By ROSIE WATERLAND
There are sacred rules in fashion. One can find them handwritten on an expensive piece of crisp white paper, locked in a glass case surrounded by candles in Anna Wintour’s office.
Some of the many, many rules include ‘Thou shalt mould one’s body to fit the clothes’ and ‘Thou shalt always wear sunglasses inside’, ‘Thou shalt not actually put ones’ arms in the arms of the jacket’ and ‘Thou shalt never smile when talking about anything, ever’.
You get the idea.
But the most important rule, the one underlined several times in fancy Calligraphy pens, is this: ‘At no time shall any influential designer ever create any fashion for plus-size women that isn’t laughably hideous.’
Designers, intent on only selling their clothes to one kind of woman, have embraced this rule with about as much gusto as someone who isn’t allowed to smile can manage.
Nobody in fashion is interested in going against these rules unless it’s for some kind of condescending ‘diffusion’ line, usually made with the same fabric old-timey drifters put all their stuff in and tied to the end of a stick they carried over their shoulder.
Which is why we should be jumping for freaking joy that somebody in fashion – and a very respected person in fashion at that – has spoken out against the assault on the eyes that is plus-size clothing.
Tim Gunn, most well-known as the design mentor on the US version of Project Runway, was chair of fashion design at the respected Parsons School of design for 25 years and is now chief creative officer at fashion brand Liz Claiborne. So, you know, he has some serious clout. Fashion people listen to what he has to say.
Top Comments
As Tim Gunn tried to point out "there's a market here". This is the material point : There's money to be made. Why do we need to appeal to a designer's sense of fairness when all we should need to do is contribute to the 'bottom line'?
I'll tell you why. Fat women need to be continually punished for not conforming to the designers' ideal. Please embrace our business and MAKE MONEY FROM US.
I'm a size 18-20 and agree with most of the comments here and was horrified by that slide show! Surely someone can make a decent quality, plain top that hasn't been bedazzled, blinged or savaged with an appalling print.
Thought I'd share my current favourite labels. www.17sundays.com have lovely skirts, Feathers make some great pants and I just bought an excellent silk kaftan (terrific over leggings with my bright Saltwater sandals) from Decjuba (it was one size fits all, and they repeat the dress each season with new patterns). For something a bit fancier, I love Marimekko clothing, Nicola Waite and Leona Edmiston (great frocks) and Marina Rinaldi (a MaxMara label) I would also suggest a visit to theiconic.com.au to check out Embody dresses and denim - no bedazzling there, just excellent shapes, sizes and colours.