Natalie

Things I hate about plus-size fashion

Thu, 24/09/2009 - 2:44pm | by Natalie

I’m in a sassy mood today, and I’ve been looking at online plus-size fashion retailers while trying to help a friend find a dress to wear to a wedding. It’s SO frustrating!  Even though the plus-size fashion market has improved, I still see a lot of things that bother me  – the most of all being that some labels and manufacturers only consider fit models with a certain body type and don’t pay a thought to those of us who do not have a “classic hourglass shape”. In the spirit of snark and temper tantrums, I bring you “Things I hate about plus-size fashion”!

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Fake necklaces

Fat women are not too lazy to put their own accessories on. This is insulting. Also, the chain is typically full of nickel, which I have an allergy to. It’s gross and insulting, way to go!

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Short dresses

Sure, tiny hemlines are progressive, if you slept through the 60s. However, some of us prefer to wear more modest hemlines when we have certain social engagements. Too many retailers are chopping off skirts on otherwise beautiful garments and still charging the same amount.

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Tops with bandeau hems or gathered waists

I have a big tummy, there is no way I want to be wrestling with elastic or a thick waist/ hip band all day. There are only two ways these styles work on me – they either slide up to sit under my boobs or down to sit on my thighs. FAIL.

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Necklines that ignore my boobs.

This is a double pronged attack – I hate necklines that are too low, and too high. There are LOADS of styles of tops and dresses that incorporate my most hated thing – the cross-over bust. It’s a cheap and nasty manufacturing ploy, because the pattern doesn’t need to be drafted as much to fit the bust through shaping and darts. It means that the neckline basically sits below the bust and shows off miles of your bra if you have larger breasts. Necklines that are too high also bother me. Do I not have a chest? Someone needs to find the Goldilocks solution to this problem so they can have all of my money.

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Giant graphic print tops

I have seen so many different abominable prints on plus size clothing ranging from news print to butterflies to “empowering” words. Gross. Get it away from me.

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Bedazzled jeans

I want to wear plain denim jeans, maybe with a rivet in each corner of the pocket. That’s all. I do not want you to harass my jeans with a bedazzler, sequins, glittery embroidery or your label’s name across my glorious arse.

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All of this

Diagonal lines, awful massive prints, sheer fabrics, etc. In the words of my friend “I really despair at TS (Australian label TS14+)”. In the words of me, “It looks like a shitty graphic designer vomited all over her”. Even their cardigans are wonky. It’s insanity.

Obviously, we all have our own list of things we’d prefer not to ever wear – and I’m fairly certain a few people will actually like the garments that bother me so much! What are your fashion hates?

Related posts:

  1. Style Evolution
  2. We Love Colors
  3. Fat Fashion – I can feel a rant coming on.
  4. There’s a learning curve to fanciness!
  5. Numbers don’t define you.

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  • Jacob232
    Ultimate Gynemax
    This is great stuff. Now maybe I can buy my wife something nice that she'll actually wear!
  • Wow! Just the right angle of attack. I am in regular sizes now, but when I had to wear plus sizes it was astonishing to me what they thought of plus size women. Plus size women with sense don't wear sleeveless tops. They don't wear giant prints or anything with words on it. They NEVER wear anything that gathers at waist or hips. The first plus size I ever loved was Delta Burke's line, which I thought was very smart and pretty. Of course she was harassed no end for being a big girl but her designs were really great. I only ever saw one and then none. Someone should design for plus women who actually LIKE them.
  • ursulamajor
    Short poofy sleeves and pants with back pocket flaps (with shank buttons!) The last thing I need are sleeves that cut into my upper arms at their largest place or butt lumps on my already ample rear.
    Good article. You all mentioned the bulk of my peeves.
  • JJ
    Thank you! I HATE clothes shopping. Since I'm more than a size 12, designers seem to assume that you're either 60+ years old or love awful designs with large (often sparkley) prints. I also really have the plummeting necklines and crossover at the bust designs. They never sit right and would need to repeatedly adjust them. The fake necklace syndrome is also awful and anything that includes these gets removed as soon at it walks through the door at home (if it gets that far). Really all I ask for are "normal" designs in a "plus" size. Is that too much for them to manage? (By the way that last dress is truely, truely awful!)
  • Michelle B
    I hate how makers of plus-sized clothes think that fat girls want to hide their bodies in huge fucking tent shirts and baggy ass pants with elastic friggin waists. I have some parts of me that I want to cover more (my belly) and some parts that I am ok to show off, like shoulders and great boobs. But I can never find cute shirts that accent the good stuff. Everything is just a mu-mu or a rag that is only big enough for a stick. I have been saying for years that I should start my own line of plus-sized clothes. Maybe one day I will get fed up and just do it.
  • I hate FLOWERS, FLOWERS AND FLOWERS EVERYWHERE. It's like I'm offering flowers to the world as an apology for being fat.

