FACT : If you are one of the 85% of women who wear a dress size of 10 or more you are considered plus size by the fashion advertising industry.
That’s the reality. And although most fashion sales come from women in this size demographic (10- 16), the fashion models used to advertise almost all fashion labels, beauty products and accessories are around a size 6-8 and represent less than 1% of the population. Less than 1%.
Yes yes, we have all heard the line about how models are supposed to look like coat hangers so the clothes look their best and nothing distracts from the garment. But here’s a news flash: NO ONE LOOKS LIKE THAT. So why are we still making clothes that look best on a coat hanger?
And now an added argument has reared up:
Who is plus size, who is not, who dare be able to use that as a descriptive of themselves, and who has no right to it?
I have been asked many times over the past couple of weeks what my thoughts on the term ‘plus size’ as it seems to be one of the biggest conversations in the media right now.
It has made me take a look at what I have been saying for years, that it is a descriptive term to differentiate the kind of models we represent (like petites, or fitness for example) but actually, I’m not sure where it came from.
Someone came up with that label over 20 years ago and now it has evolved into something much more than just a descriptive word, it seems loaded with emotional responses bought forth from our very cores and its dividing women all over the world.
I myself identify as Plus in terms of fashion because I’m too curvy for most mainstream sizes – but the amount of times people say to me that I’m “not really plus” and shouldn’t call myself that is amazing. It’s a grey area isn’t it? If I’m not Plus and I’m not mainstream then what the hell am I?
It’s a conundrum wrapped in a riddle; should we even continue to put these labels on ourselves… is it a positive term as some believe? A derogatory term? Or still used a descriptive term (as I had always thought)?
It seems to be dividing us further as women, creating even more boundaries when so many of us have worked so hard for so long to pull the walls down. Can we not be one united womanhood and accepting of our bodies in all our glorious lines and curves – fuller or smaller?
My team and I have been trying to be a voice of change for women for over 12 years but the change we want to see is one without barriers, labels or women hating and bullying other women because they don’t fall into a specific size category.
Inclusion not separatism is the way forward, I believe. I do not want to be labelled like a chicken at the butcher into a weight category and be told who I belong to. Nor do I want that for anyone else. Neither have I ever heard a woman introduce herself as a ‘plus size’ business women or a ‘plus size’ mother so why be labelled a ‘plus size’ fashionista?
Should this term be made redundant? Perhaps. I know one thing for sure, if we as women stop dividing ourselves into groups and defining ourselves with labels, then the fashion and advertising industries as a whole will likely follow suit and stop doing the same.
Size diversity in fashion – no labels please – that’s my dream.
Over to you, how do you feel about the term ‘plus size’? Time to retire it from our vocabularies?
Chelsea Bonner is 37-years-old and the owner and director of BELLA model management, a model agency that specialises in plus size models, models who are size 10+. Chelsea and her team are passionate advocates for the use of more realistic sized models throughout the fashion and media industry and hope by introducing clients to the idea of using models who more closely represent the nations size average they will improve women’s health and self esteem.
Top Comments
Your statistics are confusing... 85% of women are size 10 or more but less than 1% are 6-8. That makes 14% a size 4, really?
No idea what size I am anymore, as there are no standards. 6 in one, 8 in another, 12 somewhere else. And the size 10 shorts I bought when I was 16 (purple corduroy, love them) no longer squeeze past my thighs. I don't care what "size" I am, as long as I feel comfortable. It's just a number.
Completely agree! If it fits, and if it looks good, I will buy it. I had a friend that would cut out the tags on her clothes if she had to buy a 10 instead of an 8.
I often do wonder where petite women buy their clothes, the other day I bought a dress in a size 8, and I'm not particularly small. I don't think vanity sizing is helpful to anyone. I tried to put on a dress of mums from the 70's (size 12) and couldn't get it done up.
Hey Mummamoo, I am seriously confused by sizes too, I take anything from an 18 to a 24 (mainly to fit my boobs in the bigger sizes) but when I was much younger I was a neat size 8. Didn't have to try it on, just picked up a size 8 and it would always fit. I think that "back in the good ole days" the sizing was more standardized. But I am a tad confused too over some people saying that todays size 8 is equivalent to what was a size 12. I have saved many of my better quality clothes from Myer Miss Petite and a few Table 8's in the optimistic hope that I would get back into them one day. Now my daughter wears some of these outfits but when she buys new clothes she is a 12 sometimes even a 14 so it was of the impression that the sizes had gotten smaller. I just try everything on in the end, safer that way. One other thing I would love to see is not only leg lengths in pants but also body lengths i suppose you would call it. In blouses and tops if i buy a size to fit my curves (oh ok, they are rolls now) into I find that the top is also designed for a tall woman. Not all large women are tall so I find myself wearing a dress. Not all clothes can be taken up or hemmed because of the shape so it can be quite frustrating and also makes dressing anything other than frumpy a bit difficult. Anyway I like my curves and I am reasonably healthy so like you I don't really care what size is on the label because it's not really an indicator of anything.