The Different Face of American Fashion

At least things have gotten better in the last few years for plus size shoppers. It used to be that if you went into a store and needed a plus size dress you would find one or two options located in the corner of some out of the way aisle. It used to be like designers didn't want to admit that there were any plus sized women out there; like all of the women who bought their clothing were petit skinny things. Even worse, if you wanted to find any type of selection out there you had to go to one of those embarrassing plus size outlet stores. To women, those kind of places are akin to adult book stores: you don't want to be seen walking into one and you don't want to be seen walking out of one.



Thank god things have at least changed a bit in recent years. And before you say that the reason things changed is because America got fatter (it has, statistically at least), the real reason why things changed is a lot more complex: the idea of what women were supposed to be like changed as well. The truth is, under the old rules an attractive, average sized woman would be considered "plus sized". Since the women that you saw on the runway were freakishly skinny, that was what designers thought they should design for. Because of that, women who were of average size suddenly became "plus size". Now, as the idea of the "healthy" looking woman has become more accepted, "plus sizes" have become more acceptable to make and more available on the store shelves.



Let's not kid ourselves, though, thin is still in. Most of the supermodels are still skinny and most of the people you see on magazine covers are as well. With that said, men are gravitating to different types of women now a days, at least when it comes to which stars they are attracted to. And while it's not like Scarlett Johansson and Anne Hathaway are exactly plus sized, they are definitely improvements over the supermodels that men supposedly were attracted to in the 70's and 80's. In fact, ask most men what they like in a woman and a bit of meat on the bones is a definite plus.



So while everything may not be fair in the idea of what a plus sized woman is, at least things are getting better out there. While the plus size woman may never get total respect in the market place, at least it's easier to find a dress that fits.