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Fat-shionistas Unite!
Diane D. of Birmingham, England, who writes the blog Fat Girls Like Nice Clothes Too, concurs. “We are getting more younger, edgier lines, which is great, but I would also love to see a smart, directional design-led plus-size label with fabulous work wear and quality fabrics.”
“Beth Ditto is helping to create a cultural context in which fat women can be loud and self-accepting and can dress provocatively.”
And while the French Vogue-reading fatshionista may not be crushed when they hear that Ann Taylor, citing economic constraints, decided to stop carrying size 16 in their stores, making it available only to their online customers, (“When the news broke that Ann Taylor was discontinuing plus-sizes in their stores, I literally went, ‘Wait, Ann Taylor makes plus-sizes?’ says Fatshionista’s Kinzel), it still points to the fact that clothing producers are ignoring the buying power of plus-size customers. An even more importantly, they are failing to understand the kind of product that plus-size women might actually want to buy. “I would argue that the Ann Taylors and Liz Claibornes who are making these cuts would be better served to look at why their plus lines are failing, and what they can do to fix them,” continues Kinzel.
“We all know, whether you like it or not, there are tons of fat women in America, and guess what? We need to get dressed too,” says Gregg. “We have buying power, we want to be able to shop with friends, try things on, and experience clothing the same way as everyone else. I hope that the new plus-size lines at places like Forever 21 and Topshop will do well enough to show other retailers that fat girls like fashion, too.”
Renata Espinosa is the New York editor of Fashion Wire Daily. She is also the co-founder of impressionistic fashion and art blog TheNuNu and a sometimes backup dancer for "The Anna Copa Cabanna Show."
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Martin Jacques is the cofounder of the UK think tank Demos, writes a regular column for The Guardian, and is a visiting research fellow at the London School of Economics Asia Research Centre. His new book, When China Rules the World, is available now.
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Christopher Buckley's books include Supreme Courtship, The White House Mess, Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, and Florence of Arabia. He was chief speechwriter for Vice President George H.W. Bush, and is editor-at-large of ForbesLife magazine. His new book is Losing Mum and Pup, a memoir. Buckley's Daily Beast column is the winner of an Online Journalism Award in the category of Online Commentary.
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Renata Espinosa is the New York editor of Fashion Wire Daily. She is also the co-founder of impressionistic fashion and art blog TheNuNu and a sometimes backup dancer for "The Anna Copa Cabanna Show."
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Renata Espinosa is the New York editor of Fashion Wire Daily. She is also the co-founder of impressionistic fashion and art blog TheNuNu and a sometimes backup dancer for "The Anna Copa Cabanna Show."
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Renata Espinosa is the New York editor of Fashion Wire Daily. She is also the co-founder of impressionistic fashion and art blog TheNuNu and a sometimes backup dancer for "The Anna Copa Cabanna Show."
Lovely!!! Thanks for shedding a light on this! As one of the bloggers for the Curvy Collective for Full FIgured FashionWeek, it makes me eleated to see mainstream covering such an amazing and profound event for the plus size community!
Thank you! Hope to see you there!
The Curvy Fashionista
Marie Denee
I used to be fond of saying I was more about style than fashion. Then I got fat and found myself without either. For fat people, fashion is political, and without it, it's nearly impossible to build style. Or, y'know, leave the house. Thank you, Daily Beast and participants, for a lovely article.
Ah, honey, don't you know that any woman not 5'8" and 110 lbs is a "plus-size" woman for most contemporary fashion designers?
Let's hear it for women who don't give a damn about the size printed on the label, they want to look good wearing quality clothing.
Listen up out there!
I am a bit shocked and appalled at Gimmel's ""I'm fat, I have money. I'm more than willing to give it in quantity to the store who will supply me with beautifully made clothes that don't make me look like a hooker, a tranny, or someone's bingo-playing grandma from Duluth." comment.
Personally, I don't always have money and have to work that into my fashion sense and expressing myself and I think that's an interesting perspective. Aside from the weird classism I have done sex work in the past and identify as genderqueer/trans. I always look like a "hooker" AND "a tranny" and find it largely problematic that she so easily dismisses these large groups of people without a second thought and that you chose to include it. It takes away a lot from the piece IMO and it's really too bad.
Aside from using oppressive language to further oppress already oppressed peoples, it's also kind of giving into this fat fashion thing where if we have money and look classy than we can meet peoples expectations of ourselves and "measure up" and THEN start to be validated for fitting in. Fuck that! I'd rather look like a slutty genderfucking weirdo with a lot of personal style and I'd rather do it for under 10 bucks.
I don't think her statement dismisses those groups. I think what she is saying is that she's upset that mainstream designers assume all fat women must have a fashion sense that fits into the stereotypical styles of the sex worker, trans person, or grandma. Because not all of us do, and designers are ignoring a lot of women.
oh noes. my eyes.
I have been waiting for years for the designers to get real.I hope they all pay attention.Oh....and the lycra,spandex may feel good but it does not work for chubby girls.It is too clingy.Oh and the sleeveless really won't work either.We want beautiful clothes that work!I'm a chubby petite girl and trust me,the clothing I need usually isn't available either.I love Eileen Fisher clothing for comfort...just in case any girls out there need something comfy and beautiful for summer.
My worst day lately was trying on Spanx.I ran from the store.They don't work for chubby either!
Thin, fat, average, athletic ... I wouldn't wear any of those hideous outfits. I think the point of wanting designers to engage fuller-figured women, is to be able to find the same style clothing in fuller-figure sizes ... but for some reason, plus-size outfits either trend toward the trampy or matronly.
Yes, I love it! I appreciate the beauty of Kate Dillon, Mia Tyler and Crystal Renn
I sort of agree with whispurr, I think the men's section has much better clothes, for the price, and I don't see much of a difference, accept the shape in the waist.
I have one jacket that is shaped and I feel more exposed when I am wearing it, so I wear it for interviews, or going somewhere fancy, otherwise I prefer big and baggy, I always have.
Then you can wear your sub zero down underneath and no one notices, they just think you are heavier and don't push you around so much.
I think though being fatter is probably not that healthy, and a person knows what their weight should be and know if they are eating alot of junk.
I think being healthy makes a person feel happier.
I want a gallon of ice cream and a coupel of five dollar foot longs after reading this depressing empowerment of lumpy heart attacks in waiting.
Why does it depress you that people are claiming the right to be treated like human beings? Look, if (and I doubt this is true) your real concern is heart attacks, you should support attractive plus size clothing, so that fat people (and hopefully all people) don't feel so gross about how they look and stay inside instead of being active in the world. Exercise reduces your risk of future health problems, even if your weight stays the same.
Designers using 'fat' people in their shows or retrospectives, BFD. This industry purposely caters to thin because they know this is a niche market, can produce a relatively simple (i.e. 2-D) template, save on fabric and can charge high prices, due to their limited production (cause there ain't sooo many tiny people in the world, at least under the age of 13). It is interesting that the size of a woman is considered newsworthy!
Thank you.
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