FACT : If you are one of the 85% of women who wear a dress size of 10 or more you are considered plus size by the fashion advertising industry.
That’s the reality. And although most fashion sales come from women in this size demographic (10- 16), the fashion models used to advertise almost all fashion labels, beauty products and accessories are around a size 6-8 and represent less than 1% of the population. Less than 1%.
Yes yes, we have all heard the line about how models are supposed to look like coat hangers so the clothes look their best and nothing distracts from the garment. But here’s a news flash: NO ONE LOOKS LIKE THAT. So why are we still making clothes that look best on a coat hanger?
And now an added argument has reared up:
Who is plus size, who is not, who dare be able to use that as a descriptive of themselves, and who has no right to it?
I have been asked many times over the past couple of weeks what my thoughts on the term ‘plus size’ as it seems to be one of the biggest conversations in the media right now.
It has made me take a look at what I have been saying for years, that it is a descriptive term to differentiate the kind of models we represent (like petites, or fitness for example) but actually, I’m not sure where it came from.
Someone came up with that label over 20 years ago and now it has evolved into something much more than just a descriptive word, it seems loaded with emotional responses bought forth from our very cores and its dividing women all over the world.
I myself identify as Plus in terms of fashion because I’m too curvy for most mainstream sizes – but the amount of times people say to me that I’m “not really plus” and shouldn’t call myself that is amazing. It’s a grey area isn’t it? If I’m not Plus and I’m not mainstream then what the hell am I?