    I fucking hate blouses made with that silky see-through fabric. It's worse when they are imperial gone-wrong. It's like they want to make you look pregnant.

    And tiny tiny sleeves.
  • ohbrietta
    The worst offenders on that list are things that are universally unflattering - bedazzled jeans, giant (ugly) graphics, fake necklaces, that monstrosity at the bottom and that old, hideous standby - the twofer top. These all have NOTHING to do with how a fat body is shaped, where something sits on the boobs, what rides up, etc. What they all do is insinuate that fat women have bad taste and are lazy dressers. Plus-size fashion needs to be approached the same way as straight-size fashion: not all fat women have the same proportions, and different clothes need to be made to fit and look good on different proportions.

    Focusing on glitter and graphics far above fit, detail, shape and pattern makes it seem like designers assume that the actual garment isn't going to look good on your body to begin with, so you might as well just plop on an embellishment to draw the eye away from the actual garment on the actual body and hey, look, a sequinned butterfly! These jeans aren't going to fit or flatter your body, but at least you have some grommets. Garish embroidery also annoys me.

    Another thing I'd like to add - overly stretchy knits. I hate shopping for a top that fits perfectly, only to find that once I've worn it or washed it that it stretches out to become a size larger than when I bought it. , wearing it one day or washing it to find out that it's completely lost its shape.

    Also, to the people complaining about pants being made for amazons: I'm six feet tall and a size eighteen, and I've (personally) found the opposite. It's almost impossible to find sleeves that cover my wrists or jeans that reach the soles of my shoes.
  • LLL
    Amen! I hate the huge necklines. If I get a top big enough to fit, my bra is also in view through the gargantuan neckhole.

    My partner ordered jeans to fit her hips... the jeans were, I kid you not, four feet from waist to cuff. And the online measurements were wrong so we sent them back anyway...
  • OMG what the hell is that throw up of a dress on the bottom?! Yikes! Whoever put that together needs to go back to design school. Also, I agree with most of this, especially the necklines that ignore my boobs. My biggest pet peeve is that designers think plus size women are only a C cup and since most plus garments are empire waist, it means I can't wear most plus garments because the empire waist seam rides up on my DDD chest. D:
  • agree.
    and some places look way to old for me... Im young and i want to dress in the nice stuff they have...except everything looks like a darn curtain =( its annoying
  • Corissa
    I've been very frustrated lately so this blog really hit it on the head. I don't understand, with obesity on the rise and the actual size of the average woman why acceptable plus size clothes are so hard to find. Why aren't there more companies jumping on this? Money, here! Guess what, anything cute in my size is almost always sold out. Do some research on what makes people of different sizes feel good in what they are wearing and market it at a reasonable price.
    Stop trying to sell me stuff my grandma might have worn before she started watching What Not to Wear. Winnie the Pooh shirts need to stop, no adult should be wearing them, ever! (Strongly agree on graphic tees, bedazzled jeans...)
    The majority of the clothes I buy have too small of chest sizes. I don't think my boobs are huge but maybe they're bigger than I thought due to a lot of the other comments I read.
  • Name
    I think this should interest you all :)
    http://themanfattanproject.tumblr.com/
  • boots
    Oh wow, I'm hourglass/pear shaped and hate bandeau tops too--they cut me off at the widest part of my body and make my torso look like a big block--but I figured they were for people who carry more weight up top. Now that I know that's not the case, who *is* wearing them?
  • I love tall girls. Some of my best friends are tall girls. But we ain't all tall girls - please can I get some PANTS?

    And, word like a million about bandeau waists, crossover tops, and prints. Gathered anything gets my goat - remember a couple of years ago they were putting gathers and frills on anything that didn't move? Ghastly.

