The "average" dress size for an American woman? Fourteen.
The size the fashion industry wants average to be? Four.
The size (many) fashion industry professionals think is plus-size? Ten.
Bigger models, mostly, just aren't that big. They're average. Why? And what does that say to an average-sized teenager?
We've barely just accepted you're fat, honey, and you're so close to being beyond our thought.
And that's exactly what it is... shame and dismissal. For anyone past that certain weight? Forget it!
This is wrong. Fashion is supposed to be beautiful, make you FEEL beautiful. It isn't supposed to force ideology onto you, lifestyle onto you. Show me all men looking dapper, ready to woo (from a buff, military man to a portly, boys' soccer coach) or women ready to dance off into the night (sizes two to thirty-two). **Ages, races, and abilities should be included, too.**
Showing this is not promoting obesity (too skinny is also unhealthy, a fashion standard), like some people say, but diversity. It is not condoning eating your life away. It is showing all people are beautiful and valuable. This, I honestly think, is where problems come in with people... they want a target.
People feel comfortable with others like them. We create groups of like-minded individuals. We move to neighborhoods (especially white people) with others like us. We want these special cliques and, to create cliques, there must be outsiders. There are others "out there" to make our groups seem vital, inclusive. One way to effectively separate is through stereotyping. There are a plethora of stereotypes about overweight people; it's easy to make fun of and marginalize those even the medical field often belittles.
So, where does that leave fashion? I'd say in a great position. This industry has the ability to forge trends, gain media attention, and change outlooks on people's versions of themselves as well as their neighbors.
But it won't. Because maintaining status quo is cheaper. Because the same designers who are teaching what beauty is was taught what beauty was. Because making people unhappy with how they look and who they are sells more clothes, spa appointments, self-help books, cosmetics, magazines, shoes, and just about everything if they hit your insecurity buttons.
Maybe we'll get back to the days when Marilyn Monroe would be a bombshell instead of a baby whale... but we're not there yet.
Do you think much about size or self-acceptance? Do you find certain ads or trends disturbing/upsetting?
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