Fat Fashion

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According to an article found at Cleveland.com, “Size 14 is the average American woman’s size…” I myself am a size 14/16, but finding this completely average size in many clothing stores can be difficult (if not impossible). 

Because I have a little bit of a shopping habit, I have come to know which stores will have my size and which stores I should just not even bother with. Women’s clothing does not have a standard like men’s clothing which is sized by inches. This means I may fit comfortably into a large (L) dress at Old Navy but an extra, extra large (XXL) at Hot Topic will not even zip up when I try it on. I recognize that I am on the smaller end of being plus-sized, so there are women who have absolutely no options when it comes to many popular stores.

Few things have made me quite so frustrated as when I was telling a thinner friend how hard it can be to find clothes to fit me and her response was, “Stores have plus-sized sections. And if they don’t, you can just go to Torrid.”  Indeed there are some clothing companies that carry plus-sized lines as well as stores that sell plus-sized clothing exclusively. However, I still am greatly frustrated when it comes to plus-sized clothes. 

• Old Navy (while there clothing is generously sized) has taken their plus-sized line out of their stores and now only provides it online.

•  Forever 21 has a plus-sized section in almost all of their stores. However, this section takes up about two to three racks in the entire store. Almost everything is extremely large (2X-4X) and not really made for the girls who are too large to wear anything else in the store but are not looking for extremely over-sized clothing to hide their bodies.

• Land’s End marks up their plus-sized swimwear. This means paying twenty dollars extra for a few more inches of fabric when this fabric is bought in bulk by the company and costs cents per yard.

• Stores like Torrid are well known for selling plus-sized clothing exclusively. But just like many stores seem to believe that all women fit the same general shape, Torrid’s clothing seems to be made for the shape of a plus-sized model. All of their jeans are made for a 5’11 woman. I am 5’4 and even their petite jeans are about three inches too long for me. And all of their tops and dresses are meant for women with very large breasts, which excludes me from buying anything from them.

There is no doubt that the fashion industry is flawed and excludes many people. But I still have fun with what I can find. I love fashion and clothing and I do not let an industry that does not really even include me tell me how I should dress for my body. I wear whatever I choose.

I decided to add a few photos of myself wearing some of my favorite outfits. Finding clothing can sometimes be difficult but I make it work for me because I still deserve to look good regardless of my size.