Tag Archives: plus-sized

Get me to the Dressing Room Please

Fatshioning a Better Relationship with Clothing Companies

Plus-size model? Most of the world doesn’t seem to think so.

I was reviewing my email when this article from Digiday entitled “For brands, marketing ‘plus-size’ is a tricky line to walk” showed up. The article talked about the recent uproar about Calvin Klein model Myla Dalbesio’s interview in Elle Magazine where she referred to herself as a ‘Plus Sized Model’. Social media outlets erupted in anger as many people rightly pointed out that as a very tall woman who is size 10 at most, she is considerably thinner than the average American woman. And while she might qualify as “plus-sized” in modeling terminology (which can apply to any woman over size 6 according to the article in Elle) she certainly doesn’t qualify as plus-sized in the way that most of us understand it. To be fair, I think it’s important to note that Calvin Klein did not label her as plus-sized. It simply put her in a group of models of varying sizes to promote their new Perfectly Fit line of underwear. Myla described herself as plus-sized.

But this pesky question of labeling has come up since the early days of the “husky” department and most retailers still don’t seem to get it right. We had the kerfluffle earlier this year when some online catalog pages identified Wal-mart Halloween Costumes “Fat Girl Costumes”. Many people took exception to this labeling as extremely rude, while at the same time, many people in the Fat Acceptance community who identify themselves with the word “Fat” thought it was just fine. As a woman who calls herself “The Fat Chick” I wasn’t offended. But many people were.

Walmart’s Halloween section before the site got changed and the company apologized.

Add to this, Dillard’s debacle which Ragen Chastain blogged about today and you have to wonder, who the hell is doing this marketing stuff anyways? Who at Dillard’s thought it would be okay to put a sign that says “Dear Santa, This year give me a fat bank account and a slim body. Please don’t mix them up like you did last year.” Do they do any market research? Do they understand how this will be perceived in the marketplace? Or do they see it as clickbait with the idea that all attention is good attention as long as they get the URL right?

And then we have Old Navy, catching online flak for making their plus-sized clothing more expensive than the exact same garment in a smaller size. There is now a national petition circulating on Change.org asking Old Navy to unify pricing for women’s clothing of all sizes.

What in the name of all that is retail is going on here? How can these companies with so much money and such big advertising budgets and so much access to sophisticated market research continue to get this so wrong? I don’t claim to have all the answers, but it seems to me that a few simple tips are in order:

1. Lose the labels.

Why do you have to call these clothes anything at all? Why do you need a plus-size department? Or a women’s department? That label always made no sense to me anyway. Does that mean that all the other smaller dresses in the store are not for women? Are they for dancing poodles or space aliens? Why can’t we just say that we have clothing sizes 00-30 and call it a day? If you are talking about tags for a search engine, then fine. Tag away. But you don’t need to call these clothes out in a special heading. Because you are also following step two which is:

2. Have more than a few token items in a variety of sizes.

The sad truth is that larger sizes are often relegated to their own department because such a small percentage of the store’s stock comes in any thing over a size 12. Larger people get really tired of flipping through cute and gorgeous things that don’t come in their size. If most things on the rack had a size 14 through a size 30 or 32 or 40 on them, we wouldn’t need to go to the “plus-sized” department or the “women’s department” we would go to the clothes department. The special sizes departments are just to keep us from hanging ourselves with a pair of stripy tights because we’ve looked at 85 fabulous things that only come in a size 4.

3. Don’t charge a premium for larger sizes

You don’t charge more for a size 10 than a size 0. So there is no reason to charge more for a size 16 than a size 10. Just average the prices down the line and charge accordingly. See? That was easy!

4. Treat all of your customers with respect

Treat your customers of all sizes, just the way you would like to be treated. Do you want to see a sign suggesting that Santa bring you better judgement, more kindness and some freaking common sense? No? Then don’t put out a sign suggesting that Santa bring your women customers or your young girl customers a new body. There! Done!

I think everybody should be able to approach the holidays in some fabulous clothing that makes them feel comfortable and happy. So retailers, listen up! There are lots of people who aren’t size 4 or even 14 and have lots of money. So if you really want to start the day after Thanksgiving “in the black”, get it together. I think that is something for which we could all feel truly grateful.

