CHALLENGING THE ‘FASHIONABLE’ SILHOUETTE: ARGENTINIAN LINGERIE DESIGNERS BY LORENA PÉREZ
For decades, the fashion industry has defined fundamental elements of culture including standards of beauty and “ideal” body types. Today, these beauty ideals are being challenged as people demand better representation of a diversity of body sizes, the majority of which do not fit within the extremely limited confines of long-standing stereotypes. Such a change takes time because of well established and engrained cultural expectations. In the Argentine fashion market, the need to reformulate size tables to consider different body shapes is especially important considering that current sizing is inadequate and incomplete for Argentine women’s bodies. This lack led to the emergence of independent underwear designers with online platforms available for direct sales that solve everyday wardrobe situations, such as wearing bras according to the actual measurement of the bust. In Buenos Aires it is not possible to buy bras by cup size and band size, as bras only come in a single digit numerical size. “I make a constant modification regarding sizes because it is not about selling regardless of the final result. I am interested in working on products that can be used well, that fit well and last. That is why I offer a personalized service, I ask for the measurements and adjust the size to the client “, says Clari Nociti, head of Clarabella, a lingerie brand that is distinguished by a size chart that ranges from small to extra-large. “I can’t understand another way of working that is not from inclusion and respect. Most brands discriminate
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