In the manner residing over the case of plus size women v the fashion industry:
As plus-sized consumers, that spend an incredible amount of money searching for plus size clothing that is both appropriate and attractive, we find it to be highly insulting that the interest, needs, and desires of the plus-sized community are not taken into account by all facets of the fashion industry.
No doubt there are stores and companies whose priorities are for the curvy woman and for that, we will forever be a lifetime supporter—but a few designers are not enough-the fashion industry is acting as if the majority of Americans are in some way not “plus-sized”. We would like to clearly articulate our grievances, as well as outline actions the Fashion Empire can take to successfully meet the needs of the plus-size community and create more fiscally solvent companies.
Grievances:
Maternity is pregnant not plus size!
Maternity.We are not pregnant. It shows a lack of respect for plus-sized people to insinuate that all of the big clothes have to be next to each other. A pregnant woman is fat because she has a baby inside her; a fat person is fat because they’re fat. We don’t wear the same clothes. Like we weren’t going to notice that we are right next to the maternity section. Why does the maternity wear look better than the plus-sized clothes? Then you taunt us by putting those pregnant things next to the plus-sized section. They need to put the maternity sizes by the babies, because if you get pregnant you are going to have a baby, not a fat person.
Sizing. The term plus-sized is fucked up. What the hell does “Woman’s World” or “Woman’s sizes” even mean? If you have the ability to make clothes with a big stomach (aka maternity wear. See above.) – then why can’t you just turn that into a size 22? Why do we have to be an XXXXL and it’s still too small. We are not a quadruple extra large. We are a size, it has numbers-please use them. We can see the difference between the clothes in the “Regular Women’s section” and the “Women’s World” section. The clothes are way better in the regular women’s section. Why does size determine whether or not something is cute? When you get to plus-size, the clothes are instantly uglier, frumpier, inappropriate or all of the above
Patterns and Colors. We think you understand what patterns and colors minimize the stomach area, so why can’t
Polka Dots Do not Look Good on Everyone
you use the same principles with plus-sized wear? Why do we have the most god awful prints you can put on a human being whether infant or adult. Why would we want polka dots. Big polka dots all over our chubby bodies. No, it’s
unacceptable. And stripes! Everyone knows that big wide stripes look horrible on everyone. Why would you make plus-sized bell bottoms in white? White is already a hard color to wear, and then you make it harder by putting them in shapes that are all wrong for our bodies.
The Fat Tax. We understand that you have to use more fabric to make bigger clothes, but you have to use more fabric for a lot of things, but why financially punish bigger women for their clothes? We are being charged a tax. A tax for being fat and it’s not fair. If it was just a little more affordable we would spend more money than we are currently spending. If you are pregnant you don’t have to get a fat tax. Are you encouraging us to get pregnant instead of eating bacon to save money? The tax makes it more irritating. Let the truth be told, I can only afford certain places with a coupon. This should be the Republican’s number 1 issue, taxes on the fat are attacks on the fabric of our society.
Is she smiling because everyone can see her stretch material?
Visible Stretch Material. We need stretch. We love stretch. Some of us would not be able to get into jeans without stretch. Stretch has changed the plus-sized world. However, visible stretchy material on shirts, dresses and pants is unacceptable. Nobody needs to see the extra stretch that we need in our clothes, it’s no one’s business. Not only is it visible on regular clothes- but what’s worse is on dark clothing you still use white thread to stitch the stretchy part. It’s like a neon sign that says, “Hey! Here’s a Fatty Stretchin Out!”
There are a lot of designers that are trying to make plus-sized clothes both attractive and affordable. We applaud those designers that are trying to appease a plus-sized audience. The plus-sized fashion community is tight, and it would behoove the stores that do not look at the plus-sized community as a viable market to step back and look at their strategy.
We are spending a lot of money. If a plus-sized woman walks into a store and feels frustrated or self conscious, she is going to leave and tell her friends not to shop at that store.
You should not have to shop at an exclusively plus-sized store to walk out feeling great about yourself.
Solutions:
Pocketbook Angle. A cardinal rule of any successful company is to play into the pocketbook interest of the consumer. If there are proven examples on how to market to the plus-sized community then during an economic crisis- a recession they should play up to the fact that people are still finding money to shop. Plus-sized people are a part of the consumer base. We want to be fashion forward. We will pay to be fashion forward. We will prioritize fashion forward over other life needs, but you have to provide the options for us to spend the money.
We could all look this good!
Fat doesn’t = bad taste. We pride ourselves (Some of us do) on our ability to look cute or ascetically pleasing. Failure to design attractive clothes perpetuates a stereotype that fat people do not care about their appearance. Just because we are chubby does not mean our clothing is not an expression of ourselves. But when you are not given many options, your expression is limited to almost nothing- or to cute accessories.
Pay Attention. There are designers that are paying attention to the plus-sized woman. Michael Kors makes beautiful clothes for everybody. Monif C, Calvin Klein and hundreds of other nameless designers are making incredibly attractive clothes for incredibly attractive women. Just be a copy cat. No one is saying you have to make new extraordinary stuff, just follow the trends and make it a little different, just a little unique and you can substantially raise your profit margin.
We are beautiful and original with our clothing and we want to be our best, and be the most alluring woman in the room. We deserve and demand an opportunity to make our fashion dreams a possibility.
We ask the Fashion Empire to take our grievances and solutions into consideration and we will continue to support companies and designers who adhere to our needs.
Being Fat might not be “fashion forward” to you, but it’s beautiful to us.
Regards,
Crazy Sexy N Curvy
