No More Settling for Ugly Clothes

Originally Posted: Perfectly Shaped Life - September 2007

The Womens Clothing Industry is Starting to Wake Up to the Facts

* Fact: Womens Plus Size apparel has been in need of a major overhaul for decades.
* Fact: 43% of the retail apparel market is womens plus size apparel.
* Fact: Women want clothes that fit and flatter, in all sizes, and especially in sizes 16 to 30.
* Fact: Women of our size and shape want fashion forward, current styling, youthful, playful, serious, and business-like.
* Fact: In other words, WE WANT CHOICES.

News Flash: Apparel Retailers are Missing the Message

Reed-thin models may look sharp sashaying down a runway to the murmured accolades of the fashion world. A small fraction of women may actually be able to wear the skinniest jeans, the lowest-riding bikinis, the thongs that leave absolutely nothing to the imagination. And that fraction is shrinking every month (pardon the pun).

There's an even larger fraction of us American women who are NOT considered slender, skinny, toothpick, Twiggy, or even small. Well over 65 percent of American adults are overweight by health industry standards, and over 30 percent of them are considered obese.

Some retailers are holding back, perhaps thinking that their female adult demographic is 5'10", weighs 112 pounds, and fits into their Junior Petite collections. Either that or we're all are going to wake up one morning and find we've dropped 10-20 dress sizes. Not likely.

The Good News for Us Right-Sized Ladies

Some retailers are getting wise to the fact that there really is a market for plus size womens apparel and have started to provide reasonable fashion lines in reasonable sizes, as they become aware that we, too, wear clothes.

My hat is off to Old Navy for their Women's Plus Online Exclusives, a rapidly expanding and fashionable line of offerings for both younger women and for us mature types.

Why am I writing this blog?

I am a former skinny person. I battled my way down from a heavy childhood to a very slender adulthood, and managed to keep the weight off for well over 20 years.

However, those days are long gone, and now I'm one of those 65 percent and maybe even in the 30 percent. My skinny self has succumbed to failed diets, and the restrictions of a back injury, chronic pain, and DVT have cramped my previously active lifestyle. Add menopause on top of that, and my old slender size 5 body is ancient history. I accept this (after a long bit of soul-searching and closet-cleaning).

I want clothes that I can WEAR. I want shirts that fit. I want slacks that work. I want dresses that don't scream out loud just because someone thinks that overweight women really truly do want to wear neon green Hawaiian muumuu's with 6-inch hot pink hibiscus print. I want waistbands that don't make me look like a queen-sized mattress with a string tied around the middle.

Like many not-so-petite people, I hate the thought of spending hours trying on clothes in retail establishments, malls, department stores, and fashion shops. I can read size charts and a tape measure perfectly well in the privacy of my own home, so I have had great luck ordering my wardrobe online.

I'm sure that the right-size apparel that we both want and need is out there, scattered around the Internet universe. I'm going to find them and bring the knowledge here, for all of us.

Wish me luck, and stay tuned, and let's go Shopping!