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Let's face it, the fashion world is allergic to real women. Wriggling out of regulating the catwalk, as the British Fashion Council did yesterday, is symptomatic of an industry in thrall to size zero - and in denial about what the female body actually looks like.
By capitulating to pressure from New York, Milan and Paris - which refuse to recognise models' health as a serious concern - the BFC has sent out a clear message: if designers want a skeleton with a pulse to model their clothes, they can go right ahead.
It's depressing news. But as a size 14, I'm less concerned about big fashion houses' lust for skinny women than their distaste for larger ones.
To me, the reluctance of labels to show their clothes on models with more realistic body shapes hints at an underlying misogyny, a terror of the sexuality that womanly contours imply.
But it also explains why I can't find a thing to wear. Yes, on the high street you can now find clothes up to a respectable 16 in many stores (though fashion giants like Reiss still resist). But you only have to stray down Sloane Street, past the guarded doors of Gucci and YSL, to discover the rail is bare.
Of the high-end designers that do provide larger sizes, don't expect to find them proudly displayed in-store. These days I can barely bring myself to pick through a handful of size 6-10 outfits before enduring the humiliation of asking the (stick thin) assistant if there's anything else through the back. Often there is, but for some inexplicable reason the bigger sizes must be hidden away.
Buying a dress in the right size doesn't always work in any case. You soon discover it's cut for a teenage boy's body, not one with hips and breasts. Even designer shoes discriminate against my big bones. Christian Louboutin may be the shoe du jour but try to squeeze a size 8 foot in one and you'll feel renewed sympathy for the Ugly Sisters.
It's frustrating. I like fashion and I've money to spend. All I want are well-cut clothes that fit. But size is fashion's last taboo. From refusing to acknowledge the idiocy of using ultra-skinny adolescents to model clothes that only middleaged women can afford, to the commercial madness of failing to provide the rest of us with a wardrobe that fits, it is the elephant in the changing room.
Which is exactly how I felt that last time I visited New Bond Street.
Reader views (17)
im a size 16, 19 year old girl who eats very healthly and excercises regulary but still remains the same which i am proud of being- i wouldnt want to be skinny as i am 5ft 9 and would look like a walking been pole- so just because you are 'plus size'- which by the way ladies and gents in the fashion industry starts at a 12 so doesnt mean you are overweight eaters!!! and wasnt marylin monroe a size 16 and widely regarded as the most beautiful women on the planet ?? just a thought to all you people saying 14-16 women are obese so have a cup of tea and calm down some of you!!
- Emily, uk, 23/10/2009 10:50
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What is wrong with being a size 0? I am so tired of these women who say they love their curves, but when they see a size 0-2 woman, they give then dirty looks and call them stick girl. I can't believe they are happy being a 14-16 size. Obesity is not healthy either. I'm 47year old and weigh 95lbs. Size 0 and proud of it.
- R. Brokate, Mahomet, Ill USA, 23/10/2009 09:50
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These women look old and haggard. What is pretty about that? Nothing! They are causing themselves severe health problems. You can't live like that for very long.
- Concerned American, USA, 23/10/2009 09:50
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I have always preferred and been attracted to what many would consider to be overweight ladies. To me, Delta Burke is very attractive and far from a size zero.
- Tim, Jackson, MS, usa, 23/10/2009 09:50
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Nice that its not bashing men for a change and nice that someone else notices that women can be their own worst enemy. But why continue to play victim? Since when did crying change the world for the better?
- Sam, London, UK, 23/10/2009 09:50
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Daft male comments, since when is a size 14 'overweight'. READ what the writer says before sending in misogynistic remarks.
- S, Colchester, Essex, 23/10/2009 09:50
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Evidently clothes designers don't care to make lots of money. The toothpick look doesn't exist with the average woman. The majority are size 12 and up, not down!
I boycott designers that doesn't offer a realistic size.
- Aw, BraziI, Indiana, USA, 23/10/2009 09:50
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I found Ross's article to be unbiased and a fresh perspective on an issue that has become so emotional for many men and women around the world. Individually we each have a story - a woman who is 5'8'' and 130 pounds and one who is 5'3'' 180 pounds will be viewed very differently by society but may both be in very loving relationships, have fulfilling careers etc or for that matter the reverse may also be true. If you go beyond the individual and look at the issue from a societal view there is more pressure put on heavier women who deviate from what has become the imagined and unprecedented societal preference for only slim women. All women are real, as are men. The fiction of unreal women is not created by us who have stories but by the fashion and magazine world - this entire creation of the perfect woman - from the clothes, the make-up, the hair, the nails, the pose, the catwalk. The debate is endless once these images bombard us - regardless of our size. Really, let's talk about real hair.
