Fat and Fashionable

Ashley Graham

  Fashion is a way of saying who you are and what type of person you are without having to speak. But some of us are almost being silenced because we can’t even buy the clothes that would express ourselves. Instead we are restrained. As a plus sized woman myself it has always been so irritating when shopping that clothes that are ‘my size’ are all the same. Big, Long, Loose, tent like. Why can’t I wear the trends? Why can I be fat and fashionable?

It can feel like the fashion industry are shunning us for our size.

I wanted to highlight some of the issues I’m sure we all face. Whatever size you are. These issues need to be spoken more about if we want any type of change. I love to shop. If someone was to ask me one of my hobbies, it's one of the first that come to mind. It always has since being young. But now as I have grown older I am realising some of the issues that everyday women are facing.

Recently in society we have been standing up for ourselves and demanding change when we see it necessary. I believe this is something that needs to be changed. Our approach to size is embarrassing and the way the fashion industry, especially the high end designers, seem to just ignore women if they don’t fit into their sample sizes needs to change.

THE HIGHSTREET

  Many high street shops don’t even carry a ‘Plus-sized’ lines. If they do they are hidden in the dark back corners of the shops. Usually accompanied with obnoxious signs like ‘curve’.  

When arriving at these sections you are then filtering through the baggy and oversized. While looking across the store at all the on trend, fashionable clothes. Why can’ they just make them in bigger sizes?

There is even a hashtag on Instagram called ‘#makemysize’ which is women taking pictures of clothes they like in shops that aren’t even made in their size. The worrying thing is some of these women only want them to make something in a size 14.

There are some shops on the high street that us bigger girls just know are ‘off limits’. Meaning that there is no point even wasting your time. These are the likes of Topshop, Urban Outfitters, River Island and H&M. Personally I think of theses as accessories shops. You go in and go straight to the shoes or bags because we can always count on those fitting.

   But thinking of this deeper, it actually is terrifying to think that the majority of society will probably think this way. As the average woman wears a size 16 and in all my trips into Topshop with my skinny friends I have only ever found jeans in a size 16. This is after some serious searching. If you were to tell a boy there is not any point of him going into most of the popular shops because he is a boy it would be an outrage.

If you are ever lucky enough you are then met with the ill fitting curtain and circus mirror of the changing rooms. I think we can all agree that there is nothing worse than, after all the little jumps, twists, lunges and breathing in the clothes still not fit. The walk of shame to the petite sales assistant. Handing back the clothes. I surely can’t be the only one thats not handed them back but just gone and put them back myself to avoid the horrible elephant in the room.

It’s sad because it is highly likely that the sales assistant  never even noticed or thought anything. But the little voice in our head will always tell us that she was. It has even be uncovered that some high street shops sizes have been wrong. H&M have recently promised to alter their sizing after a size 12 woman couldn’t fit into one of their size 20’s. So all the self loathing we do after we don’t fit into a size that we usually do might be all for nothing. The fact we do it at all is upsetting as we can’t let the numbers on clothes have such an effect on our mental health.

So after you have located the plus section, searched through the tent-like items, then decide to go and look at the ‘normal’ lines in hopes that there might be something there, but then are met with failure you leave. The next best bet...online.

ONLINE SHOPPING

Online shopping is great. It is often said that the hardest part of online shopping is having to get up to get your purse. Well, that's true, but not the only hard thing some of us have to deal with. With the unreliable sizing, examples always on 5’7 size 4 models and generally not being able to hold the fabric and see if it's worth paying for.

Being ‘plus size’ and taking to the world of online fashion it can either go extremely well or a total disaster.  Many of the online shops plus size ranges only start at size 14 and as mentioned earlier, the average woman wears a size 16. So why is it even considered plus?

Many of the online retailers are also well known for using cheap quality material. Which you are unaware of until you purchase it. From personal experience I know this can make or break an outfit. Especially when you can be still be paying higher prices.

Earlier this year the shop New Look was exposed for adding a ‘Fat Tax’ to their plus size line. Maria Wassell, a retail supervisor from Kent, spotted the discrepancy at her local New Look branch in Ashford in Kent. She told the Sun newspaper "It's like I'm being discriminated against for being plus-size when I'm only slightly bigger than average. She found that the exact same pair of trousers found in their ‘curve’ range selling at £22.99 were then found to cost £19.99 in their standard range.  This caused outrage with people defending both sides. Many believe that the 15% increase of price is justified as more material was used. However many people also feel that it is wrong to do so.  When I asked the general public about the issue, most didn’t know about it. Although the majority of people thought it was unfair. When the story made it to the BBC Plus-size model Nyome Nicholas-Williams said "Some people don't choose to be the size they are - or height. If you have to pay extra money [for clothes] subliminally it feels like you are being told you have to lose weight,".

One person I interviewed about this topic made the very fair point that you don’t pay more when buying different size shoes. However New Look did comment on the issue saying "We are in the process of reviewing the pricing structure of our Plus Size collection in a way which works best for our customers and our business.

"We are proud of the ranges we offer to our Plus Size customers and value all customers, no matter what their body shape or size."

On the other hand it's not all bad. With more online retailers like Good American, Additon elle, Forever 21 and ASOS producing plus size lines with alternative sizes and fashionable clothes. We can finally see some positive changes. Shops like

A huge proportion of ASOS’s revenue now comes from the plus size section, because it is one of the few retailers that has figured out that size 18 girls just want to buy what all the other girls are buying. Many brands have habits of creating plus sized lines that include big baggy tops or 50s style skirts. That might be flattering or what some people like, but many of us just want to dress fashionable and according to the trends.

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Thanks to models like Ashley Graham, Naomi Shimada, Diana Sirokai and Iskra Lawrence showing up more and more we are finally starting to recognise and represent the different shapes and sizes we come in. With these women become more and more popular and using their platform to speak about these issues. It seems the fashion industry is almost being forced into recognising and using women of different shapes, sizes, race and age.

Looking back only 5 years we can see that society is so much more accepting of everyone. Accepting someone for their size seems like such a small thing. It’s almost confusing as to why this is even a conversation. But it is. Especially when it comes to the fashion industry.  5 years ago no one would've ever thought of having this conversation. In the past three years the ‘plus sized’ community has made huge steps. Thanks to these few models Ashley Graham, that have continued to work and push through even when it seemed impossible. And now we have a plus sized woman on the cover of Vogue. Hopefully in the future there will be no heads turning in confusion to a curvy girl walking the runway in NYFW. And there won’t even be a ‘Plus sized’ category or section when shopping. Because fashion and style is so much more than the size on the label.