    Also, I would like to see more fashion-forward stuff for the younger lass; no one should have to spend their adolescence in Farmers and Warehouse (and made by auntie) clothes like I did.
  • fic_kitty
    I DESPISE Two-fers. You know, those vests or sweaters or blouses or WHATEVER that have this fake little extra bit of fabric attached to make it *look* like you've layered. You know, instead of ACTUALLY LAYERING. This is another laziness stereotype thing, I think, because I *never* see these sorts of fake-out shirts and dresses in straight sizes at the store. I can't tell y'all how many times I've seen a shirt I really like and then opted out because of stupid under-shirt fakeness. Sure I could buy it and cut off the offending bits, but damnit, I shouldn't have to work harder than everyone else for what I want :P

    I actually rather like the crossover bust look. I guess I have magic breasts because it always seems like just enough cleavage for me, rather than BOOBS AHOY.
  • Ah, the Frankentop. They are egregiously offensive, no?
  • I hate how pretty much everything is made in polyester, ridiculously overpriced, and I hate hate hate those drapey, saggy-looking necklines.
  • stella28
    Cap sleeves bother me. If you have large upper arms there is nothing more unflattering than a sleeve that cuts it off in the middle. They are worse when they are elasticised.

    It is jeans that i have the most trouble with. Why are all plus size jeans made to have a crotch down to your knees? is my punani supposed to be fat too?
    and studs/bedazzled/sequins on the back pockets DO NOT do anything, for anybody. except make you look like you walked out of a Katies catalogue circa 1993.

  • Sarah
    The worst for me? Plus-size retailers assuming the bigger you are, the TALLER you are. All of my pants go past my ankles, because I have to get 'em to fit my hips and bum.

    Oh, and long shirts bother me too. I am uncomfortable wearing them.
  • fic_kitty
    It is so funny to me that you and several other people have talked about this phenomenon because I invariably find it to be the opposite :P I have a freaking awful hard time finding pants long enough for me; without fail, they end up an inch or so above my heel, just at the height to make it look like they've shrunk in the wash :P Tall sizing usually works for me but not all pants come in tall! It is very frustrating.

    It could be an Australian/American thing, I suppose. Perhaps you can send me all your too-long pants and I can do an exchange for you :P
  • JJ
    Hehe it's not just too long. I actually find so many of the trousers I try when you put them on, come up close to your bust level, its just stupid. It's like if you're a size 16, you must be super tall though the body. Even with the short leg length trousers this happens. What is with that?
  • Stephanie
    I want to make babies with this post. Freaking I hate garish floral polyester sacks.

    The awkward inbetweenie zone applies to boobs, too - any straight size empire waists sit halfway down my rack, while specifically plus-size options have crazy amounts of room. I'm also ready for summer to die down up north because I can't stand loud-ass CMYK summer palettes. I might be allergic to turquoise and neon yellow. More earth tones please :(

    Although I have to say that at 5'3" the too-short hemline problem is quite rare, haha.
  • Stephanie
    Um, I'm slow and just realized that the obnoxious palettes are due to the massive wave of 80s nostalgia... which I'm not too hot on either.
  • Mina
    Hey, I'm 5'3 too, very few hemlines are too short, but there's quite a few that are too long!

    How about shirts that nearly reach your knees?
  • stella28
    Long time reader first time poster.

    I think i just snorted coffee and a bit came out my nose. Funniest thing i have read this week!

    Bedazzled anything can just fuck right off. Utterly insulting. Polyester everything can join bedazzled things and go and retire under a rock somewhere far far away from fashionable society.

    Seriously, please, someone from this thread please please go to design school right now (maybe we can all pool together and pay for the classes) then we can get you a job and breathe some SENSE into the plus sized industry that continues to spew out HORRIFIC clothing.

    GREAT blog post!

    Dont know if i am aloud to do this but I want to give a shout out to a designer i have found recently who has made me clothes that are so great i cry a little when i get them. www.pearlandelspeth.com

    She (Annie) will make you a custom vintage skirt and send it to you for $65. bargain. she is talented, i started off ordering them and given her some direction, now i just email and say "i want a green skirt" and it turns out briliiantly!

    Erika

  • I hate lazy sizing. Oh if size 10 is a 10 cm waist and 20 cm leg (for example!!!!) then a 12 must be exactly 2cm bigger on both measurements and 14 another 2cm again. IT DOES NOT WORK LIKE THAT JAY JAYS, CHECK YO' SELF.

    Frances mentioned the gap between normal and plus sizing I totally second this. I don't understand why I can't fit into dick at normal stores and then I go to city chic and put on a small to find out you can fit two of me in most of their stuff. Boo. Hiss. :(
  • That last dress looks like it was made just to illustrate your point with the ugliest garment that could possibly exist. I have never wanted to vomit on a piece of clothing so much.
  • I hate short-sleeved shirts when the sleeves are like two inches long. I don't want to look like I ripped the sleeves off my shirt in a fit of Flashdance rage. I want the sleeves to cover my upper arm just like they do on a normal-sized person!

