Posts Tagged ‘Fashion Industry’

Fashion For The Full Size Woman

Saturday, August 20th, 2011

It is an open secret that most women are not size two and they are not six feet tall. And yet, the tiny percentage of the population who conforms to those dimensions seems to be the target of the fashion industry. Rarely do you see fashion that is targeted at the full size woman.

For years the full size woman has been treated as a minority while in fact they have been the majority. Full size women are not only mothers and housewives they are also business women. Trends are shifting and one even sees full size woman models here and there.

It is as if the fashion industry is slowly starting to wake up to the fact that there is a lucrative market for the taking. Not only are they also fashion conscious and sometimes dedicated fashion divas, but the full size woman can look absolutely spectacular in clothing designed for her posture.

There are several stores and boutiques that now specialize in full size clothing. They carry everything from intimate wear to business and evening wear. These stores not only know but they celebrate that real women do have curves, and they also aim to make plus size women looking and feeling beautiful and keeping pace with the latest fashion trends.

Just because a woman is not a size two does not mean that she is not active or even athletic. Plus size clothing, whilst long overdue, is quickly catching up with the fashion world. As the designers prepare for their spring and fall fashion shows many are also creating plus size fashion lines that will focus solely on the woman with curves. This is wonderful news for the full size women, because more and more they can look just as fashionable as that size two six foot tall model on the runway.

Designer plus size clothing must have quality, fashion and functionality in order for the plus size woman to buy their products.

Being a size two is not the norm in everyday life and while fashion designers have not entirely caught up with the real woman, they are getting there one stitch at a time and winning over consumers. Fashion for the full size woman is fun, flirty, fashionable, exciting and beautiful. Just like the women who wear the clothing.

Is Fashion Itself Out of Fashion

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

This year is the beginning of a new era; a New Look in fashion will be characterized by the challenging time we now live in. What becomes unfashionable is influenced by this shifting economic change and what becomes fashionable will be an emotional reaction.

From the excessive gluttonous, ’take all that one can get’ years to a future of growing financial concerns and constraints, we have now entered into a time of more restrictions placed on our daily choices. How will this play into fashion. We live in an era of greatly diverse fashion choices than ever before, when just a few decades ago fashion designers produced a look by virtue of the times. Wars, economic boom times as well as downturns dramatically made their effect known on the world of fashion as well as the world of music and food, interior design, cars and gadgets.

‘What’s in, what’s out’ are determined by are value system and the new financial restraints dictated by this capricious time. The days of consumerism and opulence are over for now.

The monogram bag and showy studs, metal and tacky gemstones, silly frills are about out. Statements of worth by virtue of corrupt financial worlds are out and a more authenticity and simplistic styling are certainly gaining admirers. Society has a way of imposing what we wear by the changing times. What comes with a time of economic criticism of capitalism, possibly a greater independence from the social hierarchy with a growing emphasis on clean simplistic classical lines that avoids fashions excesses.

The 1970’s and the financial crisis of deep economic recession brought us longer hemlines, trousers for women, denim, thrift store hippy finds, and a retro return to the 30’s emphasizing the romantic nostalgia.

Time is right for denouncing gimmicks, monograms on bags and extolling a discreet minimal look with earthy hues. Hmmm, where are we going with this? This is 2009, fashions time for a transformation. So how does the fashion industry deal with this added constraint by consumer resistance to pay high prices for trendy looks. It may be a practical time but with women still holding on to elegance and glamour with a sense of power yet romance and allure while avoiding the unwelcome attention of gimmicks.

Women are admired for their intellectual and perceptive powers, their enigmatic clever wit, their good sense and their lively enthusiasm. Innovation is in the hands of designers to define this new era of fashion that will compliment the woman of today whether she is  a housewife or a businesswomen, a doctor or an artist, living in the countryside or a cosmopolitan city. Fashion demands something new like elegance and practicability.

“Reduction, restriction and the reversion of the complicated to the simple; this is not a cluttered effect. This return to the basics has been repeated time and again throughout the history of fashion.” Gerda Buxbaum

New styles will emerge that will set a new era characterized by simplicity and adaptability. Conforming to this prevailing cultural change will establish a new trend.