Thursday, September 16, 2010

Over size 14? Wait a minute - I'll give you the tablecloth from my dining room table - chances are it will fit better than what's out there to buy!

Today I had one of the most disheartening experiences of my life. I took a friend shopping for a rather special event and it ended up with her in near hysterical tears. No it was nothing I said or did. No the saleswoman wasn't rude. No there were no ill words between her and husband or her and her children. The reason you ask? The clothes themselves.

My friend is a beautiful woman who just happens to be overweight. No I don't mean overweight by fashion world status - anyone above a size 4 is considered to be an elephant by the fashion world scale. But, truly over weight - a size 24 - for any man reading this - this roughly translates into XXL in your world.

I know some designers read this blog and so I will put the challenge directly to you...
Any designer, even the bad ones, can make a size 2 and 5'10 woman look great. As often quoted saying among the fashion industry "models are nothing more than mere hangers" - and to a very large part this true. My challenge is for designers to make clothing that flatters real women - ones who aren't size 2 or even size 16 and ones without perfect legs up to their necks and standing 5'9.

I can't remember who it was off hand but the best fashion designer cop-out of why that particular designer didn't make clothing over size 12 or 14 was because she (I'm 99% sure it was a she) said being "larger was unhealthy and she didn't want to be part of it."

I say that is pure bull!!

Any designer - who actually knows how to design - should be able to make flattering clothes for ANY sized woman. And, not just these God awful frumpy clothes that even though are brand new in stores (such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman) with tags - look like something that was grabbed out of Grandma's closet without regard to garments being stylish, fashionable and God-forbid - flattering for a fuller figured woman.

And so with that I must give a standing ovation to Marc Jacobs - the first designer to realize there is an entirely overlooked market of women who are size 14 and over - who are fashion conscious and have the money to make purchases for designer items - if they could just be found! Unfortunately, these plans are still "in the works" and we might not have these items available until 2011, but, at least someone is waking up!

Now how about the rest of you following or should we just look forward to more Moos Moos and Toga-type dresses from you in 2011? If that's the case, I'll give my friend the tablecloth from my dining room table - chances are it will fit better and flatter more than the crap you are presently pushing down the plus sized woman's throat.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Brilliant........

Susan Doyle said...

I am so glad someone finally had the guts to write about this topic! My woman is an overweight woman and she hates going shopping for the simple fact that clothes for the size 14 and over crowd are God awful! I'm so happy Marc Jacobs is going forward with the plus size project - it's the smartest move the fashion industry has made in years!