    Also pants make me crazy. Just because I'm a size 28 doesn't mean I'm 7 feet tall.
  • I actually like the bandeau hem on things though in retrospect it might not be the most flattering of cuts; but I usually find it comfortable with my shape. And I have to blush and admit I do have some bedazzled jeans that look just like the image (only with brown embroidery). :) They are my fun pants!

    That said though I really can't believe that designers think anyone over a 10/12 would be so happy to have ANY clothing that they would throw money away on garbage (synthetics with garish prints in nighmarish colors) instead of wanting the same styles offered in straight sizing!

    My biggest "hate" in clothing is a toss up between that "You WANT to spend $30 on what amounts to an ultra-thin tee-shirt with someone's art-class mistake thrown up on it" and "All plus sizes MUST be 8 foot tall amazons...make the 'average' length pants at least 5 inches longer!!" Ugg.
  • Oh man, bandeau hems are the worst. Those things aren't flattering on ANYONE.

    I'm with Sonja re: the expectation that because you're fat you must have be a Hooty McBoob. I am ultra pear-shaped, so a lot of plus size garments are very roomy at the bust. (On that topic, I seem to be the wrong shape all over. My butt sticks out like a table and clothes in Australia - straight or plus size - don't cater for that. I'm expected to be arseless with huge tits.)

    I can't stand the huge gap between straight sizes and plus sizes in Australia. I don't fit the clothes in most mainstream stores. I'm a size 18 at Evans. Why is a size 16 dress by Monroe a bloody tent on me?!

    I hate all the polyester and I hate shops that expect me to pay $150 for a dress made entirely out of polyester (City Chic, I am looking at you).
  • KateJ
    Oh god I hear you on the TS. I had their factory outlet near my old house, with super-cheap prices, and I still couldn't find anything at all to buy there ... and all the sales chicks were wearing about five different pieces, all weirdly layered.
    And the bedazzled jeans...
    But I have a bit of time for the crossover top, mainly because it's often the only way for me to find a top to accommodate the boobs. I just stick a contrasting cami under it.
  • La_di_Da
    I don't mind that City Chic has sleeveless tops and bandeau tunics and big ugly graphic print tops, because that's what's in for crazy teen fashions right now. Like the in-ya-face Beth Ditto collection at Evans UK. I know there are fat teen girls out there SO relieved that finally they don't have to wear the frump-o-rama stuff from every other plus-size fashion store or convince their parents to buy them stuff online from Torrid. Have a look at the Sportsgirl site and you will see what I mean. It's like someone beat the 80s back into life with the ugly stick, but the kids like it.

    The biggest gap in the plus size market in Australia right now is classy and stylish stuff for fat women who don't care for super-trendy stuff or the other stuff. (I know a few age-50+ fat women who really like the big, flowing stuff a la TS14+.) When I win the lottery I will ask the lasses at B&Lu if I can start a store here. :P
  • lilacsigil
    When you win the lottery I will be first in line at your B&Lu outlet!
  • abbyvines
    the plethora of skirted swimsuits
    lime green
    cute undies that are made of synthetics- hello? my belly touches the tops of my thighs: recipe for yeast.
    and what happened to classic cuts? i don't want metallic graphics on my hoodie and i don't want an empire waist on my tshirt.
    and i don't want flowy crap all over the place, thank you. just what fits.
  • Polyester. Actually, all the cheap, crappy, synthetic fabric that pills at the first wash (City Chic, I am looking at you!).

    And I second hatred of enormous boob-areas, ridiculous bedazzling, and FUCKING BUTTERFLIES.
  • tropicalchrome
    Sleeveless EVERYTHING. It's like they've forgotten how to draft sleeve patterns. I've been known to wear sleeveless now and again, but not when it's below freezing out.

    If there are sleeves, they're 3/4 sleeves at least 8 times out of 10 - which make me look like my clothes shrunk in the wash. (Your mileage may vary because your arms are probably shaped differently from mine.)
  • Sleeves! I know! Is it a conspiracy to make us buy awful saggy shrugs and/or drape scarves over ourselves like Mothers of the Bride?
  • lilacsigil
    Oh TS! They have their own special problem in that every model in their catalogue has to wear at least three layered garments, and up to five. A big graphic print can look good (well, maybe not that one) but not if it's got a million fussy extra bits hanging off it and weird almost horizontal lines to chop you into little squat pieces. My boobs are not that big for my size, so I could wear that crossover top...except that my shoulders are even smaller, and it would slide right off. As for length, thank god I can hem. I'm 5'7" with completely average leg/torso ratio, but it's rare to find something that's the right length.

