Having gotten a taste of decent clothing in the size they need, women will never again revert to wearing dowdy clothing in dark colors, and be glad to get it, as their mothers and grandmothers may have had to do. Initially, manufacturers tested a few items to for popularity. From there, high demand left them with no choice but to keep adding styles to their lines of women’s plus size clothing.
“I now enjoy shopping again,” said Julie Trenton, an office manager who went from skinny to plus size in her twenties and lost the joy of shopping. “I remember getting clothes at places like K-Mart out of necessity and hating them. Now, I have so many choices at the mall and online.”
Now very popular, it is hard to imagine not having such choices in fashion for women who need sizes above 14. This trend can only expand, as women now demand comfortable clothing for all occasions. In response to this market, plus size clothes are now available in everything from sportswear to business and formal attire. Greater demand became greater availability, and this, in turn, saw the clothing becoming more affordable.
Much of this is also due to the growing acceptance of a wider variety of product representatives. Many modeling agencies now represent “real people,” who need only be photogenic rather than tall and thin, to appear in ad campaigns. It is widely believed that consumers are able to connect and related better to “real people” models, especially when it comes to products of necessity. The Dove brand was a pioneer in this area with their “Campaign for Real Beauty.” Plus size modeling agencies are also sprouting in cities world-wide, from Ford’s 12+ division to Paris’ Agence Plus.
The result is plus size clothing that is every bit as fashionable as the items made for smaller frames. As stereotypes are broken, consumers are now free to expand their definition of beauty to hopefully include themselves.
