Tuesday, June 9, 2009

clothes shopping

I thought I had posted about my experience clothes shopping midMay, but after searching through my posts, I don't think I did.  The day started out miserably.  I knew I would fit into size 16 clothes (finally!) and I expected to find them at several stores.  The first place I went was The Gap, always a reliable carrier of size 16.  Nada.  I checked out some other stores that sometimes have 16s (J. Crew, Ann Taylor) and once again, nothing.  Even 14s were hard to find.  I was so frustrated that I ended up leaving the mall and heading to a different Gap, where I found a bunch of stuff, and a TJ Maxx, where I got the dress I wore to the wedding this weekend.  At the end of the day I was pretty happy with my new clothes and how I felt in them, but the first half of the day was miserable and infuriating.

Fast forward a month and I see this article about why Ann Taylor has stopped carrying size 16 clothes (except for online).  Now, maybe there are good financial reasons, and it's not a particularly new experience for us hefty lasses to complain about finding cute clothes that fit.

However, what really bugs me about the article is the accompanying picture.  The woman shown trying unsuccessfully to button her pants is NOWHERE NEAR a size 16.  Maybe a 10. MAYBE.  But by putting that picture with the article, the editors of DoubleX (a supposedly woman-friendly blog) have just reinforced ridiculous notions about what plus size really looks like.

Even more surprising to me are the comments at the bottom of the post.  At the time I wrote this, most of the comments were along the lines of "But their sizes are inflated anyway, all their clothes are too big for me."  Seriously?  I know that skinny people have their own struggles, but how are there so many more super-skinny people reading that article and posting about their woes than larger women?  


4 comments:

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  2. I hear ya. I know this is not the same but along the same lines, I have very little feet and can never find shoes. I could buy children's but they look like kids. Let's open a store selling both. Try New York & Company

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  3. It is disgusting to see "plus size" or "full figured" models that look like they would have no problem shopping in the skinny section, and the crazy difference in sizes between different lines helps to fuel our distorted body images. Too bad women's clothes can't be sized like mens' clothes: in inches.

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  4. Kristi--Sorry you have trouble finding shoes--that would definitely be frustrating. And you're right about NY and Co--I get a good amount of stuff from there, and they always have larger sizes.

    eemilla--Seriously, why has no one figured that out? Why do we cater to men so specifically but not women? Am I right that higher end stores do go by inches? Not that I'll ever be shopping in them : )

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