Fashioning Fat: Inside Plus-Size Modeling
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Plus-size promoters, like Dillon and the council, fight not only size prejudice within the design community but also a market marred by apathy. Retail analyst at Equitable Securities Research, Andrew L. Weinberg, explained that “department stores don’t want to be bothered with that kind of customer because it just takes too much work. They’ll offer a few muumuus, but that’s about it.”33 While many of the major, upscale department stores, such as Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, and Nordstrom, have “woman” sections devoted to plus-size clothing, more retailers are transferring their plus-size offerings from in-store to online. Tim Gun, former faculty member of Parsons The New School for Design, chief creative officer at Liz Claiborne, Inc., and on-air mentor on the reality television program Project Runway, lamented over the styles that remain in stores:
Go to Lord & Taylor on Fifth Avenue, I think it’s the eighth floor, and it’s just a department called “Woman.” It’s rather devastating. You’ve never seen such hideous clothes in your entire life. I mean, it’s simply appalling. Thank God there are no windows on that floor, because if I were a size eighteen, I’d throw myself right out the window [after seeing those clothes]. It’s insulting what these designers do to these women.34
Betty Floura, owner and designer of Coco & Juan clothing line based in Los Angeles, California, added:
The plus-size customer wants fashion, but some buyers have the mentality that plus-size women only want certain things, like big, bold prints. But that’s just not true. She wants everything that is available to her peers in other markets, but she wants it to fit. Stores need to offer more fashion, every season.35
With the efforts of the council and independent plus-size designers entering the field, plus-size apparel offerings boomed in the 1990s, and new challenges emerged to appease a hungry demographic that had purchasing power.
Designers shifted from producing tent dresses in solid colors to more fitted dresses in a variety of prints, using contemporary fashion trends as a guide. Designers learned that they could lure in their targeted customer by addressing the issues of style and fit and breaking the rule of covering up the fat body. According to Valerie Steele, chief curator at the museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology:
For so long, there were so many rules for plus-size women—you couldn’t wear sleeveless, or bare backs. Now, there’s this attitude that you can still wear really nice clothes, and that is encouraging. The industry is responding to people’s desires. It is antipuritan, following no party line.36
Besides fit and style, the retail market moved to cater to the youth sector of the market.37 Chris Hanson, executive vice president of sales at Lane Bryant, noticed, “The young customer coming in has changed the business markedly. She’s not waiting to lose weight to look good or wear the latest fashions.”38 Plus-size designers adjusted the design of their garments when aiming for the youth market. For example, Valerie Mander, vice president and divisional merchandise manager for lady’s apparel at Houston-based Weiner’s Department store, explained that junior styles are cut a bit smaller to fit closer to the body because of a shift in thinking among young women:
The young plus-size customer is more accepting of her body. She doesn’t feel that she needs to buy body coverage. She feels she can wear fashion just as her smaller-size counterpart does.39
To reach this younger customer, Lane Bryant launched the Venezia Jeans Clothing Co. in 1998, with the help of the V Girls, a group consisting of five young celebrity role models, including plus-size models Mia Tyler, Sophie Dahl, and Kate Dillon.40
The company devised this marketing ploy to reach young consumers. “We want a larger share of the market,” remarked Chris Hansen, vice president of marketing at Lane Bryant. “We want the customer who shopped Lane Bryant with her large-size aunt when they were eight years old.”41 In addition to profit motives, Lauren Cohen, president of Designs by Lanie Inc. in Rockaway Beach, New York, aimed to bolster the self-esteem of youth. “We want to make them feel young, contemporary and just as elegant as the skinny little girls around, and with a little pizzazz, too.”42
A Market of and for Their Own
In order to better serve their targeted customers, fashion retailers needed to know their customers. As a fat woman, Liria Mersini, owner and designer of Cello clothing line based in Santa Monica, California, complained, “I am perceived by manufacturers, buyers and the fashion industry as a whole as having no taste.”43 This forced more women, like Mersini and Wilder, to take action and design their own plus-size clothing lines.
The V Girls from Lane Bryant’s Venezia Jeans Clothing Co. promotional campaign.
More self-identified plus-size women enter the design field out of pure frustration, making the plus-size design community a unique market of and for their own. As women who identify as plus-size, they may hold the key to challenging contemporary bodily aesthetics that privilege the thin body. These women are at the forefront of addressing the major criticisms of a fat-phobic fashion community. Their intimate firsthand knowledge of the problems plus-size consumers face provides them with an advantage. These designers address the concerns of their customers, aiming to produce fashions that fit properly and look good.
