Keeping the average person clothed for a year is not what brings in the big dollars. It is the media promotion of high fashion that brings in the significant money. Most people, especially women, want to wear what is currently the fashion trend. Even the slightest alteration in the cut of clothing can signal if you are wear last years or this years styles.
For many years women who have larger bodies have been forced to wear clothing that is not in style. Plus size clothing was made from different fabrics and different patterns than misses sizes. You could find the area of the clothing department that carried the plus size clothing simply by looking for the bright colors mixed in with a great deal of black. For some reason the clothing industry thought that if you were over weight or pregnant you wanted to wear bright colors, large prints and polyester material. Many times the plus size clothing department would be next to the maternity clothes.
Things have gotten somewhat better for the bigger size women. Pants and denim jeans are readily available in larger cuts. Many of the dress clothes however still tend to be gaudier than the smaller sized clothing. A great deal of sequins, appliqus, and beaded embellishments are incorporated into the dressy plus size clothing. This type of embellishment tends to make the person wearing the clothes look older. The stores that specialize in larger sizes tend to be more expensive. The clothing is trendier and in fabrics and colors that are more complimentary, however the prices often limit many women from being able to buy their entire wardrobe.
The piece in all of this that seems very strange is that there are millions of people that are overweight in our country, yet the fashion industry consistently caters to the skinniest people. A skinny person will not find a dress with large prints and lace embellishments on their area of the clothing rack. It seems odd that the manufactures and designers of clothing think that because someone is larger in size they want to have clothing that draws attention to them by the gaudy embellishments. Larger women need to find a way to help manufactures understand that plus size clothing needs to look like smaller clothing in the fabrics and patterns used. The clothing needs to be larger in cut, but it can still be made to look the same as regular sized clothing.
3/20/2015
News