- Priya, St. Augustine, Trinidad., 23/10/2009 09:50
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I am 5"2" and until I was 31 years old weighed only 97 lbs. Naturally thin. Even then I was never smaller than size 7. When I began to have fainting attacks because radical variations in blood pressure my doctor told me to gain weight. Now I am a healthy size 14 too. Size 14 is not extra large, it is normal, along with lots of other sizes above 0.
- Iva, Middle America, 23/10/2009 09:50
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I find the above comments about "real women" exceptionally insulting.
I am 32, a naturally slim size 6 - I have a boyish figure and I eat an enormous amount of all the wrong foods without guilt. I have no emotional issues with food and I am very offended by the media's witch-hunt of slim women as somehow being "unreal".
I am every bit as real and natural as my fatter counterparts!
- Danielle Lee, London, NW3, 23/10/2009 09:50
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Huw Morgan
Charlotte is not asking you to 'think overweight women are attractive'. Did you even read the article properly? All she is saying, and I agree with her, is that the majority of women are not skinny 6-10s, so why don't the retailers cater for them?
From my own point of view, when I look at a fashion magazine, I want to know how the clothes are going to look on me, not on some 15 year old six foot anorexic, so your argument about having to have slim women to show the clothes off is ridiculous.
- Barbara, London, UK, 23/10/2009 09:50
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Yes the term "real women" is such a cliche as women come in all shapes and sizes. That is however the real point. I am slim woman and my husband likes that. I have friends of all different shapes and sizes, and they are all attractive so Mr Morgan's comment above is pointless. He may not like what bigger women and that's his choice. Real point is about the fashion industry creating clothes (and hiring models) which reflect that diversity.
- Mrs Smart, London, UK., 23/10/2009 09:50
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A size 0 is not all it is crack up to be. I am 5' 1'' and 95 lbs. I am actually a double 00. I can't find anything that fits me. Most tops and sweaters are too baggy and buying jeans is a joke. They are way too long and hang on my hips. A lot of people think it is okay to make fun of my size; especially when they notice I am constantly pulling up my jeans so my butt does not hang out. These same people tell me to go shop in the kids section. I am an adult. I don't want to wear pink or purple T-shirts to work.
Like plus sized woman, I would also like to wear fashionable clothes, but they don't make them in my size either. Most designer brands come in either size 2 or 4. If I ask the sale assistant if they have the smaller sizes in the back, they suggest I go to the kids section.
- Andrea, chicago, Illinois, 23/10/2009 09:50
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Years ago when I used to make some of my own clothes there used to be a clear distinction between patterns made for the younger woman and the more generously proportioned older woman. Certain retailers seem to have ditched the 'matronly pattern' altogether and rely on up scaling the 'misses' patterns. This means any woman over 30 is going to be ill served, regardless of her notional dress size.
- Nora, London, UK, 23/10/2009 09:50
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Here we go again, the old "real wimmin" argument of the bitter women in society. You'll never force the majority of men to think overweight women are attractive, and trying to force the catwalk fashion industry - which needs slim women who can show the clothes off, to accept large women is also ludicrous. Some catwalk models are ridiculously thin, but that's because they want people to notice the clothes instead.
- Huw Morgan, London, UK, 23/10/2009 09:50
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why does it seem like all the women who have commented here are fighting with eachother? Yes Charlotte's point comes from her being a size 14 however i think the underlying point is that fashion is dictating to us what size we should be and if we don't fit into their idea of normal we are somehow not. So whether you are slim or big there are far too many of us dissatisfied with what is available for us!
- Ros, Northern Ireland, 23/10/2009 09:50
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I just think this article, 'Real Women Aren't Served By Size Zero' by Charlotte Ross is disgraceful and highly prejudice. I have been naturally thin since I was a child. And from my own experience I know, expecially as a teenager it can cause alot of anxiety becuase you feel you don't fit in and don't meet society's standards of 'beauty' eg big boobs. All you bigger ladies have to do is look mens magaizines and in womens mags which are forever going on about how the fuller figure is more desirable that the shameful 'boyish' figure. To add to this I can not believe how short sited and insensitive people are as to call fatter women 'real' women. Therefore excluding naturally thin women from this category.
So does that mean as a natural size eight I am a 'fake' woman. Well let me see, i don't have plastic boobs so i think im real? I just think is it so hurtful and prejudice of the media and bigger women to constantly call themselves 'real' as opposed to thin women as a means of making themselves feel better. How do they think this sort of behaviour makes skinny teenage girls feel who are desperate for bigger boob and hips. Do you seriously think the average woman would want to look like a boy? The answer is no.
I think the important thing is to celebrate the natural female body and its variety so long as its natural. I disagree with someone starving themselve to be a size zero as i disagree with someone eating so much they become morbidly obese. but healthy is beautiful.
- Katy, Barnstaple UK, 23/10/2009 09:50
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