Former plus-size model Nancy Baum, the owner and president of Cherished-Woman.com, an Internet retailer specialized in trendy plus size clothing, explained her transition into selling clothing:
I was shocked and dismayed at how limited the choices were for women like myself. It was embarrassing and frustrating to show up to work or at a social function and have on the same outfit as my plus size peers. This has happened to me more times than I care to admit.44
Another designer, Jessica Svoboda, launched her line SVOBODA because she desired fashionable clothes. “I was tired of sloppy, ill-fitting clothing and baggy jeans,” she commented. “SVOBODA is proof that the demand for fashionable finds extends well beyond a size ‘double zero.’”45 Svoboda understood what her customers wanted because she, herself, was a woman with curves. In designing her fashions, she completely altered the garments to better fit a curvy body and relied on visual tricks, such as using larger buttons and thicker waistbands, to create a slenderizing silhouette.46 Similarly, when The Limited introduced its plus-size line Eloquii, the designers paid special attention to fit, e.g., more fabric was added to the back of skirts to accommodate ample behinds, the diameters of bracelets were increased, and even purses were enlarged to look more proportional on larger bodies.47
Adjusting the fit of a garment for curvy women requires molding the fabric to the body, as Pat Hink, merchandise manager of the plus-size line at Denver-based Rocky Mountain Clothing Co., explained, “Designers can’t just add fabric to make a garment plus-size . . . It’s about body shape.”48 That is why Yuliya Zeltser, designer and creator of Igigi.com, and Catherine Schuller, former plus-size model and image consultant, collaborated on the development of a size system that categorized the body into different shapes, such as the hourglass and the triangle.49 This system, adopted by other plus-size retailers such as Lane Bryant, revolutionized the market and reaffirmed that the body comes in many different shapes and sizes.
With the rise of the Internet and blogging, customers have an easier time expressing their complaints and providing feedback to designers and retailers. Fashion blogger for Curvy Fashionist, Marie Denee, admitted, “We will give brands feedback on social media and tell them what works. The plus-size woman is now speaking up for what she wants.”50 Yes, the plus-size woman has spoken. She demands both proper fit and style. As these independent designers gain momentum in the fashion marketplace, the women who proudly wear their clothes have the opportunity to challenge hegemonic beauty standards. As long as these designers continue to produce their collections, women will flaunt their bodies in them.
While the plus-size retail market is growing—both in terms of the increase of plus-size specific fashion lines and other brands that are increasing their size offerings—the ultimate goal is an end t
o this market segmentation on the basis of size. Plus-size is its own market—retailers specializing their lines for larger bodied women. This approach, then, necessarily treats the plus-size individual as a distinct consumer and potentially provides designers and brands, like the aforementioned cases of Lagerfeld and Abercrombie and Fitch, an excuse to ignore them, i.e., it is the “not my market” argument. When Eden Miller found out that her plus-size line Cabiria would be the first of its kind to show at New York Fashion Week, she reflected on her history-making opportunity:
I’m hoping it becomes a non-issue. I hope that it’s a beautiful show. I mean, I’ll be happy to get press coverage . . . but I’m really hoping that it’s seen just as the other offerings at fashion week.51
Bodies come in different shapes and sizes. This is a representation of the size system developed by Yuliya Zeltser and Catherine Schuller.
Miller did not want to be singled out as the plus-size line at Fashion Week. She did not want differential treatment. She wanted to be recognized for her contributions to fashion design, regardless of the size of her designs and consumer, and rejected the idea of a separate plus-size fashion industry versus the fashion industry:
I definitely want to open the door to other designers who have beautiful lines so they can come in with the same standards they place on the straight sizes. Exclusive, but not prohibitive . . . I think that if we as plus designers keep comparing ourselves only to other plus designers, it’s circular and closed. There are so many sources to draw upon in the fashion world; I don’t see why it should be separate. We are part of the fashion industry.52
These plus-size designers, like Miller, created their lines because they felt pushed out and excluded from fashion. These women strove for legitimacy as designers and hope that more clothing lines will begin to cater to plus-size customers.
Fat-Bottomed Girls
For plus-size models, commercial modeling, where the model appears on websites and print media advertisements, can be lucrative in terms of both exposure and compensation. If hired by an established retail company like Lane Bryant or Avenue, a plus-size model can make anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per job, as negotiated by her agent. For example, Lane Bryant primarily hires models from either Ford Models or Wilhelmina Models and flies them to corporate headquarters in Ohio for weeklong product shoots. Since it relies on models provided by an agency, Lane Bryant hires models who are no larger than a size fourteen or sixteen, since the agencies themselves do not have larger models. Similarly, Avenue, which retails fashion-forward women’s clothing in sizes fourteen to thirty-two both in stores and online through its website (www.avenue.com), also hires its models from the same professional modeling agencies as Lane Bryant; yet, the models in Avenue Body’s lingerie advertisements are visibly smaller than those used in Lane Bryant’s advertisements.
On the other hand, fledgling plus-size retailers often rely on a local consumer base to work as hired models, and usually these models are reimbursed for their time in either cash or merchandise. This is the case with Plus Size Plum Lingerie, a web-based retail site of “sexy plus size lingerie for big, beautiful, women who radiate humor, style and intelligence.” Founded by former plus-size model, Deborah Friedman, Plus Size Plum Lingerie offers a collection of intimate apparel that will “enhance the beautiful plum in all of us.” Due to its location in Durham, North Carolina, Plus Size Plum Lingerie has limited access to plus-size models. Consequently, the owner, Deborah Friedman, and her husband scout for women to model on their website at local restaurants and shopping centers.
