The current fashion industry

constantly bombards us with

slender women occasionally

throwing in an hourglass-shaped

woman they consider plus-size.

The small amount of

representation plus-size bodies do

receive in the fashion industry is in

the form of misrepresentation.

A woman with simply wider hips

is not plus-size. That is a slender

woman who was lucky enough to

be blessed with curves.

I’ve even seen plus-size clothes

advertised by showing a skinny

model holding the clothing piece

while stretching it out with their

hand to show the size it could

fit. Why not just show the actual

woman you are trying to attract?

Frankly, I have never felt well represented

by any models or

brands in the fashion industry.

Let that sink in a moment. An

industry whose aim is to sell its

clothes and accessories to me

cannot even step up and show me

people who look like me wearing

their products.

It is almost like these brands are

signaling to me that I am not the

type of customer they are looking

for or that their clothes are not

designed for bodies like mine—

average women’s bodies, that is.

According to a study by

the International Journal of

Fashion Design, Technology

and Education, the average U.S.

woman’s dress size is between

16 and 18. The fashion industry

needs to reflect the reality of U.S.

women’s sizes. Plus-size women

are the majority, and it is time for

brands to realize and acknowledge

this by providing products

and models that are genuinely

inclusive.

Now I’m not saying to completely

disregard smaller women out

there. The fashion industry should

continue to make products catered

to that size and body type.

All I am asking for is a little bit of

equality.

I also don’t want to just disregard

the progress some parts of the

fashion industry have made

toward inclusivity.

For instance, Victoria’s Secret

used to be a brand I thought of

as mainly for skinny girls. I often

found their clothing only going

up to a size large and me not even

fitting into that.

But the brand has been making

big steps in the right direction

by hiring plus-size TikTok star

Remi Bader as its latest brand

ambassador as they add larger

sizes to their inventory.

I’m sure I speak for most girls and

women out there when I say all

we want is to be respected by the

fashion industry and to be treated

like we’re not an outlier.

So, please, show us body types

and sizes familiar to us. Put a

pear-shaped size 14 woman on a

billboard or an apple-shaped size

18 woman in a commercial.