Magical Cat's Corner

The Incredible Shrinking Ideal

When will the fashion industry come back to Earth and start designing clothes for normal women? It is true that I have grown outward a bit over the years, but I am certain that clothes have gotten smaller. It is not fair that I am an average sized woman, but I open a fashion magazine to see the thinnest 1% of society represented. I might see an outfit I like, but I have to wonder, does it come in a size 12?

Recently I read an article that said sizes 12 and above are considered "plus sizes". Historically, plus sizes have been 16 - 26. If 12 is now a plus size, that means about 80% of women are now wearing plus size clothing and are considered over weight. Most women I know do not want to shop in the plus size section of a store. Come on, we already have self esteem issues. Now we have to be labeled as "plus size"? If the fashion moguls were smart, they would follow my advice: broaden the range of average sizes to include 16 and 18. That way more average size women would fit into the average size clothing. They might just sell more clothes that way.

I realized another shopping annoyance the day I couldn't fit into "junior" clothing anymore. They don't make "cool" clothes for average size women. The fashion powers that be must think that as soon as we develop hips we don't want to dress fashionably anymore. Just pick up a typical department store catalog and flip through the sale items. Juniors get jean shorts, boot cut pants, and form fitting shirts, while the "Misses", a.k.a. normal size women, get cotton coulots and polo shirts. Excuse me if I'd rather go to a concert in my boot cut jeans than stand around on a golf course in my polo shirt.

Of course, I couldn't complain about fashion without mentioning shoes. Since when are women's feet shaped like triangles? I cannot possibly cram my toes into some of the pointy shoes I see for sale. Not only do they expect us to cram our bodies into small clothes, but they also expect our feet to squeeze into narrow shoes. Maybe that's what panty hose are actually designated for... to constrict our feet to the size of little elf feet for our pointy elf shoes. Those will look really good with the polo shirt and white, cotton, pleated front pants when we're teeing up. Atleast we have Dr. Marten, who combines fashion and comfort.

Happy shopping, ladies...