A Bit of My Life » Plus-Size Fashion

Plus-Size Fashion

I have been a plus sized girl for about 5 years now. What struck me most about the crossover was my suddenly limited clothing selection. I am now relegated to shopping at three stores, one of which is across the border from me in the US, which to my mind is ridiculous.

Of course there are more than three stores I can shop at; however none of them offer anything remotely approaching well-made and fashionable clothes.

I thought I’d try out a popular plus-sized chain to see what they had to offer lately – I bought one dress from there that was nice, but wasn’t anything I couldn’t have bought at an ethnic boutique, being an Indian style dress. Everything else was so hideous I even made a game with their sales clerk of making fun of it, which she actively partook in when she found out that I, too, hated the clothes she was selling.

A quick search on the internet to turn up the reason why this is was not forthcoming. Some plus sized women have pointed to fat discrimination as being the reason; I think it is just the patent shortsightedness of the fashion industry. They simply refuse to admit that the greater proportion of the population is plus-sized.

There is also the argument that most plus-size women fall within the demographic of 25 +, which means that they don’t purchase nearly as many clothes as the teen and young twenties set. Most of us over the age of thirty can point to at least two or three pieces in our closets that are over ten years old that are still in semi-regular rotation. I’m really just speculating here and would like to know what the reasons are.

If anyone out there can offer me a reasonable explanation as to why this is, I would love to hear it. I will be embarking on a campaign to contact major clothing chains and designers to find out what their individual reasons are for not making more decent clothing in plus sizes, and I will post the results here.

I should also give props to the three places that I shop at. So we have our demographics straight, I live in Ontario, Canada. I live close enough to Toronto that I don’t mind driving in, but frankly for selection and quality I’d rather drive to Buffalo or Niagara Falls, New York. The US has more selection for less money. That is a separate article in itself, but somehow a major metropolitan city like Toronto doesn’t have the same fashion choices for those of a middle class income as Buffalo – strange but true.

Jones New York – Factory Outlet

There are two Jones factory stores in my immediate area, both of which sell plus size fashions. I very rarely see bad quality clothes in Jones, and everything is priced right if you frequent the factory stores. Recent finds include a cool dress for $35.00 and two pairs of shorts for $40.00 – a very good sale was on at the time.

Laura Plus

While I can’t afford anything until it hits the clearance rack at this chain, the choices are upscale and always gorgeous. The buyers for this store are truly gifted and have put together an incredible offering. Staff at Laura stores have told me that regular sized women often go away disappointed that the Plus offerings are not available in their sizes, they are so well designed.

Liz Claiborne
While there are Liz Claiborne stores in Canada, I find that they just don’t have the selection and pricing that the one at the Niagara Falls Outlet Mall in New York has. The plus size section at this store takes up nearly half of the floor space, and I find it hard to spend less than 200.00 whenever I go there (which given that dollar amount is only a few times a year at the most). Definitely worth the drive and of course you can pack in a little sightseeing or hiking on the way home. The venerable Liz Claiborne died last week, and was a pioneer in bringing excellent plus size fashion to the market.

I have shopped at all other stores offering plus sizes in Canada and am amazed at the consistent lack of quality offerings and mumu-ish fashion mentality that pervades most of the middle class chains. Lately, in response to mainstream style trends, there have been a plethora of flower prints that should not appear on any plus size woman, ever.

I hope that major clothing chains stand up and take notice eventually that their profits are running off with people like Jones, Laura, and Liz who figured it out a long time ago – larger women still like pretty, sexy clothes. These clothes can be designed and produced cheaply enough that women will still be able to afford to buy them, albeit in Laura’s case on a clearance rack.

Posted: June 9th, 2008 under State of Women.
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