Love,

Jeanette DePatie (AKA The Fat Chick)

P.S. Want me to come talk to your organization about “plus-sized” clothing and fashion for folks of all sizes? Click HERE to see some video, learn about my speeches and book me!

P.S.S. Want to connect in and get free stuff? Join my mailing list HERE.

See Fatty Run, Can Fat People Run Safely?

Big Fat Yoga Pants

6 Replies

Yesterday a brouhaha was begun when former Lululemon employee Elizabeth Licorish told reporters that her former employers routinely discriminated against larger customers. In other news, water is wet.

I mean come on. The store only stocks clothes up to size 10 or 12. And they label their size 12 as XL. Clearly this is a company who has never catered to a plus-sized clientele.

Licorish claims that while she worked at Lululemon, the company only stocked a few items in sizes 10 and 12. She also asserts that these lonely larger sizes were not displayed prominently in the front, folded neatly on shelves or hanging from display racks, but rather, were crumpled up in the back.

Which leads me to ask a question. How exactly is this different from nearly every other retailer on the planet? Aside from the few stores like Lane Bryant and Torrid and Christines that cater specifically to plus-sized customers, most stores have pitiful, tiny poorly managed sections for their larger clothing. Even if you look at the major, high-end department stores, the plus-sized section is much smaller, has much less inventory and is less well-staffed than virtually any other clothing department in the store. Given the fact that about half of American women are plus-sized, I have a hard time understanding the reason why plus-sized clothing gets less than 10 percent of the floor space devoted to clothing in the local neighborhood mall.

Lululemon is not so different than most clothing companies, in that they fail to see the amazing market afforded by plus-sized customers and they are letting their brand arrogance lead them into leaving millions of dollars on the table.

But they know this already.

So instead of yelling at Lululemon for improperly displaying the “ginormous” size-12 yoga pants retailing for over $100, I’m going to take this moment to remind the world that there are now some truly fabulous resources for budding plus-sized yogis out there.

On our Fit Fatties Forum we have the super amazing Abby Lentz moderating our Yoga group. Aside from being an awesome yoga teacher, Abby also has her Heavyweight Yoga DVD and an especially cool feature on her website called “Change the Image of Yoga” where she features lots of beautiful, smiling yogis who don’t look anything like the ads or the saleswomen you’ll find at Lululemon.

Another wonderful Yoga Teacher that I know and love is Anna Guest-Jelley. Anna is founder of Curvy Yoga and also offers certification for other teachers who are interested in learning the Curvy Yoga method of instruction. She also offers her world-famous 30 Days of Curvy Yoga program.

And if Lululemon pants fit neither your butt nor your budget, you might want to check out the yoga wear at Junonia.com. They have some lovely, high-quality pieces of yoga wear available up to a size 6x.

So may I make a suggestion? Rather than be upset that one hoity-toity “yoga wear” company doesn’t want to take your money, how about supporting one of these amazing businesses? Help them to help you and many, many others to spread the word that yoga is for every BODY.

Love,

The Fat Chick

Like my posts? You’ll love my stuff!

Buy my book: The Fat Chick Works Out! (Fitness that is Fun and Feasible for Folks of All Ages, Shapes Sizes and Abilities)–available in softcover and e-book versions

Buy my DVD: The Fat Chick Works Out! (A Safe, Easy and Fun Workout for Klutzes, Wimps and Absolute Beginners!)

Buy a book or a DVD for a friend and save $5! Just enter FRIENDBLFT in the discount code box!

Check out my Training Programs–both in person and via Skype (Starting at just $25!)

Book me to speak at your special event!

Big Fat Ripoff: Too Heavy to Tan

3 Replies

This week a story is surfacing about a woman in Akron who was told after she signed up for a month of tanning that she could not use the lay down tanning beds if she was over 230 lbs. Kelly McGrevey was allowed to use Aloha tanning salon’s one stand up tanning booth, but when it was broken, she was told she simply couldn’t tan. When Kelly asked for her money back, Aloha refused. Kelly had never been told that she could only use the stand up booth, and the salon was unable to give her any information about when the stand up booth would be fixed.

