Okay, the title may be a bit long-winded, but it basically says it all. I’m a currently large-sized woman, 5 feet 8 inches tall, and am sick of having to pay through the nose for unfashionable clothes in specialist shops. Width and height-wise!
I recently joined Slimming World in an attempt to slim down, and though the main reason for this is for my health, I’d also like to be able to visit a budget store and purchase fashionable clothing at reasonable prices.
Take stores such as Tesco and Asda. Their clothing is, not exactly budget, but affordable for most. However, have you seen their ‘plus’ sections? Eew! What on earth makes manufacturers think that, just because someone is full-bodied, they want to wear such unfashionable and unnatractive clothing? What is the deal with elasticated, pleated skirts, for example? A lot of young people now are overweight and don’t want to wear the rubbish a lot of plus sections present.
Seriously, wouldn’t it be so much better for stores and consumers if every article of clothing in every store went from a 6 to a 32 in short, medium and tall ranges? I honestly wouldn’t mind paying a pound or two extra for the larger sizes. Manufacturers may not think that overweight women should wear denim shorts and boob-tubes, and neither do I for that matter, but that’s not my choice, neither is it yours!
The same goes for someone who is petite. My daughter, for instance, is a size 8 to 10. Not so little, you may think, but she’s only 5 feet 3 inches tall. Buying a maxi skirt or a pair of jeans is difficult as they all seem to be made for much taller women.
I’d love to be able to walk in to Primark or H&M and find something larger than an 18. I mean, come on! The average size in England now is a 16, so larger sizes should be a given!
Instead, I have to visit ‘plus size’ stores to buy clothes in my size, and again am at the mercy of manufactuers who don’t think I deserve fashionable clothing. Don’t get me wrong, their jeans and shoes are great, and very generous sizes, but as for anything else…well, I just turn to eBay and the like…at least I can buy underwear that doesn’t look as though my granny should be wearing it! And the prices! Whew! Not worth it!
I’m hoping that in a few months I’ll be slim enough to shop at the cheaper clothing stores, but I’ll still feel very strongly about this. Stop size discrimination and make all clothes to fit most shapes and sizes, whether you think we should be wearing them or not…it’s really up to us what we want to wear, not you!!
