Jiggling Through the Streets Since 2010

Summer’s latest trend was everything mini: shorts, skirts and dresses.  This trend was taken to new lengths or to be precise lack of length.  Shopping proved difficult for women whose body didn’t resemble a Victoria Secret model.  It took all your energy to work out whether those underpants were actually shorts?  Or was that shirt possibly a dress?  Every day I prayed that the infamous saying ‘does my bum look big in this?’ didn’t suddenly become ‘can you see my bum in this?’  Some men might have secretly loved this new trend but what emotional trauma did the fashion industry inflict on women? 

The culprits emerged through New York, London and Milan fashion weeks.  Julien Macdonald, Yigal Azrouel, Sass and Bide and Wayne Cooper were just a few designers who sent itsy bitsy, teenie weenie garments down the runway.

Michael Glasser, founder of Seven For All Mankind, Citizens of Humanity and Rich and Skinny was asked why he and many other designers create clothing purely for ultra-thin women.  His response? ‘Because they’re hot.’

Meredith Chittenden is like many other 20-year-old women; she is fit, healthy and happens to be a size 12 in clothes.  According to Tyra Banks, supermodel and host of The Tyra Banks Show, this would make Chittenden a plus-size model.

Chittenden explains the damaging effects of Glasser’s comment: “It makes people feel negative about their image because they don’t fit into that tiny criteria.”  This summer had women feeling anxious about going shopping.  It was not a joyous experience.  No rush of excitement, no endorphins bursting beneath the seams as that dress effortlessly slid over nature’s curves.

Shopping for shoes is the only enjoyable experience these days, explained Chittenden.

“A size ten in shoes is always a size ten.  A size ten in clothes can be completely different depending on the designer or the store.  The most hurtful thing is when a shop assistant explains that they don’t have anything bigger.”

Some designers may want their clothes made for the so-called ‘hot’ women, but should these designers be thinking about the emotional impact this has on everyday ‘normal’ women?  When you think about it, the emotional damage this leaves will be around a lot longer than the clothes.

You might be asking, what’s my point?  These days summer is, at best, a few days a week and then an influx of cold weather storms in.  Stop the bitching.  You don’t need to worry about seeing women expose themselves to society.  Think only to the future.  Fashion is looking forward not back, right?  Well I suppose this might be true.   Regardless of this point, it still stands that fashion doesn’t take into account women of different sizes.  It doesn’t take a genius to see that skinny women are seen as the desirable ones.  They are on billboards, runways and pervasive on the silver screen.  Fashion has one body type that it caters too.  Unfortunately women who don’t fit into the tiny criteria still seem to dress as though they are a size 0. 

Who’s to blame?  Most shops only stock up to a size 12, sometimes you might find stuffed at the back of the rail a size 14.   Unless we want women walking around naked then they have to squeeze themselves into clothes that don’t fit.   On the other side the designers are the ones who create the trends or should we blame the teachers who initially educate the designers?

Ada Ma, lecturer at the Hong Kong Institute of Education, warned the conference of the Home Economics Institute of Australia in Adelaide, 2003, that classes did not teach students to be socially conscious about the garments they design and make.  Teachers need to be concerned with students being taught how to question society and become critical thinkers.

So, winter is nearly here, we are on the cusp of beautiful coats, opaque stockings, leather boots, and woollen skirts.  The problem here – and this is why I’ve dragged you through endless babble about designers not creating trends for ‘real’ and ‘normal’ women – is that tights are going to surface there way back into society.

Last September the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that in 2008 46.2% of women over 15 were classified as over-weight compared to 40.6% in 2001.  Over-weight, curvy even athletic women do not, I repeat, do not, look good in tights.  I want to make myself very clear here, only models and those women who look like models but haven’t yet been ‘discovered’ should be wearing tights.  They show everything.  Every lump, bump and ripple. 

It’s evident women and their bodies are changing and the fashion industry needs to consider changing with it.  How long will it take before the standard size 0 mannequin is thrown out and replaced with a model that represents the real size of women?

In an attempt to give all sides of the story I am going to acknowledge that every so often the fashion industry speaks up and declares curves are back.  In August 2009 City Chic, leading high-end fashion retailer, used only plus-size models during their runway show at the Rosemount Sydney Fashion Festival; Whitney Thompson was the first plus-size model to win America’s Next Top Model in 2008; and in 2006 Jean Paul Gaultier sent a size 20 model down the runway in a corset and sexy underwear.

These events may all be encouraging but the positive buzz regarding the awareness for the issue of plus-size women rarely lasts.  “Sadly, thin is still in; curves just make for a nice, ‘good news, ladies’ interlude,” Sarah Wilson wrote in The Press last July.

Designers seem to always go back to creating clothes for the lean and the lanky.  Lagerfeld has described his H&M range as being designed for ‘slim and slender’ women and many high-end fashion designers do not make clothes for women over a size 12.  Bettina Liano is one of those designers.  She has said that there was a time when she made size 14 clothes but they just did not sell.

Linda Drodge, fashion stylist for Complete Personal Styling, explains the ridiculous nature of this comment.  “I think Bettina Liano is an icon, however, her clothes are very small fitting and tight.  Girls would love to wear it but I reckon most wouldn’t even go into her shop because they just don’t think the clothes will fit them.

“Women shouldn’t be slaves to fashion.  They need to work out what suits their body shape, style and personality.  Fashion has the ability to increase your confidence but first you need to know who you are,” explains Dodge. 

Stand up, relish your curves, and ignore the trends – especially tights - if they aren’t right for you.  No matter how good you think you look, remember the wobble you just felt ripple down your leg as your foot connected with the pavement.  I assure you, that jiggle is visible to all around you.

Love Me.