S I Z E I N C L U S I V I T Y

For the fashion industry, designing a plus size range doesn’t solve the problem of the lack of size inclusivity. More needs to be done. Consumers want to feel valued and accepted for how they look, but with the fashion industry still holding onto the ideals of thinness, this ultimately excludes the consumers who don’t fit into what is deemed ‘the normal size range’ and seperates them into a different category because of how their body fits into clothes.

From my research, I have found that plus size consumers just want to feel like the brand actually cares, they want to see that brands aren’t just gaining a profit from making a plus size range as this is what is happening with most fast fashion brands.

‘They have to connect on a personal level with consumers who wear plus-size clothes.’ (Nittle, 2020).

The purpose of the social media campaign for my FMP is to create a space within the second hand market where consumers of all body sizes and shapes can feel accepted. I think that my concept, SOURCEDFORYOURSIZE works well as it centres around the consumer, I am thinking about my customers and rather than making up the largest size like most brands do or sourcing clothes that are all tiny in size, I will be sourcing clothes based on the individuals size and measurements. Not only does the social media campaign create a safe space, but it also enables me to be transparent and reach a new audience of consumers that connect with this idea.

Are we looking back at this era too idealistically? An integral part of the Y2K aesthetic was the glamorisation of the ‘heroin chic’ look – pale skin, thin bodies, dark under eyes. There was an obsession with the appearance of looking unhealthy, which can be linked to the evident spike in anorexia. These toxic beauty standards aren’t buried in the past. They breathe and thrive on platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest, where the search of the ‘Y2K’ tag unleashes endless images of white, skinny women. (Moamar, 2021).

It seems that although the fashion industry has become more inclusive and diverse, the era of thinness being associated with beauty has morphed the perceptions of todays society, the younger generations in particular struggle with eating disorders and body dysmorphia as a result of these ideals that originated in the 80s.

In particular, what has incited these ideals of beauty to resurface, of the many platforms, Depop has evidently prompted this resurgence, Depop sellers are selling on original pieces from the early 2000s such as mini skirts and baby tees, of which were worn by the likes of Kate Moss in the 2000s.

As we have discovered this resurgence of Y2K fashion and the resale of it, this has brought about the conversation of a lack of size inclusivity in the fashion industry, in particular the second hand market. Owing to the fact that people were a lot smaller back then and so the sizing reflected that, brands designed clothes to fit small bodies as being thin back then was deemed as beautiful or perfect, but we have carried this idea of perfection being linked to how your body looks into the present day, meaning that people still hold onto this idea that they need to be skinny in order to be good enough for society. Furthering this discussion, because of how clothing from this era is very small in size, this straight away removes anyone above a size small from being able to buy into the market of vintage/Y2K fashion.

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