Style Has No Size

By Injila Baqir Zeeshan – 

What to wear when there’s more of you to love if you are a big gal, exceptionally tall and on the heavier side, you must have experienced the stigma associated with it at some point in your life, especially in our society. Gain a few and you as a Pakistani woman have a very limited number of options: you can instantly go into severe depression or on a killer starvation routine or you could contemplate suicide as well, if you let yourself get sucked into the quagmire. But you ought to know how opinions are changing the world over and how you can now feel comfortable within your own body; even love yourself and take pride in what you look like.

Own yourself up

Grammy-award-winning singer Adele Adkins and actress Queen Latifah are both full-figured. Part of their popularity and charm is the way they embrace their shapes, encouraging their fans to do the same.

Claim what’s yours

The first wrong we tend to commit is let others dictate us about our style. You in your heart are convinced that the only woman who has any right to looking stylish is the one whose first name is Miss All-bones and her surname undoubtedly is No Flesh! But what on earth has style got to do with size? First of, remember that style is your inherent birthright and no one can take it away from you, and by no one I especially mean those extra kilos, which may be there for whatever reason. I’m not propagating that you begin binging or lose all sense of healthy eating, but merely the fact that whatever your size and shape is, you need to be in style 24/7. The bigger you become for whatever cause, be it a health problem, your natural physique or an increasing waistline due to pregnancy, the more you need to be fashion conscious. Are you going into hiding while your friends are trying to find you? And when they do manage to see you, do you look scarier than ever due to having lost all sense of pride in your appearance and apparel? Well you need to read on then.

FaTshion is changing the market

FaTshion is the newly coined term being used internationally by the women who are forcing all big retailers to reconsider their policies. There is a great demand for plus size clothing the world over.

Only a decade ago, the brands were bogged down by trying to provide options for older women, but the last ten years have seen a steady rise in obesity in many countries. Now there are women of all ages who demand stylish clothes in larger sizes that can fit them easily. A plus size woman is categorized as anyone who fits a size 12 or above. According to the definition I would say most Pakistani women happen to be plus size.

The jatti of Punjab still rocks

And let’s not forget the jatti of Punjab. I wonder what complexes would our Punjabi and Pushto film heroines, who have the men going gaga over them, suffer from if they ever tried to fit into a dress by Mango- the recently launched Spanish brand of clothing in Pakistan- I believe their XL is a UK size 10. What words did you manage to remember from the last sentence you just read? They should be ‘men going gaga over them’ and not ‘XL is a UK size 10’!

Defy the norm

Worry not about what’s not out there for you but what’s in store for you and how to use your potential to the maximum. You must have been hearing this a lot: For those on the heavier side wear black or darker colours to provide a slimming effect; wear single colours to look taller; if you are fat you can’t wear horizontal stripes, so on and so forth. But let me tell you that the empowered woman has rebelled against these predefined dictatorial compulsions. She demands colours that can bedazzle her audience and silhouette that turns her into the sexy bombshell that she in her heart knows she is. And she is not afraid to flaunt it. So the next time, you visit your designer, tell him or her to risk it all and snap out of the stereotypes.

Let’s vent on our desi pret

With pret mushrooming all over the country, you must have noticed that larger sizes are getting more popular. ‘I am very happy to have found shirts in my size at Khaadi and Beech Tree,’ says Aliya Nisar, size 16, who is feeling trendy dressed in clothes she picked off the shelf. ‘There is a variety of affordable options now for the healthier women for the first time in my city,’ she says.

‘I have been reduced to getting lawn suits stitched all my life,’ says Nida Naveed who is five feet eleven inches tall and fits a size 16. ‘I was sick of dealing with the nakhras of the tailors and shopping around endlessly for embellishments like laces for the clothes. And by the time my new lawn joras came back to me from the tailor shop, the season used to be almost over. I am so thankful to shops like Origins, Pure and Cynosure from where I can get my hands on hassle-free clothes that fit me and make me look so much better than my self-designed lawn suits.’

‘Unfortunately, the quality of the cloth and other materials used is not good at these retailers,’ Mehreen Khan shares her opinion with us. ‘I get disappointed by this. I am a size 18 and I cannot find anything reasonable in my size. When I go abroad, I can very conveniently find beautiful options in Marks n Spencer, BHS, Next and many more brands which might not be top of the range but the quality is very good. It is embarrassing to be a big woman in this country. You are looked down upon and no one makes clothes in your size,’ she sums up.

But I am very hopeful, especially after the launch of Monsoon in Pakistan. Their sizes are British sizes and let’s hope that our traditional shalwar kurtas are also soon available in more plus sizes at our local stores.

‘For as long as I can remember, my sisters and I have been buying clothes at Generation,’ tells Naila Baig. ‘We have never had any problem as some of their designs are available in bigger sizes which go up to size 16 now. I do remember of course the days when their cloth was of superb quality and remained new after many washes. Can’t say that any more though.’

‘I wish there were more pret options for plus sized women in formal wear,’ says Fatima Khan, size 16. ‘I love the designs by Karma Pink, Sublime by Sara and Chinyere but most of the time one has to have them altered in order to make them fit.

From the above conversations which I had with a few plus-sized women that I know, I gathered that there is a marked change in the market trends. People are realizing that they must provide for the bigger and heavier women and the days are not far when numerous other options will come up. International brands have already found their way in our network. And soon more will follow.

Adele to design for Burberry!

The most exciting news comes in the form of Adele being in the process of collaborating with creative director Christopher Bailey to work on a line of plus-size clothing for Burberry. If the rumours are true then, it will be the first time that a brand as posh as Burberry fashions for the voluptous customers.

The challenge

The real challenge lies in the fact that it is not as easy to design for bigger women as it is for those of sizes 12 and below. The body changes in more ways above size 14 than it does for under this size. Hence, it is a little more expensive to make these sizes. A design that looks elegant for a size 10 will need some major changes in order to look good when reproduced for size 18. It may even require a change or addition of different fabrics. And all this calls for brains and research. Let’s see how many of talented designers can measure up to this challenge especially for pret.

Changing attitudes

Fashion magazines and big ones too such as Harper’s Bazar and Vogue, are now directing full fledge regular columns dedicated to the needs and requirements of the style conscious ‘faTshionable’ ladies of today. Retailers are targeting more sales with new fabrics and styles for plus-size women’s apparel. The sales grew one percent this past year, amounting to $15.4 billion according to NPD Group’s research. Many brands are replacing the wafer-thin fashion models with voluptuous young women. The apparel includes sensual body-hugging denim as well as intimate clothing shot in sultry images of full-bodied females. And let’s not forget how many brands are there only for sizes 12 and above. This clearly marks the shift in the change of attitudes towards plus-size girls. So whatever you do, remember you must continue to strive for a more beautiful you, both inside and out.

The writer is a Lahore based fashion editor