“I don’t want large people shopping in my store. I want thin and beautiful people.”
(Posnanski)
In May of 2013, the issue of the underrepresentation of alternative body types—unusually large or unusually small, big-chested or big-waisted, too tall or too short, and so on—came to a head when Mike Jeffries, the CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch, had an exclusive interview with Benoit Denizet Lewis of Salon Magazine. In it, he answered the question of why he does not carry any women’s sizes above size ten in his store: he does not want any “fat, uncool” people seen wearing his brand. (Benoit)
At first glance, it may seem that this problem may be specific to Jeffries and his eccentricities, but the sad truth of this largely ignored problem is that many major clothing retailers discriminate against alternative body types. In addition to the unrealistic portrayals of their models and their largely Photoshopped ads, these stores do not even offer jeans that can fit a girl of 5’8” or shirts for size fourteens. Not only that, but the stores which carry out this discrimination are largely those which aim for teenage clientele, such as Hollister, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Urban Outfitters. These stores are the ones which have had the worst controversies within the last three years. (Benoit) (Cathleen)
The above three stores do not carry any sizes above a women’s large in their stores. Abercrombie does not carry any size above a women’s ten. (Pous) (Kendall) (Benoit) Even stores such as Lululemon, an active-wear store that largely specializes in yoga, does not carry above a size twelve. They treat their size ten and twelve clothes by throwing them under tables in unfolded clumps rather than the rest of their smaller clothes, which are folded neatly...
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...s’ Size 16 Mannequins Are Great. Now We Need Even More Diversity.” TheGuardian.com. The Guardian, 6 November 2013. Web. 21 January 2014.
Mirror Mirror Eating Disorders. “Body Image in the Media.” Mirror-mirror.org. Mirror Mirror, 2014. Web. 21 January 2014.
NPD Group. “NPD Group Reports Size Matters to American Women”. Npd.com. The NPD Group, 10 September 2012. Web. 10 March 2014.
Posnanski, Tony. “Dear Abercrombie: Thank You for Allowing us ‘Fat, Uncool’ Kids to Buy Your Clothing Online.” Huffingtonpost.com. Huffington Post, 6 December 2013. Web. 15 January 2014.
Pous, Terri. “We, the Underdressed: A Brief History of Discrimination and Indifference in Fashion Retail.” Style.time.com. Time Style, 22 May 2013. Web. 15 January 2014.
The Health eZine. “Obese Shoppers are Discriminated in Stores.” Health.lilithezine.com. The Health eZine, 2012. Web. 15 January 2014.
When we look into the mirror, we are constantly picking at our insecurities; our stomach, thighs, face, and our body figure. Society has hammered into our brains that there is only one right way of looking. Society disregards that there are many different shapes, sizes, and colors. Then society makes us believe that corporations can shove detrimental products to fix our imperfection. As a consequence, we blame media for putting all the negative ideas into women’s brain. It is not wrong to say that they are in part responsible, but we can’t make this issue go away until we talk about patriarchy. In the article Am I Thin Enough Yet? Hesse-Biber argues that women are constantly concerned about their looks and if they are categorized as “beautiful” by society. These ideas are encouraged by corporations that sell things for us to achieve “beautiful” but the idea is a result of patriarchy. Hesse-Biber suggests that if we want to get rid of these ideas we need to tackle patriarchy before placing all the blame on capitalism.
Advertisers use women that are abnormally thin, and even airbrush them to make them appear thinner. These advertisers promote a body image that is completely unrealistic and impossible to achieve (Dohnt & Tiggemann, 2006b). It has been instilled in these advertisers’ minds that a thinner model will sell more (Hargreaves & Tiggemann, 2003). Media has a direc...
Derenne, Jennifer L., and Eugene V. Beresin. "Body Image, Media, and Eating Disorders." Academic Psychiatry 30. June (2006): 257-61. Web. 23 Mar. 2011.
Brandy Melville, a California-based clothing brand, is well-known for providing teenage girls with stylish, yet simplistic clothing for a reasonable price. It is also infamous for it’s “one-size fits all” policy. When looking at their website and social media profiles, it is instantly apparent by their models that their demographic is specifically young, white, skinny girls. Their “one-size” policy should really be called a “size zero policy” because it is clear that they designed their clothes with only one size in mind. When browsing through a Brandy Melville store, the majority of their clothing is labeled either “one-size” or “small.” On a rare occasion you can find a medium, but never anything larger. All of the employees at the store
A few years ago, the beauty industry seemed to become less of a beast: the media started promoting larger attractive-looking models. But Klein did not consider this when he decided to promote “real people.” These not-so-flattering photos seem to mock big people, says Idrea Lippman, an owner of a plus-sized boutique in Los Angeles (Goldberg 1). These two photos, which feature a man and a woman, show the contrast of what larger people are wanting to see. The woman, who is wearing all black make-up and clothing, “slouches and grimaces” (Goldberg 1). The featured man, who is swinging his arms ridiculously around him, seems to be in the middle of a dance move. Lippman ...
Dittmar, Helga, and Sarah Howard. "Professional Hazards? The Impact of Models' Body Size on Advertising Effectiveness and Women's Body-focused Anxiety in Professions That Do and Do Not Emphasize the Cultural Ideal of Thinness." British Journal of Social Psychology 43.4 (2004): 477-97. Print.
