Plus Fashion: Here to Stay?

            Fashion is an ever-changing industry with new trends and styles coming out every week; it’s almost hard to keep track of it all. One of the biggest changes in the industry has been the way plus fashion has been treated.

            In recent years, there seems to be more companies expanding their plus sections and some have even opened plus lines. Major retailers, Charlotte Russe and Rue 21, are among some companies that have caught on to this trend by launching their plus lines.

Not only are clothing companies seeing changes, model agencies are as well. Earlier this year, 29-year old model, Tess Holiday, made history by becoming the largest plus model to sign with MiLK Model Management, a major agency based in London. Holiday is a size 22.

In comparison to 10 years ago, plus women were virtually ignored in mainstream media. However, there now seems to be a greater acceptance of women of all sizes and shapes. With all of these great changes and new developments, one can only wonder: why now is plus gaining so much attention?

Cherice Scott, founder of one of the fastest growing blogs within the plus community, Fashion Forward Plus, turned her love of style and passion into a platform that others can enjoy and share. Scott offered her insight to the topic:

"The plus size industry is indeed changing. Society, for as far back, has idolized being thin as the quota for being beautiful. Models were extremely thin and a lot of them, despite their size, were unhealthy. Marilyn Monroe, though idolized as a sex symbol, was a healthy size 14. Curvy, is the new sexy. With so much campaigns promoting healthy body images and evoking self-confidence to women and men of all sizes and body shapes, body positivity is at an all-time high. Back in the late 90's and early 2000s, there was an outcry from the plus size community. We didn't have the styles that people of a smaller size had. A void was there that needed to be filled. Now, the styles and fashions are opened to everyone regardless of size and shape. That's a beautiful thing. No one wants to be ostracized based on their shape or size. Now there is style representation for everybody." 

            A recent outcry and campaign for more representation of plus women was launched by a major plus brand, Lane Bryant. The ‘I’m No Angel’ campaign is a play on Victoria’s Secret angels with the social media hashtag #imnoangel and aims to show more representation for women of bigger sizes. The campaign features models, sizes 14 and up, including model Ashley Graham, a spokesperson for Swimsuits for All.

Victoria’s Secret is known for only advertising to women of a certain size. The company came under fire last year for their ‘Perfect Body’ campaign which featured only thin models with similar shapes. Due to the criticism, the company quietly changed the slogan to “A body for every body.” Customers have been long petitioning for bigger sizes from the company.

There is also a monetary aspect to this trend. More and more plus women are turning to their local malls now than ever before. Customers are now willing to spend their money on clothes now that new styles are present.

Jay Miranda, a well-known plus fashion blogger of JayMiranda.com, spoke about the financial aspect of this trend. “I think brands are finally catching up to the plus size woman and are realizing she’s multifaceted and has a lot of buying power. The market is ripe and by and large, still on the branch. Potential is incredible when it comes to contemporary labels especially, as the demand for well-crafted and thoughtfully designed plus-size fashion grows. There’s still a need for fast fashion options, which almost every plus-size girl needs from season to season as trends are sought out,” she said “It’s certainly different from what it was years ago, say, when we first heard Old Navy was starting a plus-size line, which I believe is still sold exclusively online, and is tame by current standards. I think it may look like more women are shopping plus because more options have become available. It’s a bit of a wonderfully vicious circle as brands are noticing this too and choosing to make clothes in more sizes in addition to taking other steps like booking plus-size models and bloggers. It’s an exciting time for this industry.” 

Plus fashion has seen a dramatic makeover in recent years with better styles and better fit. Years ago, the clothes seen on racks for plus women were dark-colored or featured some form of animal print and were generally, larger than what most women are. Now, however, we are seeing styles better-suited to different body types and clothes in a variety of colors and patterns.

One major difference is in swimwear. Plus fashion blogger, Gabi Gregg, or as many would know her as, GabiFresh, featured a photo gallery of bikini-clad, plus women, which went viral. Gregg, a year later, has partnered with Swimsuits for All, an online retailer of plus women’s swimwear, with a line of bikinis of her own. Her line features two-pieces and one-pieces in a variety of colors, patterns, and sizes. This is very different from the generic one-piece swimsuits that were available for plus women.

            One may not be able to pick an exact moment when things started changing, but there are many influences over why plus fashion has changed. There are countless numbers of plus models and plus bloggers that are standing up for more representation of women of different sizes.

            Plus model Carmina Suzanne, cites different factors and sources for this change: “There’s tons of websites now, there’s tons of bloggers, so you can now envision yourself as a stylish person. So, before, if you had a really cool sense of style as plus, maybe you couldn’t even find the clothing or maybe you didn’t even know how to put it together because you had no style guides, no fashion icons. I just think it’s selling because it always should’ve sold.”

            No matter the reason, plus fashion is on a rise, and hopefully, it is more than just a fad.