Interesting NYT article on plus size clothing

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Interesting NYT article on plus size clothing

Frances

Active Member

Did anyone happen to catch this article in the New York Times this morning?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08.....;ref=style

It covered some of the recent media controversy around plus-size models (I know there was a post on the Forum about the Lane Bryant television spot a while back) and explores why retailers aren't offering a larger selection of plus-size clothing. Really quite thought-provoking--I was stealing peaks at my Blackberry all day, I was so eager to keep reading through the article.

14 years ago

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4 replies

Latest reply was from Kristen

bj1111

Veteran

i really appreciate the focus that these articles bring to the topic. but it saddens and irritates me that there are even special labels like "straight size" or "plus size". why not just "size whatever".

i don't mean that i don't think it's important to provide broad choices for all segments of the clothing market or to hire models that is broadly representative of the look/size/color/shape of the world designers sell to. but having a separate word or category makes me think of "separate but equal", a misleading impression of the state of fashion affairs and gender/size politics.

14 years ago

medusa

Veteran

Mmmm, I thought about posting this also but I haven't had time to read the article yet! I have some catching up to do.

Although I'm going to be somewhat cynical in advance: the Times often has these articles related to plus-size fashion - it seems like they mainly talk to a bunch of fashion types with attitudes like, "OMG! Fat people! How can we consider such hideousness?"

14 years ago

Itari

(website)

Active Member

Wait, wait. 5'11" and 180 pound model was supposed to be "larger"? I mean, this is 180 cm and 81 kg. Her BMI is 25, which is the border between healthy and overweight. There's nothing really extreme about Lizzie Miller - this is our popculture that makes her size abnormal. Underweight models are the mainstream. I'd love to see models in different sizes.

14 years ago

Kristen

(website)

Veteran

That was a fascinating article, Frances, thanks for linking!

i thought the discussion of the challenges of developing a prototype was the best part of the article; I haven't seen that discussed before, but it makes a lot of sense. I have gained back some of the weight I lost last year, and the thing that baffles me about it is that it has come back in entirely different places than where it was before! My belly is much bigger, whereas it used to be all in my dupa and thighs. And I am just one anecdotal story...

Lane Bryant's rep also had a keen comment about the difference between "bridge" sizes (14-18) and the larger sizes, in that women in the bridge ones tend to see that as a temporary size, and women in larger sizes are more likely to accept their weight as it is. Having hovered in the 14-18 range my entire adult life except the periods when I *have* reached goal weight (10-12 range), that observation hit very, very close to home.

14 years ago

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