The average American woman is a size 16–18. It’s no secret that everyone’s body shape comes in different sizes but yet we still have clothing brands promoting and only making clothing for one specific body type, skinny people. Some examples are Brandy Melville, Victoria Secret, Lululemon, and high fashion companies. We have heard about runway models discussing how they must fit into clothing by maintaining a specific body in interviews. Designers defend this topic by saying that it takes less time and less supplies to make clothing and with doing “one size fits all”.
Body positivity has become mainstream in today’s fashion industry, so why are these clothing companies still not making clothes for women of all sizes? There are many benefits of body inclusivity. Companies would make a lot more money. They would not only target skinny women but also women who are curvy and plus size. More people would be interested in their clothing because they see that there is something for everyone. Body inclusivity has become very important and it is a great opportunity to continue on expanding the brand name. They would be able to promote their clothing line by showing the public they are diverse and do not discriminate.
Issue with Brandy Melville:
There has been a lot of talk about Brandy Melville, a clothing brand targeting teenage girls and young adult women. The problem is, they only make sizes for skinny girls and not for girls on the heavy side. They also are not diverse enough and refuse to hire girls that are not white. Most of their advertisements are with skinny white girls but that is another issue. Teenage years for girls are very important because they start becoming aware of their body and their looks start becoming important to them. Brandy Melville has become very popular and trendy yet there are girls that know that they could never shop there because their clothes just would not fit them. It affects their self esteem and they may feel like in order to be seen as beautiful, they have to be skinny to wear those clothes. I will admit, they have beautiful clothes but I could never fit into any of them because they run so small and I am not a size 2 or 4. If they were to make clothes for everyone, their business would do a lot better and they would not get so much backlash on social media.
Victoria Secret Issue:
There have been so many issues with Victoria Secret; cultural appropriation, not letting black women walk the runway with their natural hair, only using skinny models and only promoting lingerie for women that are skinny. It is bad enough that girls learn that being skinny is seen more beautiful growing up but now it is being brought into their adult years. Victoria secret has canceled their show for 2020 because they refuse to do body inclusivity in their show. People on Twitter have said that the models have worked hard to have the bodies they do, they work out, eat healthy and dedicate their time to this show. However, we have other people saying that Victoria Secret does not promote body positivity. There have been people boycotting victoria Secret so that they would try and change their ways and use models with different body types, there has been hashtags like #ImNoAngel and #WeAreAllAngels. Victoria Secret will not budge and they remain standing their ground by using only skinny, tall models.
However, we still have many clothing brands that are not ashamed to show models of every shape, size, and color. We have H&M Savage X Fenty by Rihanna, Aries, Girlfriend Collective and more. What fashion industries forget about are women who have had children, surgery, trangenders, plus size or even women who are skinny but not the unhealthy kind of skinny. Shopping can be very stressful and sometimes towards the end of it, most women go home telling themselves that they need to lose weight. These companies know how important it is to target women of every body shape and now make them feel ashamed about it but proud. They promote body inclusivity and make it clear that in their store, there is something for everyone despite your size.
It is extremely important for us to teach girls from a young age that they should not be ashamed of their body size. That if they want to obtain a certain body, they should do it because they want to for themselves, to do it in a healthy way and to have healthy motives. The fashion industry has made girls feel ashamed for being a certain way but now people are seeing the importance of body inclusivity in clothing, models and their advertising.
Author: Ashley
Body Image Through Media 