Now look. While there are some awesome facilities for bronzing, tanning salons are notorious for creating crazy policies and never, ever offering refunds. The tanning salon had an F rating with the Better Business Bureau and had Kelly done her homework, she might have been less surprised by the shady business practices. But I think the real surprise was probably with the employees of Aloha. I doubt they expected that Kelly would have the guts to make much of a fuss about the new policy. I’ve no doubt they were shocked when Kelly went public and they found themselves being interviewed by a local investigative reporter. Because I suspect that they felt they would be protected from any negative repercussions for their bad behavior by the shame the fat girl felt about her body.

Except that’s not what happened at all. And I think this should serve as a wake up call for businesses everywhere who are count on fat people’s willing compliance with their bogus policies. Fat people are fed up. And we’re rising up. Whether it’s shaming at a fitness center or the requirement to submit to tests and pay more for company sponsored health insurance, people of size seem less likely to stand idly by these days. So companies who shame fat folks should take note, that big girl you shame might just walk away crying, or she might be your ticket to a not so comfortable spot on the evening news. And I for one, am cheering.

Love,

The Fat Chick

Now Trending on facebook: Mannequins that Look Like People

2 Replies

Late last week, these lovely ladies started going viral on facebook. Apparently a shopper named Rebecka, took pictures of these mannequins at a store in Sweden and posted them on her blog. This image was picked up by Women’s Rights News and posted to their facebook page with along with the statement, “Store mannequins in Sweden. They look like real women. The US should invest in some of these.” Since then, the photos have been seen by over 600,000 people and have become something of a worldwide sensation. There was some initial confusion. At one point, someone suggested that the mannequins were being displayed at H&M. When H&M denied that the mannequins were theirs, some media entities (including the Washington Post) declared that the whole thing was a hoax. But Rebecka assures us that the mannequins are real and are currently on display at a major Swedish department store called Åhléns.

So why such a fuss over a couple of clothing dummies? It seems some of the excitement stems from the fact that these models seem to have bodies that are at least a little bit closer to average women around the world. So often store mannequins are proportioned much closer to the tall and thin range of the human weight spectrum. While some women are six feet tall and a size 4 or 6, this is certainly not average. The Åhléns mannequins are a little softer and rounder. Maybe they look a little bit less like the personification of a media ideal of creatures who wear fashionable clothing and a little more like, you know, people. (Frankly, I adore the fact that they are wearing socks along with their pretty undies. I mean it gets freakin’ COLD in the winter, ya know?!)

It’s interesting that these mannequins have attracted so much attention. I mean they aren’t sporting alien antennas or tentacles. They were not launched with a smug press release or a huge fanfare. They were simply displayed, wearing socks and undies in a Swedish department store. And just because they look a little bit less like an “ideal” and a little more “real” to many people, they have been viewed over half a million times since last Friday. One would hope that other clothing stores and fashion designers and advertisers are taking note. What is the dollar value of the marketing that this department store in Sweden is receiving just for taking a chance on giving its customers something for which they have obviously been waiting? Is somebody taking note of the fact that there is a lot of pent up desire for seeing clothing displayed on a variety of body shapes and sizes to which more than just a very select few women might possibly relate? Good heavens, I certainly hope so!

The last five years have not generally been kind to retailers. And while it seems that sales are starting to pick up, I don’t think many would suggest that business is booming. So it’s especially important now for retailers to focus on what customers want. And it seems to me, what customers want, is to see clothing displayed in a way that reminds them a little bit less of some industry-driven ideal of how they should look and a little bit more of themselves. Here’s hoping the message is finally getting through.

Love,

The Fat Chick

P.S. Don’t forget to sign up for The Fat Chick Clique. It’s fun and it’s totally free, and you’ll get even more FREE STUFF!

Buyer Beware: When the Trainers at the Gym are Big Stupid Bullies

7 Replies

What happens when you sign one of those one-sided, draconian gym contracts and then find yourself verbally and emotionally abused by the trainers in that gym? Think you’ll get out of the contract? Maybe, maybe not. In the ever growing pile of “stuff on my facebook feed that makes me totally aggro” was this story on a site called Consumerist. This site shares stories of people who feel they have been ripped off. I am disappointed that the Consumerist felt the need to redact the name of the gym, although they are happy to name other companies (Kohl’s, Michaels) in other stories. Maybe they felt that the gym was so small it might be a little too easy to figure out who the bad guys are and where they park their cars.

