Posts Tagged ‘towanda’

Okay, so it’s been pretty well established that I have nice clothes, and tend to wear pretty fun and awesome outfits.  I get compliments on my clothing relatively frequently.  Most recently, I bought a coat from Asos, a really cute beige, tulip-skirted mac.  And the compliments rolled in, and often ended in the question, “Where did you find that?”[img_assist|nid=74|title=Asos coat|desc=|link=popup|align=left|width=300|height=400]

And when I reply that I purchased it online, from an international retailer, most (not all) people seem genuinely shocked that it’s possible to purchase clothing online. I will often get responses along the lines of, “But how do you know it will fit?”

For a lot of people, knowing exactly what the measurements of one’s body are can be a highly daunting thing.  Tags on clothes might lie, but the measuring tape doesn’t.  I suspect a lot of women my age haven’t even thought that one’s bust, waist and hip measurements actually are supposed to correspond to the arbitrary numbers on size tags.  Actually knowing what size you are, and matching it up to size chart online might be frightening, particularly if one is not keen on having to size up for things to fit.  I’ve known people who have insisted they are a size __, no matter what, and if they need to size up for something to fit, they won’t buy it.

Funnily enough, they don’t seem to have a problem with going down a size if the garment is too big.

The most infuriating comments, though, are these:

Me: “Oh yeah, I bought this from [online store], I really like it!”

Them: “That’s pretty cool, but I don’t really get why you shop online?  Isn’t just easier to go into a real shop and buy something?”

Me: “… it would be if I could find anything to fit, that wasn’t ugly as hell and that every single other fat girl isn’t wearing.”

This is what we in Australia particularly, but that fat people the world over have to deal with.  Our choices are so ridiculously limited that if you want to dress in a fashion-forward way, we are relegated to online shopping.  Sure, it’s great to have unique stuff, but what if I just need a pair of, let’s say, black trousers.  A staple of most women’s wardrobes.  If you go into Target’s straight size section, you will find at least ten styles, all available in Short, Average and Tall.

In the plus sections?  Two or three styles, and all stupidly long or ridiculous cropped shit.  And this is just one low to mid-range department store.  Women who can wear straight sizes have a myriad of choices for their clothing, at various price points.  For fatties, we have a choice of paying $35 at Big W, or $250 at Myer.  Where’s the middle ground?  Autograph?  No way; just say no to mounds of printed polyester garbage.

I am so sick of having to pay at least $20 extra in shipping costs for the privilege of purchasing well fitting, comfortable, fashion-forward clothing.  When I hear people joking about or discussing “fat taxes”, I feel like screaming that I already pay a fucking fat tax – it’s called International Shipping.  Some stores are more reasonable than others (Torrid, I’m looking at you and your extortionate shipping costs), but ultimately, I pay more than smaller people for my clothes. 

I’m not asking for much.  I would love to see more brick-and-mortar stores stocking plus size clothing.  Places like Dogstar, an Australian brand that I would seriously buy so much stuff from, if they just extended their size range.  Or if the few Australian fatshion places could open up more stores, like Towanda, or DreamDiva.  Or if Autograph could start producing more tailored, on-trend pieces.

It is not that hard.  Fat people are here, with Fat Dollars to spend.  We want the same options as our straight-size counterparts, across all styles and all price points. 

I want to be able to walk into Target and find a pair of black, short length, wide-legged, mid-rise, natural-fibre trousers.

And now I am off to wear an outfit that will no doubt consist of a significant amount of clothing purchased online.