Similar to boutiques that scout from among their customers to model in in-store fashion shows, some retailers invite customers to submit their photos for consideration through an online submission process. Hips and Curves, for example, scouts for models for upcoming photo shoots through its website. An exclusive web-based business, Hips and Curves caters to curvy women, offering its exclusively plus-size clientele the latest in lingerie since operations began in 2000. Owner Rebecca Jennings encourages her consumers to submit their pictures (one close-up and one full body shot) via email or mail. Prospective models must be women who wear at least a size twelve, “love wearing sexy lingerie” [emphasis theirs], and live in Southern California, where its administrative offices and call center are located. Hips and Curves prefers to use local models for ease of availability in the case of last-minute photo shoots.
Whether using professional plus-size models or women off of the street, all plus-size lingerie retailers seek to use models whom their customers can both identify with and aspire to, as well as capture the look of the clothes. Above all, the models embody brand aesthetics. When Jennings, from Hips and Curves, requires her models “love wearing sexy lingerie,” she is not simply scouting on the sole basis of physical appearance. She looks for women who fit her brand image in terms of their energy, i.e., affective labor. Jennings wants models who would be interested in her clothes even outside of the context of the job. Similarly, during a casting for an independent, web-based plus-size collection, the designer team asked me if I had examined their offerings on their website before the meeting and, if I had, which article of clothing was my favorite. They were asking these questions to gauge my enthusiasm for a product I would be selling if hired for the job. This was their way of determining if I would be able to embody their brand aesthetics to become their brand’s ambassador. Selecting a model for an advertising campaign or catalog is not simply a matter of who looks the best. It is a highly subjective process that involves discerning the worker’s potential to embody an organization’s values—its image—through her look, mannerisms, voice, and style.
Additionally, the types of bodies used in these images are of growing concern to the consumer. More of the newer, web-based retailers have begun using “larger” plus-size models. For instance, the models on the Plus Size Plum website come in a wider range of sizes than nationally franchised clothing retailers. As owner Deborah Friedman explained in a personal correspondence:
I prefer to use size sixteen models so my customers can identify with them. I’ve had complaints in the past that our models didn’t look plus-size enough. I actually used a size twenty-two for some pictures.
Competing with national retailers who do not use models larger than a size sixteen, these newer brands do not want to risk alienating consumers. Similarly, Luscious Plus Lingerie stresses its use of a variety of plus-size bodies to potential customers on its website, “As you explore the site you will be able to relate to the ladies in media photos, product photos, which further illustrates our dedication to luscious women :-)”53 The website prominently features “larger” plus-size models on its homepage.
Hiring “smaller” plus-size models may alienate consumers, who may perceive it as a mismatch between a brand’s aesthetics and the models’ bodies. As sociologist Kjerstin Gruys discovered during her ethnographic research at a plus-size clothing store, customers are sensitive to the size of bodies, even the size of store employees. At a store she initially described as “an oasis of body acceptance,” most of the employees were plus size; however, some, like Gruys who wore a size ten, were standard size.54 While working at the store as an employee, Gruys overheard a customer request to speak with a manager:
The woman said, “Well, that’s just it . . . you might not understand. I haven’t been in here for a while, so maybe something changed, but isn’t this supposed to be a store for big ladies? All of the girls working here are small. Didn’t they used to be bigger?” . . . The woman looked upset, and asked “but isn’t this a store for bigger girls?” . . . The customer left the store without looking at anything, saying, “I’ll come back another day, but I hope it’s back to normal by then.”55
Web-based retailers, such as Luscious Plus Lingerie seen here, tend to use larger plus-size models than nationally franchised brands.
As Gruys notes, this customer expected to see plus-size workers at a plus-size store. When her expectations were
not met, she left the store without making a purchase. Similarly, Friedman, from Plus Size Plum, feared for her business after a similar reaction from customers, so she rectified her mistake. By using larger models on its websites, online-only brands like Plus Size Plum and Luscious Plus Lingerie seek to appeal to a more diverse range of women by using models of various sizes (while brands with physical retail space use larger sales associates as well). These models are curvier and rounder than those who typically appear in print for national retailers. The owners of these online boutiques aim to show their products on “real” bodies.
In the past two decades, plus-size retail expanded, offering more brands, larger sizes, and utilizing plus-size models with increased girth. With the growth of e-commerce, plus-size designers reached a larger pool of consumers via the Internet with greater ease. Independent labels and boutique owners rely on online sales to increase profit margins and expand their business nationwide. While designers hire thin models to promote their fashion and appeal to a targeted young and thin demographic, online fashion catalogs tend to feature models of size sixteen through size twenty-four to appeal to a larger clientele. The arguably “larger” plus-size model, shunned by certain sectors of the fashion industry, gains visibility in a burgeoning virtual marketplace.
Flesh Exposed
The aims of plus-size lingerie retailers are not different from other general lingerie retailers, such as Victoria’s Secret, except that they cater to a specific niche market based on size. Marketing lingerie involves highlighting an idealized femininity, one that is characteristically thin. While sexuality is implicit for thin models, plus-size models present a more explicit sexuality in order to counter the stigma of asexuality. To do so, marketing efforts place greater emphasis on an overt sexuality.