Plus-Sized Models for Plus-Sized Clothing

Contrary to what the fashion industry would have us think, women come in all different shapes and sizes. As a result, not every piece of clothing will look great on every woman's body. Good designers of plus-sized fashion should acknowledge this fact and create plus-sized clothing that is not merely a larger size of the clothing worn by fashion models, but clothing created specifically with the size and shape of a plus-sized woman's body in mind.

Therein lies the dual problem of using "normal"-sized models to model plus-sized clothing. If they model clothing in a "normal" size, which has just been scaled up for plus-sized women, it is clear that the designer has not taken plus-sized women's body shape and size into consideration. A dress that looks great on a "normal" model - who is not merely thin, but lacking breasts and hips as well - will look completely different on a plus-sized woman. Even if she is wearing the correct size, the dress will not take the curves of her body into account. It will sag in places and stretch too tightly in others. In short, the model becomes useless, if she cannot give a plus-sized woman a good idea of what a piece of clothing will look like on her body.

On the other hand, if clothing is designed specifically with plus-sized women in mind, a scaled-down version for a "normal" model will have the same problem. A dress created for a plus-sized woman with large breasts and hips, for example, will look baggy on a "normal" model. This will turn off a plus-sized shopper, who might have purchased the dress had she seen it worn by a person with her body shape and realized that it might fit her perfectly.

Even models who are plus-sized by the fashion industry's standards - size 10 or 12 - are not large enough to model plus-sized clothing. The average American woman wears size 14-16, the size at which most plus-sized clothing lines start. Plus-sized clothing should be modeled by women who wear at least this size, so that customers will have a good idea of a clothing item's fit. In addition, the use of models whose size better reflects that of the general population will hopefully force fashion designers to design clothing that looks great on people of diverse body shapes and sizes, not just the very thin.

The fashion industry would profit by following the example of plus-sized clothing lines, such as Igigi, who not only use plus-sized models (not fashion industry plus-sized, but sizes 16, 18, 20, and even higher) but offer advice for clothing styles based on one's body shape. A woman, plus-sized or not, is more likely to buy clothing and be satisfied with the clothing designer when she can see a realistic representation of how it looks on someone of her size.