There remain few niche markets in the fashion world today. Of those few, the one that is fast expanding—with no pun intended—is plus-sized apparel. The long, overlooked knot of women have been quietly biding their time, making do with the oversized tent dresses and matronly button-down blouses that were relegated to them, enduring their painful fashion faux pas in silence. However, the boundaries of the fashion world have slowly begun to shift, moving to encompass those who it once shunned. Answering the call of bigger women, brands have begun to branch out size-wise. Moving away from the waifish runway trend and the cultural backlash that it came with, designers are now embracing curves with gusto, as seen by the wholly plus sized fashion show that ran in New York last September.
Yet the question on everyone’s lips is “why?” While previously the longer question was “why bother?” people, plus-sized or not, are now asking the fashion gods “why did it take so long?” “The biggest misconception that people have about plus-size models is that we are overweight and that we are unhealthy,” model Lizzie Miller shared with CBS News after strutting down the catwalk for the plus-sized show. Withholding clothing options served as a punishment for bad behavior, like when you take away a child’s toy for hitting his friend. Thus, the plus-sized around the world walked around in shame, head bent, quietly bearing the weight of ugly clothes to cover their ugly bodies. However, in the more and more politically correct world, walls are being broken down to reveal that big men and women are not the slovenly and unfit miscreants that the general public believed them to be and feared condoning through access to the luxury of style and fashion.
But beyond the cultural taboo, there is also the technical difficulty that faced designers. While shapes and silhouettes hardly change from sizes 0 to 10, once you breach the double digits, body shapes are harder to pin down. In a story for the LA Times, Rosemary Brantley, chairwoman of fashion design at the Otis College of Art and Design, discussed the human form. “[It’s] nothing but a bunch of curves. Those curves get very exaggerated as one gets bigger. The more exaggerated the curve, the more seaming, the more shaping, more darting, more fitting and more expense.” As Brantley explains, “There are a lot of styles that won’t size up.” This is the heart of those boxy blouses and muumuu-esque dresses that camouflaged instead of contoured.
Yet despite everything, designers have joined the push for plus-sizes. Among the leaders are Oscar de la Renta and Donna Karan, who both have plus-sized collections at selected Saks stores. Marc Jacobs created a stir when he announced in August his plans for a clothing line that would cater to women size 14 and up. Retail groups such as H&M and Evans in the UK have created lines for larger women with great success. Evans’s collaboration with singer and fatshion (‘fat fashion’) icon Beth Ditto had women all over Europe eagerly awaiting its release. It helps that young and stylish bloggers such as Gabi Gregg of youngfatandfabulous.com and Lesley Kinzel of fatshionista.com have given a venue and voice for women of all shapes to be seen and heard.
Locally, the fashion world has slowly begun to accept women with more to love. While high fashion still remains aloof and elusive, the arrival of retail giant Forever 21 has noticeably altered the style scene. With its extended sizes line Faith 21 offering more than just an oversized T-shirt, women are now readjusting to life with options. “I used to buy whatever would fit me, it didn’t matter if I really liked it or not. Sometimes, even if I didn’t like it, I’d get it in all colors available just to have something to wear that wasn’t too tight,” shares one shapely shopper. The assurance that even meatier women can wear PVC leggings is life-altering to those who once thought that baggy jeans were as good as it would get.
Local design duo Erzullie are bringing their plus-sized designs to the people through bazaars and online shopping (find them on Facebook) as well as through the SoFA Retail Lab in Rockwell mall. Raisa de Guzman, one half of the team, pushes plus-sized women to break free of their self-confined thinking, saying, “We are really plus sized activists. Your body is your body and as such it’s a gift. No one is really thinking you are ugly. It’s just insecurities. You are only as beautiful as you think you are. No one is really looking at you.”
But designing larger is not a novel idea, at least in Manila. Boyet Fajardo, one of the first to bring the concept of plus-sized clothing over, has been silently dressing women for over 15 years. “I thought to myself, these women were really being neglected by the fashion industry, especially in the department stores,” said Fajardo, in a 2008 interview with the Manila Bulletin. “It was almost shameful to go shopping for these big women, which is how they were referred to during those times. It’s good that things have changed.”
Having been starved of style for so long, plus-sized women are now letting nothing stand in their way. As the fashion world evolves yet again, the women who were relegated to the sidelines are now making sure that there is a space reserved for them in the front seat.
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