If you’ve ever been to a clothing store before, you have probably seen this phrase on a tag, one size fits all or one size fits most, but do you think one size really fits all? Whether too small or too big the reality is, one size does not fit all or most, “one size fits no one.” Companies each day are manipulating clothing by “vanity sizing” or “insanity sizing” which is a term that means, companies are manufacturing articles of clothing to be small or smaller than the normal size in order to increase sales. “Vanity sizing started off as a marketing tool.” Original sizing charts never had sizes 0 or 2 on them, until now because we are finally realizing that there are millions of sizes in the world. So companies are adding
The most fashionable, sought after magazines in any local store are saturated with beautiful, thin women acting as a sexy ornament on the cover. Commercials on TV feature lean, tall women promoting unlimited things from new clothes to as simple as a toothbrush. The media presents an unrealistic body type for girls to look up to, not images we can relate to in everyday life. When walking around in the city, very few people look like the women in commercials, some thin, but nothing similar to the cat walk model. As often as we see these flawless images float across the TV screen or in magazines, it ...
In the article, “Designers Refuse to Make Clothes to Fit American Woman. It’s a Disgrace”, Gunn states plus-size women don’t get acknowledged as often by designers, due to their figure. Gunn states that popular designers ignore “plus-sized” women in the clothing industry. The average American woman wears between sizes 16 and 18. Gunn says the industry turned its back on plus-sized women because they would not fit the image they are trying to perceive, they would not take a risk of making plus-sized clothes in fear the line won’t sell like prior clothing lines, and that changing the issue in the industry would be hard to change because society as well as the clothing industry consider thinness to be what women today should look like.
sizeism, discrimination of someone based on their size or shape, (“sizeism”) is becoming less acceptable. Now is the time we want our daughters to grow up, we want them to grow up in a society that inspires them to thrive as they are and not one that makes them scrutinize every little detail of their body. Dread, the feeling most girls get when they look in the mirror or have to try on tight clothes, society is the reason girls hate the way they look, it makes them want to starve themselves and take extreme measures to get the body that fits societies standards. Do we
Bennett, Jessica. "The Fashion Industry Promotes Eating Disorders." Eating Disorders. Ed. Roman Espejo. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Why Skinny Models Are Making Us Fat." Newsweek (8 Feb. 2007). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 20 May 2014.
Step out into the everyday world as an average American and you will witness an entanglement of varied body size, and shape. Now, enter the world of the media, a world in which you are formally introduced to high fashion, where flashing lights, money, glamour and riches crash around you, satiating every crevice of your being. Here, you will find two unified body types, divided into two categories of shape in women; thin, and thick. Naturally, any woman who wishes to someday strut down the catwalk in Zac Posen, or pose in Marie Claire wearing Dolce and Cabana must have a body that fits one of these required molds, right? It is a well-known reality that many women who cannot reach by healthy means, or do not already have, the desired body type for fashion industries, will develop an eating disorder to starve their way into the position. However, most fail to address the issue of obesity that curdles on the other end of the physical spectrum; the plus size modeling industry. This statement not only boils the blood of millions of American Women, but begs the question: If extremely thin models promote eating disorders, should we prohibit advertisers, especially those in fashion, from using plus size models, as they may promote obesity? To put it simply, no. Plus size models do not promote obesity because they only provide thicker, much larger women, confidence and appreciation for their body without pressuring them to take unhealthy means to shed pounds; they do not encourage overeating and lack of exercise.
“Big is Beautiful” is a campaign started by H&M, a clothing company, which exposes “plus size models” ranging from sizes 16-30 (Rawi). The campaign was started because the designers saw a potential to branch out to younger people by widening their products to larger sizes and better fashion. While the campaign was mainly started to increase sales to more women, people took the name of the campaign and turned it into glorifying obesity rather than embracing being “thick.” The exaggeration of the campaign caught the eye of many women who were overweight and/or obese and they saw it as an opportunity to excuse their unhealthy body size. Having self confidence is a positive quality, being unhealthily obese is not. Obesity can lead to heart disease, heart attack, diabetes, and many other health issues. While being misfitly thin and having eating disorders are also not positive qualities, dieting and exercising 3-5 times per week may help to get to a desirable body
Rush through the store, try to avoid human interaction because, God forbid, someone judges another person on their appearance. Grab items necessary for survival then, the dreaded line. The woman, checking out, has a toddler racing about touching everything in its vicinity, an infant with the nastiest death glare, and the woman has to use her seven billion coupons. To distract from the chaos ahead there lies the magazine rack. Full of designer clothes, that are four sizes too small. Celebrities with their new diet plans, and tons of articles about how to look good. All of this to prevent the masses from perceiving someone as an overweight, unattractive, fool. Judith Lorber, a professor emerita of sociology and women’s studies
Fashion models don’t need to be thin, they need to be diverse and healthy at whatever weight that is. Not everyone is supposed to be thin, some women are big boned and curvy, others are naturally slim and small boned, some are tall, others are short, some are light skinned and others are darker. So many diverse looks exist in the world today and the fashion industry need to change their perception of perfect. Body image in our society is out of control. We have young men and women comparing themselves to unrealistic models and images in the media and feeling bad about the way their own bodies look because they somehow don’t measure up. (Dunham, 2011) The struggle for models to be thin has led to models becoming anorexic or bulimic, untimely deaths, and inferiority complexes. Even worse is the fact that they influence a whole generation of young women who look up to these models and think “thin” is how they are supposed to be. They influence what we buy, how we eat and what we wear. Why has this specific group captured our attention so much? Why do we seem to be so fascinated in their lives, to the point where we try to look and act just like them? The media is largely to be blamed for this, many people believe the media has forced the notion that everything supermodels do is ideal. Others believe that the society is to be blamed because we have created a fascination with their lives. There are many opinions, and I agree with both of these specific opinions. We allow ourselves to be captivated by these people's lives, and the media portrayal of their lives seem to also enthrall us. (Customessaymeister, 2013) Despite the severe risks of forcing models to become too thin, designers, fashion editors, fashion brands and agencies still ...