Jan 20 2009
Plus Size Catalogs
I was thumbing through the new Lane Bryant Catalog I get in the mail and noticed something, not for the first time. Now if you don’t know, Lane Bryant is a clothing catalog for plus sized women, and while I understand that a woman of my size would not make for a very sexy model in some people’s eyes, I would still like to see what this blouse or dress or nighty would look like on me! They may use some women who border on being larger than what is considered the norm, but in my humble opinion, those are not the ‘norm’ for the women shopping this catalog. I started to peruse some of the other large size catalog websites such as Roamans and the Woman Within and they also showed the same “smaller” sized plus size women, like size 14/16. I myself am a size 24/26 AND over 21. Most of the models are young as well as not what I consider to be fat. I once wrote a letter to one of these companies asking why this was so and I got a standard answer that they are “looking into the issue” and they “understand my concern”. Well it’s been a little more than a year since that letter and…. Yeah ok… I’m holding my breath. Just a thought.
I think our society is so concerned with physical beauty that they forget that everyone is beautiful in their own right.
Nationally known stores very seldom “get it”. I’ve yet to see one that honestly caters to larger women - places like LB and Roamans got used to being the only choices for big women, and I swear sometimes I think they figure they’ve got us where they want us and they can make us wear whatever they feel like throwing at us.
You might check out the catalog for ‘Junonia’. They’re a bit on the pricey side, but they use the larger models in their catalog and exclusively cater to plus size gals although they do tend to focus more on the casual/sporty side of things.
And just for the record - I find all of their models quite attractive and I believe that very few of them are size 14/16.
http://www.junonia.com/home.htm
You can imagine my surprise when I lost weight to the point where I no longer needed an XL or an XXL. I discovered the manufacturers still thought I was fat.
At this time, they had made all the sizes smaller so people who normally wore a 10 now wore an 8. I could wear my old leftover size 16 pants, but when I went to the store, they were way too small.
One of the good things about Lane Bryant is that they sell things that young women would like to wear and promote the idea that you can be big and sexy.
There are stores near me where I can try things on. Why don’t you take a look for them in your area.
Shopper Pro: Thank you, I will check it out, although in my financial situation, “pricey” is out of the question! LOL
Maxiegirl: I know what you mean about sizing, where I can fit into one size in one store and not fit into it in another store, you are absolutely correct! For that reason, I don’t buy from catlogs very often, but I still like to browse them. I most often buy my clothing at Lane Bryant or Avenue, and the occasions shirt at Wal-Mart.
To all: Thank you for your comments. Mostly, I was trying to bring attention to this issue as it has become a major frustration to me and writing to the company has done no good at all! We must unite and let them know that we, as bbw’s, have a voice and we are people too!