Hail The Plus Size Woman? Nah, Not Really!

Not many years ago, thin was IT! The thinner the better!  No matter that the average female could not even relate to that image and numerous destroyed their health’s trying to achieve the look.  Can you seriously relate to the models on screen below?





Then come 2008-2009 – something changed. There was talk of bigger women, of more life-like proportions. Women the average female could relate to.

Observe the clip below form Ellen DeGeneres’ show and hail the celebrating of women, as they should look, not as the world of fashion dictates.

All of a sudden there was a wave of change. More and more life-size women started appearing on magazine covers and on ramps. All of a sudden, Tara Lynn, Justine Legault and Natalie Laughlin replaced the likes of Kate Moss and Adriana Lima.



So is it time finally for the real woman to emerge? Is the world really ready to flip over the super skinny damsels for the busty curvaceous ones? A bit of flab here and there is sexy, now is it? Why? What has changed?

According to WHO In 2008, more than 1.4 billion adults were overweight. Of these over 200 million men and nearly 300 million women were obese. There have been cries of frustration from women who wanted a representation of themselves on the ramps. They were tired of wishing for the impossible; an hour on the treadmill had no say in front of a cheeseburger in front of a screen did it?



This is what has changed! There is the economics of it all. With such a large number of people in the world overweight and unable to buy the merchandise, whom were they selling it to?

A large part of the population was getting out of the retail circle every year as more and more flab was put on thanks to the fast-food-sedentary-life cycle.

What better way to enhance your circle of sales than to lasso in the growing crowd on the fringe?

So let’s switch sides, slowly, in subtle ways, make sure we sound like we are on their side. Embrace your curves ladies; take pride in your body image, in who you are.



Viola, the ramps are populated by big ladies and talk shows echo with image-building quotes. All of a sudden plus size women all over the enlightened world are taking pride in their looks and flaunting their assets without any shame for the first time in their lives.




Does it matter if the line between plus size (normal body size, just plus compared to the reed thin version) and fat is nowhere in sight?

Who will talk about the health benefits? Who will tell obese people, “alright, don’t let people bully you or look down on you because of your size but work on being healthier and fitter?” Not many out there.

It is in the benefit of the fast food and soda franchises to let things be. It will benefit the designers to be flexible and embrace the (literally) growing lot and increase their sales. Why not? Bigger is better.