Plus size is a popular term and one that seems to be more appealing rather than big or fat, the two words brands shy away from. Plus size is used by fashion brands and magazines to be inclusive of women of different sizes and shapes or rather bigger sizes and shapes.
Women have the most amazing and unique bodies right? We are so different from one another even the way our inner bodies work but, let’s look at our physical body which is what the world purely judges us on.
As women our worth is based on how tiny our waist is and how big our butts are, so we go on living to achieve standards of slim thick bodies or thick bodies which in all honesty leaves us hating ourselves.
From generation to generation women have had to look a certain way to be valued, respected and to be deemed worthy of human admiration. Here we are, in the 21st century and still going through body phobias. We are supposed to be the woke generation if I remember correctly! A generation that has less wars, racism, body shaming and low suicide rate but, man do we have all that by the boatload!
Also Read : Donna Claire Merges With Foschini.
Back to body size, well we all know that it was always a certain body type that would grace the cover of magazines or be on the cat walk. Bigger women have always been seen as “those that have a potential to be better & look better,” if she’s just lose weight, you know the ads right? Sad, “before pictures” and happy, “after pictures” yes the solution to all women’s problems is weight loss.
Moving on, it was only a few years ago when bigger woman started being part of the fashion industry, of course there are still people against this, calling it glorifying obesity. I mean, you should check out social media pages of Plus size models like Tess Holliday and go to the comments, it’s horrific! The hate and insult plus size models get just for being okay with their body size and the fact that they are successful public figures bothers a lot of the so-called healthy and slim people of the world but, of course they say it’s because they care about a total stranger’s health so yeah let’s insult her so she can hate herself and hide her body.
It all started when bigger women became part of bigger and popular brands campaigns and they were all over social media, the plus size revolution began.. But was it inclusive?
So, what does plus size actually represent? Thick thighs that don’t touch, big breast that are never saggy, big booty and an extremely flat waist? Realistic and ideal right? So, no its absolutely not inclusive but, selective or rather bias.
You can see it in most of the so called plus size inclusive brands like SHEIN curve, fashion nova curves etc. Yes, they may have a size 5xl on their catalogues but only on certain items, you know the usual summer dresses and weird looking skirts paired with ugly blouses but when it comes to the new amazing, stylish and fashionable items there is a cut off size and it’s 3xl or 4xl, which are small cuts by the way and this absolutely sucks.
This should not come as a shock seeing that most if not all of their plus size models are Large or XLarge models only! Why? Because that is the only BIG considered still sexy or appealing enough to be on their websites or magazines.
It’s considered eye catching because the models are honestly a minute away from being slim, if they would skip two or three meals and run two blocks they move from XL to M/S size in a month. I laugh but it’s not funny, yet it’s our reality.
These brands forget what makes us women buy and what triggers us to spend our hard earned money but most importantly what makes us fall in love with a brand or company.
It’s simple, seeing another woman with the same body type or body size as me wearing or modeling amazing and stylish clothing! Now that would make me as a big woman amazed and happy , that would make me spend money and be a loyal customer.
But these brands don’t do that hence when I finally buy the 4xl or the 5xl the fit is all wrong, why because they do not know how to dress us, as they never took the time to invest in models who come in bigger sizes and shapes.
I mean come on, there are big women with big breasts, curves, belly and have no booty, then there are women with big bellies, no breast, no booty, then there is women who are big everywhere, so you get my point now why are we only seeing one type of plus size model? It’s because the plus size reign is not inclusive, including these brands and the designing of the clothes.
Most of the time when a bigger woman buys something from these plus size brands she is left looking a mess because they never considered her shape or size and now she feels even more horrible in her body because of the clothes she just bought.
Now, let’s not forget how much more expensive big women clothes are, then we must buy ugly, wrong fit, granny like clothes or the same summer dress every year, I think not.
In a nut shell most plus size brands are not inclusive, we only see one type of body and it does not look like mine or most big women actually.
As women we are more than our body sizes or our body shapes but that’s all we get fed from the media, concerned family health experts and the stranger that didn’t mean to pry but they felt obligated to say something.
We hardly ever need to gain weight, we just need to lose weight, keep it off and keep on the waist trainer right?
These so called inclusive brands rather not cater for us at all if they are not going to commit and go all the way, be consistent and invest in the plus size range as they would every range they offer, just be professional.
There was a petition through an article done to ban the word plus size by Linda Dawood, from the UK. I absolutely understand why, but, the problem is not the word itself but the fact that it’s falsely used to leave an impression that every body size is included but in most cases this isn’t so.
So ladies don’t feel bad when you buy something that you saw on an XLarge or Large model and it doesn’t fit you right, they didn’t think of you and your body size or body type they just made a big cloth and decorated just for you to cover yourself with. They didn’t design and create something that would be your fit.
I recall back when Donna was still Donna Claire, it was purely plus size but it’s target market was 50 year old woman. I’m guessing by the type of clothes they had, I mean it was horrific, I remember I was a 25 year old who just got a good paying job and I’m thinking I’m tired of shopping at Mr price where I would usually struggle to find my size. If they had my size it would be a poor quality garment shoved way back in some corner. So, here I was in the middle of a Donna Claire store at south gate mall and I was so disappointed and sad, the shop was filled with grannies and I under stood why, the clothes, it was awful and I remember leaving so sad and confused like okay what do I do now, I just went to fashion world, luckily they had nice plus size clothes but of cause they were not great just better than granny clothes.
Thank God for Instagram and it being so interactive. When Donna created an Instagram account young women started voicing out their frustrations on their page and Donna listened things slowly started changing for the better when it came more stylish and attractive clothing.
Fast forward to a few years later, I’m looking for a specific item at Donna and I can’t find it and I got so emotional that my colleague who was with me didn’t understand why and she just said, “but we can go to another shop.” As a slim woman she wasn’t aware that Donna is the only shop in the entire mall that is plus size and not only that but has the right sizes and the right fit, the only shop! Miladys is plus size but caters for moms, so I ask the shop assistant to call every Donna Claire shop till I found the item.
In South Africa this is what big women go through.
It’s literally a cat and mouse chase to find fashionable big women’s clothing.
You should check out the plus size fashion hauls on normal people’s body’s it’s heartbreaking, the fit is always the problem
For less disappointment try boutiques that are founded and are run by plus size women and you will see the difference.
Please look out for my next article, I will be sharing these amazing boutiques and upcoming brands that are for big woman.
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