue advises bigger girls on what kind of clothing or accessories to get. Finally, a magazine is taking a step in the right direction. Well, sort of.
There are some problems with Ashley’s articles to a degree. First off, her advice is mediocre. She could say a lot more about the types of clothing, rather than just suggest a certain blazer at Walmart. The article could suggest at least three different stores to get similar, cheap blazers. One of her points writing this is that to help “bigger” women find cheap clothing that fits well. She also delves into personal feelings with being a big girl; which is good for the magazine readers that are like her.
The other issue that rises, while it’s great she wears her own clothing for photo shoots for her piece, her wardrobe could be better. Big girls really shouldn’t wear skinny jeans, nor did the flats she wore in the picture make it any better. Although it is not the worst outfit ever published in a magazine with a plus sized woman, it was definitely not perfect. (The most terrible picture was in Seventeen, I believe, with a big girl wearing dark jeans, a horizontal striped shirt, and a skinny belt that definitely didn’t cinch the waist line. Plus her over-puffed curly hair made her face fatter.) However, showing those pictures, journalistically, it proves that there is a bigger problem, which both the magazine and the writer point out. And that is: the fashion industry.
The biggest issues with the fashion industry are two things when you boil it down. One, they purposely make ill-fitting, worst color/pattern choices and cheap prices to allow (say Walmart) for big sales to the overweight woman. The other spectrum is making well made clothing extremely pricey (i.e. Lane Bryant).
There is also the issue of availability. In recent years, there has been less stores carrying plus sized clothing. The best example would be Old Navy. While they still carry plus size clothing online, they stopped selling in stores. It’s no good to the female consumer, who now has to go online to purchase something, pay extra for shipping, and hope it fits.
So the bigger question is, what are fashion stylists doing about this? The biggest problems are: Why is the fashion industry so gun ho on wasting money to make people look absolutely terrible? Also, why aren’t they taking the same styles they use to make skinny people looking skinnier and apply that to the plus sizes? And on occasion, when designers do copy styles for the plus sizes, they overemphasize the extra fabric in areas that aren’t always needed to be bigger, such as the stomach and arms. There’s a lot to be said for.
With that, a part two will be up soon, discussing into more issues with plus size fashion, and touching more on the obesity issue. Obesity isn’t just because someone eats and doesn’t exercise; it’s also a social issue, class issue, and a medical issue as well.
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