CurvyPlusStyle

Category: Commentary

  • Hello…

    Long time, no see. It’s been awhile since I visited this space, but I missed it.

    It’s a transitional time and fashion has been on my brain since last weekend. There’s something about fall that just does it for me.

    One of the first things I saw when I woke up this morning was an ad and it got me to thinking about my personal style at this stage in life. I’m late, but I think I’m just shedding an old image of myself, one that physically faded long ago, but mentally I still saw myself as that girl, “The Limited Girl.” Thing is, I’m not a “career girl” anymore. Sure, my career is still a very important part of my life, but I’ve evolved significantly and so should the image that I have of myself.

    For quite some time I’ve defined my style as elevated ease. I like simple, classic things, but well made as best as I can afford. I don’t like a lot of frills, bells and whistles. Not too long ago, there was that wear vs. styling challenge that influencers were doing. I’m a wearer and for that reason I feel like the clothes themselves have to make the statement by way of tailoring and quality.

    I’ve been looking at fall fashion most of the day. I didn’t really want to buy anything, just browsing. There are still major gaps in plus size fashion. That elevated and effortless look just has not materialized. Much of plus size fashion is trendy and youthful. It lacks the breadth of the straight sized world. But also plus size itself is too broad covering everything from a size 12 and up. If you are on the large end of the spectrum, you’ll be bombarded with brands included in plus size, but that don’t carry your size.

    Anyway, that’s just a little of what I spent the day musing over.

    When I started this page, I thoroughly enjoyed making the videos. I’d like to take another stab at it, but this time on YouTube. You can find me @curvyplusstyle. I’ll continue to do brand reviews of those expanding into plus and sharing about my experience with fashion for the pear-shaped plus size woman.

    See you soon!

    -k

  • Is plus-size defunct?

    Is plus-size defunct?

    Have you tried shopping online for plus size clothing lately? Have you typed into a search engine ‘white blouse plus size’ or ‘straight leg trousers plus size’? If you have, then you’ve had the same experience that I’ve had, which is every single brand or retailer on the planet shows up in the search results. At first it seems like a good thing because who doesn’t want options, but as I dig deeper into it, I realize that it is not what it seems.

    Traditionally, plus size has been size 12 and up. Most brands carry up to a size12 or 14. The problem is if you wear a size larger than 14 and you’re searching for plus size clothing, undoubtedly you’re going to get brands who carry up to a size 14, but they do not carry your size. Cue the frustration. Now that so many brands have expanded to carry more sizes, there is no longer a distinction. The lines have been blurred. It seems as if the term plus size is officially defunct. But when we asked (and continue to ask) the fashion industry to include us, is this what we really wanted?

    Back when we shopped in-person, I wanted to be able to walk into a store and find my size on the same rack as a size 6 because special shops or a rack in the back didn’t make sense and was dismissive. Misses and women’s still doesn’t make sense. But now that the lines are blurred, I’m not certain that’s what I really wanted. In fact, I miss retailers and brands that dealt exclusively with plus size because it was easier to find what I needed or to know what brand served me. Plus, there weren’t as many concerns about fit. The stalwarts get it right (often, not all the time). With this “shared” model, we’ve lost that undivided attention. It feels like a case of be careful what you ask for.

    I’m not saying we need to go back to the one rack in the back. And frankly, it’s not practical to think that every brand is going to carry every size. In this regard, the industry gave us what we asked for, but we should done a SWOT analysis because now we’ve traded one challenge for the next.

    I don’t know what the answer is. I just know it’s frustrating.