    I can't say I've ever seen a top with a built-in necklace - the horror might be blocking itself from my mind! I'm not allergic to nickel: it's allergic to me, and goes black in minutes. How would you even wash that?
  • Kate F
    I hate hibiscus flowers, in fact any large flowers on tops, skirts and dresses. They seem to flood the the plus-size clothing market.

    I hate that you cannot just walk into a regular store and find all clothing items in sizes from size 6-26. That would make my life so much easier that just the mere thought of the possibility of it one day happening makes me swoon. Imagine being able to wear what EVERYONE else wears. You wouldn't have to feel different and wonky by trying to make some vomit-inducing piece of clothing work.

    I hate the designers (I'm looking at you Sass & Bide) who insult me by not only NOT offering a respectable sizing range, but then lying about your sizes. Your size 14 didn't come close to fitting me when I was a size 10-12 in just about every other store.

    By biggest hate is that almost no plus-size "designer" scales the bra cup size up appropriately. I'm an 18 DD/E. There's nothing sized to fit me out there except Bravissimo's clothes (which I am buying piece-by-piece at the moment). Aussie designers keep everything at a B-Cup which is why it always looks horrible.

    The only exception I have found to this is Anthea Crawford's designs. Her clothes are a dream fit.

    Oh, my final hate, is that CityChic butchered their beautiful jewel maxi dress from the gorgeous floaty design with oodles of flowing skirt that they had at their cat walk show to the awful boring straight-up down polyester number they eventually offered on their website. I almost cried. I had waited so long for such an amazing piece that I knew would make me feel like a million dollars so I felt crushed and lied to when they produce a poor facsimile in cheap fabric.
  • Kate F
    I hate hibiscus flowers, in fact any large flowers on tops, skirts and dresses. They seem to flood the the plus-size clothing market.

    I hate that you cannot just walk into a regular store and find all clothing items in sizes from size 6-26. That would make my life so much easier that just the mere thought of the possibility of it one day happening makes me swoon. Imagine being able to wear what EVERYONE else wears. You wouldn't have to feel different and wonky by trying to make some vomit-inducing piece of clothing work.

    I hate the designers (I'm looking at you Sass & Bide) who insult me by not only NOT offering a respectable sizing range, but then lying about your sizes. Your size 14 didn't come close to fitting me when I was a size 10-12 in just about every other store.

    By biggest hate is that almost no plus-size "designer" scales the bra cup size up appropriately. I'm an 18 DD/E. There's nothing sized to fit me out there except Bravissimo's clothes (which I am buying piece-by-piece at the moment). Aussie designers keep everything at a B-Cup which is why it always looks horrible.

    The only exception I have found to this is Anthea Crawford's designs. Her clothes are a dream fit.

    Oh, my final hate, is that CityChic butchered their beautiful jewel maxi dress from the gorgeous floaty design with oodles of flowing skirt that they had at their cat walk show to the awful boring straight-up down polyester number they eventually offered on their website. I almost cried. I had waited so long for such an amazing piece that I knew would make me feel like a million dollars so I felt crushed and lied to when they produce a poor facsimile in cheap fabric.
  • 1Sonya1
    For me, the boobs are always too big. Fatter doesn't mean bigger boobs, yo. That and HORRIBLE patterns or things that are way too long. I'm not six foot; that tunic is a dress on me.
  • Totally agreed on all counts!
  • Jessie
    This!

    I carry all my weight in my belly and hips and have been woefully slighted in the boob department, I'm also short so that throws a whole other monkey wrench into the works.

    Luckily in the US at least, empire wasted shirts are in fashion, which are one of the only things I can wear because they don't assume that I'm a double d or larger.
  • Simonee Mersenne
    Ditto! Btdubs, the crossover bust actually looks super cute on me, as a small-of-boob woman. Plays up my assets in a way that isn't too sketchy. And I also love short dresses.

    Maybe I just like being semi-nude! XD
  • 1Sonya1
    Lucky!! I can never seem to fill out the cross over bust. There's gaping fabric and I have to get it altered. But I do love my short dresses. :D
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