Anywho, the story’s victims, Shayla and Mr. Shayla joined a gym. They took the first of their two “free personal training” sessions with a trainer who “pressured them” to sign up for personal training services. (*Note this happens very often in some gyms.) When the couple (both plus-sized) mentioned that they were going to try on their own for a while, the trainer looks at their bellies and says, “Obviously what you’re doing so far, isn’t working.” So Shayla and Mr. Shayla tell the manager they want a different trainer for their second (and final) free training session. But now the first trainer is harassing Shayla and Mr. Shayla at every opportunity. The wronged couple jumps through many hoops to try to talk to a manager. When they finally get through, they ask to be let out of their contract. They are denied at every level. As Shayla says, “I am forced to watch them deduct money from my credit card each month (a portion of which, naturally, goes to my abuser), with no recourse until my contract expires.”

At the end of the article there’s an opinion poll asking:

Should the gym let Shayla out of her contract?

___No. If she doesn’t want people to point and laugh, she should lose more weight.

___No. She should wait and see whether her complaint does any good first.

___It’s her fault for not buying personal training sessions.

___Yes. Everyone should be able to find exercise that suits them in a respectful, jerk-free environment.

First of all, let me tell you that I was able to maintain the tiny thread of hope I hold out for humanity when I saw the responses–over 92 percent voted for the final “yes” response. But I have to tell you, I thought of a few other options:

__Yes. And if the company won’t do it, she should contact her local television station and share the story for a potential “expose” story. Lots of stations love these stories and companies should expect public humiliation when they allow their employees to humiliate customers.

___Yes. And Mr. and Mrs. Shayla should get x-large t-shirts printed that say, “I don’t train with [Name of personal trainer] cuz’ he’s a bully.” and hand them out in the gym parking lot.

___Yes. And somebody should remind that gym about what happened when 24 Hour Fitness thought it was cool to put up billboards that were insulting to fat folks.

___Yes. And redacted, my @ss. I need the address, phone number and license plate number of that bozo that was doing the bullying!

But seriously folks, there are a few important lessons to be learned here. One lesson is to be very, very careful when you join a gym–especially for a period of time of one year or longer. There are many super-awesome completely reputable gyms that will give you a wonderful, safe, comfortable place to work out. There are, unfortunately, also a number of gyms out there who just want to get you to sign a contract and will never, ever, like for any reason, let you out of it. They don’t care if you have a good experience. In fact their idea of the perfect customer is the one who is a perpetual member who never, ever shows up at the gym. Don’t believe me? Go take a look at some of the complaints with your local Better Business Bureau. I’ll bet at least one group is about a lousy gym with bad business practices. Buyer beware, people. Check out Yelp. Google the name of the gym you are considering and the word “complaint”. Ask around. If you do get a contract, there should be a reasonable clause in it for both parties to opt out. Don’t listen to any glib verbal assurances given by the salespeople. Go with what’s written on the paper. Consider trying the gym for a month or even three before signing up with a contract. If there are no month to month or even 3-month options, consider this a red flag and check even closer into the gym’s practices. Again many gyms are awesome, but some clearly are not. Be careful.

And finally, yay for Shayla and Mr. Shayla for standing up for themselves. There is no excuse for any fitness professional to treat you with anything other than courtesy and respect. EVER. None. Zero. Nada. If this happens to you, call it out, complain about it, but don’t put up with it. Because people of all sizes deserve courtesy and respect.

Love,
The Fat Chick

P.S. Looking for a safe place to work out? How about your living room? You could always try my live streaming classes. They are totally cost and contract FREE!

Big Girls on the Red Carpet

3 Replies

Jeanette working the Red Carpet with the two directors of the Haute Curves Fashion Show for LA Fashion Week: Angela Rene’ AKA “The Purple Diva”, CEO of PurpleDivaDesigns.com and Jasmine Epperson, CEO at Kris Eliza Boutique

On the list of things we big girls are told we will never experience, you can add wearing beautiful clothes. As a kid, I never thought I’d get to wear gorgeous things and the idea that there would be plus-sized models seemed extremely remote.

So in my week of saying “neener, neener, neener” to the list of stuff we fluffy folk “shouldn’t expect to enjoy,” I’m telling you that the models ROCKED THE HOUSE at this past weekend’s Haute Curves fashion show for LA Fashion Week. For over two hours we watched unbelievably gorgeous men and women of all sizes, small to super-sized, strut down the runway in some extremely gorgeous clothes. And folks, these were not your mama’s muumuus. There was an awful lot of extremely beautiful clothes from delightfully weird to sporty to super sexy on that runway. Angela and Rene put on an absolutely spectacular event!

