Whether it’s in the office, at school or even in your trendy church group, we’ve all had that experience where seemingly everyone in your social circle is wearing a specific brand, style or design of clothing.
As human beings we are hardwired to want to fit in and feel a sense of belonging to the people we want to be around, so when your friends all turn up rocking the latest styles and trends, of course, one of the first things you say will be “oh my god, I love that top, where did you get it?”
Any woman who is a little curvier than their friends will understand the gut-wrenching feeling when the answer is “Urban Outfitters”.
Now, this could widely be due to the fashion industry favouring athletic body types and not accounting for women with bigger busts or hips, but I find certain popular brands to be significantly less size-inclusive than others. For me, Urban Outfitters has been a repeat offender.
Despite the previous plus-size controversy, Urban Outfitters has previously ranked as the worst for their variety of plus-size dresses. Surely, in 2024, there is just no excuse for a brand favouring a specific body type despite promoting their brand as “diverse”.
My relationship with Urban Outfitters was very short-lived – I have never felt worse about my body than in the changing rooms of that store. Are the designers of these clothes aware that people with bigger boobs and wide hips exist? Or are they simply too shallow to allow any woman above a size XXS to wear and represent their brand?
When speaking to Susan (aged 32), a shopper in Nottingham City Centre, I asked her if there were any stores she would actively avoid when shopping for clothing. Susan responded with, “Yes, absolutely! There are loads of shops I know I couldn’t go in for myself … They either aren’t marketing their clothes for people over a certain age, or they won’t sell anything that will fit me.”
She continued, “To be honest, it makes shopping kind of depressing. Just because I’ve got curves and I’m not 18 anymore, doesn’t mean I don’t want to wear the new styles and trends.”
Speaking to Susan it was clear that a shopping trip, which is usually seen as a fun or relaxing activity, can seriously impact our mental health and make us feel unworthy. So much for retail therapy.
Why is it that pop culture chooses a specific demographic to put on a pedestal and design clothing trends on just one body type?
When human beings come in all wonderful shapes and sizes, why is there a separate section in stores for “plus-sized” fashion?
After pondering this question, I was thinking about the effects that labelling people as “plus-sized” must have on people, so I decided to post a poll on Instagram asking the question “Do you think that the term ‘plus-sized’ should be used?”.
After 24 hours the results revealed that 72% of poll takers answered “No”.
These results speak for themselves. Why can’t a size just be a size, why does it need to be a ‘plus’ size? There can be numerous reasons for our bodies sitting at different weights, whether that is our hormones, illness, mental health or anything else. What is considered to be a ‘healthy weight’ for one person might be completely different to the ‘healthy weight’ another person’s body will naturally sit at.
Moving forward, we should encourage brands to increase their size range to incorporate people with different dimensions to the cultural “norms”. The average dress size for women in the UK is a size 16, which most retailers are classing as “plus-size”. Stores should surely be aiming to dress the average woman and make them feel special, rather than isolating the majority of the population by catering for the minority that conforms to their idea of beauty.
Let’s let a size remain a number, not a category used to make women feel the need to make themselves smaller.
Clothes should be made to fit your body, our ability to purchase a pair of jeans shouldn’t be dependent on the inches around our waist. Beauty is a diverse spectrum, not a limited assortment of facts and figures. Expand size ranges, banish harmful labels, and open the door of fashion and self-confidence to everyone.
