This blog is going to be a bit controversial and a bit undecided, I warn you now. There are 2 opinions on the matter of Plus Size Fashion and I happen to agree with both!
Last night, I caught Trinny and Susannah’s ‘Undress The Nation’ on ITV1, which this week was focused around the fashion options available to plus size women. You have to say plus size really, you can’t get away with fat, obese or unhealthy on TV. Don’t get me wrong, I myself am certainly not, by any stretch of the imagination, skinny; in fact, a couple more dress sizes and I’ll be limited to ‘larger lady’ collections too. So, you see, its not like I’m trying to be biased or offensive…the difference is, I’m also not trying to say I’m normal or ‘fabulous’, as one women kept repeating on last nights show. I am overweight and unhealthy and I, granted, most of the time do not look good in current fashions! So what should I do? Should I stick to the dreaded ‘tent tops’ and wide leg trousers, should I wedge myself into a white pair of skinny jeans and deal with my highlighted lumps and bumps in the name of fashion…or maybe I should just lose some weight? No real answer to this question was truly given last night – possibly, because there is no answer or possibly, because ITV was too afraid of offending someone, who knows.
Trinny and Susannah have their heart in the right place (I’m a big fan, actually); they tried to get some young designers from the London College of Fashion to create their ‘big girl’ models some fashionable, flattering clothing, but I have to say they failed. All that was really offered were a few square neck pencil dresses in different colours, primarily of the same design. I don’t want to wear that every day either, thanks.
The retailers did their bit and joined in on the debate; Elvi and Evans turned up, as expected, along with a small number of representatives from other retailers such as Monsoon, but most were defensive about their collections and decision to stop at a size 16.
Even the retailers who offered an 18 and above got criticism; it was suggested that simply making one design in a wide range of sizes wasn’t enough and it should be adapted for the larger ladies unique figure.
One representative (from a retailer whose name I’ve forgotten, I think it was Zara) said it would take a whole new design, a whole new template and a completely separate production line to do this…so, a whole separate retail operation then? Like, maybe, Evans (part of Arcadia), for example?
I agree here that it really isn’t financially viable for the majority of fashion stores who already make quite enough money serving “size 10 freaks” (the [irresponsible] words of a woman on the show, not mine!) to add bigger sizes, and you have to wonder if getting the retailers to make bigger clothes is really the way forward. I don’t think it is. How about getting people to loose some weight?!
I know that there are legitimate reasons for obesity and I know that it’s bloody hard to shed the pounds, but trust me – and this is from one who knows – you’ll feel much better getting into that Topshop size twelve than if you had stayed big and waited for the Topshop ‘Big Is Beautiful’ collection*.
You might look alright in plus size clothing, but (and this is purposefully clichéd) you really won’t feel alright on the inside, and that’s what really matters.
*not a real collection!