DESIGNERS TAKE NOTE

There are many things to dread about aging – the body creaks, forgetting why you walked into a room, difficulty driving at night – the list goes on and on, but one of the more frustrating things for me is that clothing designers seem to think that everyone is a size two.

What truly frustrates me is that when I was a size two (yes, there was a time), I couldn’t afford all that fancy clothing; now that I can afford some nice threads, I can’t fit into them. Designers, take note, as women age, their waist lines have a tendency to increase as well.

I don’t know who designers are catering to. All the size two people I know, are in their 20’s and are not trust fund babies. As such, they can’t afford the high prices that go with the swanky clothing. When I was in my twenties, I was shopping at Anne Taylor, not Saks Fifth Avenue, although, I did always window shop.

I got riled up about this issue when trying to find a dress for a black-tie wedding. Here I am shopping in my favorite haunts, trying on dress after dress, with the size numbers steadily increasing, when I realized that designers don’t design for average sized women. Every dress I tried on “in my size” was too tight and too long. I understand the trend is longer flowing dresses this season, but when you are all of 5’1”, this style of dress is not flattering. I am also not averse to tailoring my clothes, but when you have a healthy budget for a dress and simply can’t find one in the fashion capital of the U.S., there’s a problem!

So designers listen up, make women feel good about their bodies! The average dress size of a woman in the U.S. is a size 14, yet, so many designers don’t even produce clothing past a size 12. I plead you to take the average woman into account when designing. We all deserve to feel good about our bodies. I would even suggest returning to vanity sizing, where the size on the label is smaller than the actual fit. At least with vanity sizing, by the time you get to size 12, the fit may actually be a 14. Since there is no standardized sizing chart, why not err on the side of flattering women rather than upsetting them.

I finally did find a dress. It was a size 12 – when I am typically wear a size six. I kid you not. What I experienced is the exact opposite of vanity sizing, I’ll call it humility sizing. Where you walk away feeling like a fat cow even though, by most other standards, you are a medium, regular sized person.

As the sales person at Bloomingdale’s told me, don’t pay attention to sizes, every designer is different. (She said this as I almost didn’t try on the dress because I saw the size 12 tag.) I agree, everyone is different, so designers take note: build confidence with your clothing, start tailoring your clothing to correspond with the measurements of average size women. We want to walk away with a purchase that makes us prideful of our appearance, not humiliated because you don’t even carry our size. Stop body shaming us and lean in to the reality of the real world. Enough said!