An Open Letter to the Fashion Industry

Dear Designers and Buyers of plus-size women's clothing,

After an afternoon of shopping for clothes, I should not be ending the day with only 1 shirt and the overwhelming urge to drown my sorrows in a hot fudge sundae. It was tough, but I was strong. I avoided that sundae and bought a book instead.

My first draft of this letter contained nothing but expletives and malicious attacks on your taste, judgement, and character. Though it did make me feel much better. Not as much as a sundae might have, but that's a topic for another day.

I cannot begin to imagine for whom you are designing and buying. The chain store in the mall that rhymes with Lane Schmyant appears to cater to those who adore looking like 1990's music video extras. At my most delusional, I have never longed for very short skirts, tight-fitting shirts, tank tops that can't be worn with a bra, sleeveless, ruffled tube tops (!) or, worse yet, spaghetti strap tops.

Seriously? Seriously?!?! The Girls need support. A lot of support. While I would like to cling to my youth as much as the next person, dressing like a 13 year old is not the equivalent of the fountain of youth. The rare times you have offered "business" attire, it's designed for a 300 pound Alley McBeal. It's bad enough that TV has made young women think that up-to-there skirts and down-to-there necklines are appropriate business attire, but to market this to plus-size women is just...well, I don't even have the words to describe how wrong it is. (And don't get me started on the appropriate time and place for wearing flip flops!) The world should not see either the full glory of The Girls or my underwear-clad hooha whenever I bend over or get out of my car.

I'm not sure how many plus size Brittany Spears and Christina Aquileras there are in this world, but guessing from the clothing available in stores now, I would think there are millions. I would like shirts, sweaters, and sweatshirts that are made without beads, glitter, sequins, faux jewels, metal embellishments or cutesy embroidery. The same goes for my jeans. I'm also tired of seeing suitcoats and sweaters that close only at the top. Unlike that 13 year old, the body part I least want to emphasis (next to my rear and upper arms) is my stomach.

Can we talk fabric? Must you keep using cheap synthetic fabric that clings and molds to each lump and bump. These fabrics also hold in the heat and make one perspire copiously - a really attractive feature. Since when did my jeans need to be stretch? Regular, heavy-duty denim was like a modern day corset - it held it in and hid the flaws. Stretch denim is like putting a neon sign on a pothole in the street; it sure as hell points out the problem but does nothing to fix it. I don't my flaws to garner attention, I want to cover them up. Stretch denim does that, alright. It stretches out, but rarely stretches back. After 20 minutes sitting in a car, when I stand up it looks like I'm wearing an adult diaper.

And let's talk waists. Because you seem to be under the impression that plus-size women lack this feature. While some of us may be shaped like an apple, many of us are hourglass shaped. We don't want caftans or empire waists. We would like a dress with a waist - or at least a belt. And what's with low-rise jeans for plus-size women? If you haven't noticed, even thin women have muffin tops when they wear tight fitting, low-rise jeans.

So to recap - I'd appreciate a focus on clean, simple lines, hemlines no shorter than 3 inches above my knees, clothing that has actual waistlines, no spandex in my denim, and fabric made from natural fibers. Is this too much to ask?

We'll leave the slave-labor-working-for-pennies-per-day-in-China-India-and-elsewhere-to-make-these-crap-clothes discussion for another day.