The Fat Chick near the runway at the Haute Curves fashion show.

So besides the need to feed my considerable ego by showing you pictures of the cool thing I got to do on Saturday night, why am I sharing this with you? I think it’s important to bust myths about what people of size can expect for their lives. I know for me, the panic over the things I thought I would miss as a plus-sized woman, like true love and a kickin’ black leather skirt I could wear, once filled me with feelings of panic. And I think in some cases our loved ones (especially our parents) are unduly fearful of the things we will miss out on or can’t have if our bodies are larger than societal ideals.

It took several decades, but I now realize that there is virtually nothing completely unavailable to me as a person of size. (Well maybe a comfortable coach-class airplane seat, but I’m not sure ANYBODY feels comfortable in one of those.) And it has taken several decades, but those who love me most have come to realize that I can do all that I want and have all that I dreamed of without losing 100 pounds first. And let me share with you, it has been an absolute blessing and a joy for all of us to just calm the heck down about the whole thing.

Yes Virginia, there is a Sexy Santa Claus costume just for you. There’s even a fabulous black leather skirt in your size, just waiting for you to claim it.

Love,

The Fat Chick

When Life Gives You Lemons–Work Out!

The Power of a Few Unkind Words: Project Runway Fail

2 Replies

Well the world is buzzing with the recent antics of new Project Runway “super villain” Ven Budhu. Apparently the past week’s challenge was to create looks for average people rather than models. Ven’s model Terri was, horror of horrors, a plus-sized girl. Now at about a size 14, Terri is actually pretty close to the US national average for women of about a size 12 on the top and a 14 on the bottom. She definitely met the “Project Runway” criteria for an average person. Yet Ven could not keep his yap shut from the beginning of the show to the end about how unfair it was that he was asked to work with this model who “has no shape” and “no personality”. He said these things to Tim Gunn in the workroom. He said these things in front of Terri. He made her cry. He did not put a particularly attractive look on the runway and he wasn’t the one sent home this week.

For the record, Terri is a beautiful woman with a modified hourglass shape. And she didn’t deserve to take the blame for Ven’s basic incompetence as a designer. And she didn’t deserve to be exploited at the hands of “Project Runway” in order to boost ratings either. But that’s exactly what happened.

Let me let you in on the world’s worst kept secret. Reality shows are not real. They are heavily edited and produced to one end–bump up the ratings. And the producers of the show saw an opportunity to stir up drama and controversy. Ven played his part. The super baddy is often one of the last to go home on these shows because people love to hate them. And viewers tune in so they can boo and hiss at the bad guy. The villain creates drama and drama drives ratings.

So don’t just be mad at Ven. He did his part. He chose to be the bad guy character and had to use whatever was at his disposal to stay on the show. Be mad at the producers of “Project Runway” too. Because they exploited Terri every bit as much as Ven did. And worse, they did it because they felt pretty certain they would get away with it. Because as a nation, we seem to think it is still okay to pick on people who have the audacity to be anything larger than a size 2.

Let’s look at that for a second. Do you think Ven would have had this tantrum with a model who had dark skin or naturally curly hair? What if his model had a physical challenge and was in a wheel chair or had artificial limbs? Do you think Ven would have pulled this garbage and “Project Runway” would have aired it in those situations? In a word, no. Because “Project Runway” and Ven would have known that picking on people in those situations would have caused a backlash with negative consequences for both the designer and the show. But they pulled that garbage with Terri because they knew they could spark controversy, but not too much controversy.

The whole thing makes me sad. Because as I said yesterday, a few kind words can have incredible power to make the world a better place. Conversely, a few unkind words can tear someone down forever. Fellow contestant Fabio Costa said of Ven, “It’s really sad that you have the power to make someone feel bad about themselves and you use that deliberately.” To which I say, I agree Fabio. But don’t let the show’s producers off the hook. They are at least as guilty as Ven.

So my little Chicklettes. I won’t be watching any more “Project Runway” this season. I would rather place my eyeballs and my energy on something that makes the world in some small way a better place.

Love,

The Fat Chick

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: