Plus Size Retailers: Step ya cookies up before they crumble

Ed. note: This post was originally published on the Community site.

I started my blog, Fat Shopaholic, in November of 2009 after spending a week combing through the only two fashion blogs I followed. I’ve been telling interviewers for years that after falling in love with those two blogs I was inspired to start my blog to stay busy enough not to think about tears after a bad break up. After many years of reflection I’ve realized I’ve been presenting the wrong narrative. While I wasn’t conscious of it at the time, I was bursting with creative energy, aching for the tools to create, and in search of an outlet.

When I started blogging, plus size blogging was more or less in its infancy. I was apart of a crop of new bloggers that were inspired by Young, Fat, and Fabulous (now Gabi Fresh) and Musings of a Fatshionista (now defunct).  Because there weren’t many plus size clothing options early on we had to rely on our creativity. We weren’t just looking to brands to supply the clothing we needed to create the looks we knew we were worthy of. We were asking for mainstream accessibility to those items while still being innovative enough to create amazing looks without their help.

 Much like me, most fat women have a plus size fashion wish list full of items we want brands to make available. We blog, we tweet, we Instagram about the current state of the plus size fashion market. And when a new line is finally announced for us—like H&M + or Ava and Viv for Target—we let out a breath we didn’t even know we were holding.

 “Brands are listening to us!” we rejoice on social media.

“If we keep asking for what we want they will continue to deliver,” we say.

 But this inclusion that many are over the moon about often feels more like bare minimum toleration. Girl, no shade, but if your idea of a satisfying shopping experience is walking into a big, beautiful store filled to the brim with affordable, on trend clothing only to have an employee usher you over to the dark cubby hole buried in the back of the store where they keep the two plus size t-shirts and three pairs of fat girl jeans then do you boo but I don’t want no parts of it.  Or perhaps you prefer to not even be welcomed into the store because the clothes in your size are only available online. Nope. I’m not here for that either. Or, worst case scenario, the new plus size line you’ve been waiting for maxes out at a size 20.

 “But it’s all in how you style it,” they say about the scarce options available to you. Girl, aren’t you tired of styling different versions of jeans and a t-shirt (or blouse)? We all wear jeans and tees, but variety never hurts. As fashion bloggers we are tasked with creating new looks weekly and we need variety to continue to showcase different aesthetics and silhouettes, instead of the drapey, flowery, femme style ubiquitous in brands’ plus size lines.

 This has been particularly hard for me lately. After years of expressing my femininity in the way facilitated by traditional gender roles (donning skirts and dresses), I’ve decided to wear gender-neutral or mens clothing that lends itself to an androgynous look. My femininity is still firmly intact (I’m sure you know that style of dress and gender identification don’t alway run in tandem) but I can no longer rely on my old wardrobe full of bright, colorful prints and pattern.  I thought fat women were out here struggling but fat men and women who don’t fit patriarchy’s definition of femininity have nearly nothing to work with. It’s frustrating.

Such treatment only reveals that fat women with a passion for fashion are just the latest victims of capitalism. The popularity and visibility of blogging has shown major brands that we are a large, underserved market, with plenty of disposable income. But to these brands, being underserved means we will settle for whatever they offer us — and being fat means we should. The lack of options from these brands are a product of a society that facilitates the policing of the female body. With every chiffon top they are telling us, “If you want the cute clothes lose weight.” This is even more of an insult from brands that claim to be advocating for body positivity while still offering doughty clothing a year or two behind trends. If body positivity was really a priority they would realize that their lack of on-trend offerings is indicative of body policing and counter productive to their campaign and to body positivity as a whole.

As shoppers, we can’t escape capitalism in the Western world, but we can be smart consumers. In an economy where advertising and hype easily sway us, we are losing our last bit of agency as consumers when we settle. And for us fat girls the stakes of settling are high. Do you want to keep accepting only flowy, drapey, floral, chiffon tops and chambray skirts? No? Good. Me either. It may be a reach, but when we settle we are telling these brands, “You’re right. This body is temporary. I’ll lose weight and then I’ll have I deserve.” So it is important to remember that while brands should cater to us, we can continue to fight for better options by not settling and remembering that plus size fashion is still available to us beyond big brands and labels.