The Major Problem With the Term "Plus-Size"
By Laura Beck
When I was in high school and looking for prom dresses, the selection for fat girls (and I have no problem with the descriptor "fat"; it describes me!) was, pardon the expression, pretty slim. My mom finally caved and had one custom-made for me and I looked like a goddammed golden butterfly and I danced the night away and kissed the cutest boy on earth and floated home on a cloud made of puppy dog kisses and Boone's Strawberry Hill.
But I was lucky. My mom had enough money and enough love for me to ensure that I didn't have to go to the most important dance of my high school career in a garbage bag cinched with a bungee cord. Lucky for the girls of today, a lot has changed. These days, bigger girls have entire world of options thanks to the advent of Internet shopping and an ever-expanding plus-size market; they're pretty much guaranteed to find something that not only fits, but looks fabulous too. Sure, the selection isn't as hearty as it is for "straight sizes," but it's a far cry from having to hire a seamstress just so you don't have to go naked.
With such dramatic steps forward in the plus-size market, it's easy to celebrate some successes, but we still have a big, fat (er, plus-sized?) problem. The other day, I was scanning the ASOS website (Their jackets! So cute! When I die, bury me under a pile of them!) and I realized: holy shit, all of these models can't be over a size 8. The women modeling the clothes that I'm supposed to buy look more like Lorelai Gilmore than Sookie St. James (If you don't understand that reference, please get Netflix stat). These models couldn't purchase the clothes they're wearing on the website, because, without what I'm guessing is a shitton of safety pins holding the garments into place, they'd never fit. The ladies would be swimming in them! And it's not just ASOS; this is a problem on every website that sells plus-size clothing, every magazine plus-size fashion spread, and every fashion label that features "plus-size" women on the runway. And it is a problem.
According to the CDC, the "average" American women now wears a size 14 (with "plus-sizes, often classified as 14 to 34, accounting for 67 percent of the population). Robyn Lawley is gorgeous, but she does not represent me, and she does not represent those women, the nearly 100 million actual plus-size American ladies. I love looking at Ashley Graham, and I love that she's out there shaking her thing, but I can't look at clothes on her body and have any clue how they'll look on mine. And this is an issue for two reasons: (1) Again, I have no idea how that clothing will work on my body. If they had a size 14 model, or, heaven forbid, a size 20 model, I'd have a much better idea of how a dress would accommodate my curves. And (2) representation matters. If we saw bigger women on the runway, in ads, and on websites, we'd get more comfortable with the idea that bigger women can and do look good in clothing. That's because seeing diverse bodies makes us more comfortable with diverse bodies. Kinda like how you hate avocado the first couple of times you tried it and now it's your best friend? Exposure matters, and it's important.
So, what's the hold up, fashion industry? When will you dare to use models size 14 and up to sell clothing to women who wear sizes 14 and up? And what about using some of those size 8s to model clothing for, you know, the same people who buy that size clothing? The tired excuse of models having to be like hangers for clothing to look good is misleading at best, and dangerous at worst. There might be some grumbling as designers, advertisers, and magazines adjust, but think of the long term. Larger women seeing themselves represented and feeling confident enough to try new things. "Hey, that woman looks like me and she looks amazing! Let me at that dress!"
Because the reality is that I, and many other women like me, am not being served by "plus-size" marketing, and while people argue over the term itself — because plus-size models don't look plus-size in many cases — the real problem is that an entire segment of the market (women over size 10 or 12) isn't being marketed to at all, and not only is that insulting, it's bad for business.
Source: http://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/fashion/news/a33012/the-term-plus-size-is-a-garbage-term/?click=_lpTrnsprtr_7
But I was lucky. My mom had enough money and enough love for me to ensure that I didn't have to go to the most important dance of my high school career in a garbage bag cinched with a bungee cord. Lucky for the girls of today, a lot has changed. These days, bigger girls have entire world of options thanks to the advent of Internet shopping and an ever-expanding plus-size market; they're pretty much guaranteed to find something that not only fits, but looks fabulous too. Sure, the selection isn't as hearty as it is for "straight sizes," but it's a far cry from having to hire a seamstress just so you don't have to go naked.
With such dramatic steps forward in the plus-size market, it's easy to celebrate some successes, but we still have a big, fat (er, plus-sized?) problem. The other day, I was scanning the ASOS website (Their jackets! So cute! When I die, bury me under a pile of them!) and I realized: holy shit, all of these models can't be over a size 8. The women modeling the clothes that I'm supposed to buy look more like Lorelai Gilmore than Sookie St. James (If you don't understand that reference, please get Netflix stat). These models couldn't purchase the clothes they're wearing on the website, because, without what I'm guessing is a shitton of safety pins holding the garments into place, they'd never fit. The ladies would be swimming in them! And it's not just ASOS; this is a problem on every website that sells plus-size clothing, every magazine plus-size fashion spread, and every fashion label that features "plus-size" women on the runway. And it is a problem.
According to the CDC, the "average" American women now wears a size 14 (with "plus-sizes, often classified as 14 to 34, accounting for 67 percent of the population). Robyn Lawley is gorgeous, but she does not represent me, and she does not represent those women, the nearly 100 million actual plus-size American ladies. I love looking at Ashley Graham, and I love that she's out there shaking her thing, but I can't look at clothes on her body and have any clue how they'll look on mine. And this is an issue for two reasons: (1) Again, I have no idea how that clothing will work on my body. If they had a size 14 model, or, heaven forbid, a size 20 model, I'd have a much better idea of how a dress would accommodate my curves. And (2) representation matters. If we saw bigger women on the runway, in ads, and on websites, we'd get more comfortable with the idea that bigger women can and do look good in clothing. That's because seeing diverse bodies makes us more comfortable with diverse bodies. Kinda like how you hate avocado the first couple of times you tried it and now it's your best friend? Exposure matters, and it's important.
So, what's the hold up, fashion industry? When will you dare to use models size 14 and up to sell clothing to women who wear sizes 14 and up? And what about using some of those size 8s to model clothing for, you know, the same people who buy that size clothing? The tired excuse of models having to be like hangers for clothing to look good is misleading at best, and dangerous at worst. There might be some grumbling as designers, advertisers, and magazines adjust, but think of the long term. Larger women seeing themselves represented and feeling confident enough to try new things. "Hey, that woman looks like me and she looks amazing! Let me at that dress!"
Because the reality is that I, and many other women like me, am not being served by "plus-size" marketing, and while people argue over the term itself — because plus-size models don't look plus-size in many cases — the real problem is that an entire segment of the market (women over size 10 or 12) isn't being marketed to at all, and not only is that insulting, it's bad for business.
Source: http://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/fashion/news/a33012/the-term-plus-size-is-a-garbage-term/?click=_lpTrnsprtr_7