by Seham Al Amshan and Gabriela Yorgova
Should size really matter – or should fashion be all-inclusive?
Bigger isn’t always better when it comes to fashion – in fact, smaller is usually preferred. But shouldn’t retailers all work toward size inclusivity – equally representing a variety of shapes and sizes?
London Metropolitan University students welcomed a fantastic panel of experts to talk about this important topic as part of our Journalism Newsweek event. Here is what happened:
16:57 – Panellists are taking their seats
17:04 – Journalism Course Leader Wendy Sloane greets everyone in the hall
17:07 – Senior Lecturer Gill Wood is welcoming everyone to the second Newsweek of the year
17:08 – Gill introduces the panel and presents statistics about the growth of the plus-size industry for the past years and predictions for the industry
17:18 – A journalism student Travis Smith starts the discussion with a question to the whole panel: “Would you say some brands engage in vanity sizing, and why?”
17:18 – Fashion Stylist Bethan Dadson says: “As a stylist, I don’t see quite a lot of plus-sizing. Everyone is trying to go back to 90s chic style.” She adds that it is rare for brands to use plus-size models.
17:20 – Josephine Dervish, a style blogger and founder of the #JoyousDressing Movement, shares that she has little to no experience with high-fashion garments. “It is not for me.” Josephine makes her own clothes as she believes that she has more freedom in what she wears “…and I’m bloody happy about it.”
17:22 – An Assistant Buyer for International Womenswear at Harvey Nichols Amelia Barraclough says: “We [buyers] always have to buy size 8 or 12, anything smaller than 6 or bigger than 16 needs a special order.” Amelia talks about brands and their buying perspective because they are looking for secure sales. She also refers to pre-ordering and tailored garments as a way to reduce waste.
17:24 – Queen MoJo, a plus-size model, says: “I’m heartbroken to hear what you [Amelia] said! …If I wanted to buy high-end, I can’t. All I have is fast fashion but it does not last.” MoJo talks about PLT (Pretty Little Thing) and their unsustainable habits. She emphasises that fast fashion is the only option for people who are looking for large sizes since high-end brands don’t offer such variety.
17:26 – Question from student Chloe: “Are celebrities impacting youth negatively when it comes to body image?”
17:27 – Lindsay answers Chloe’s question about the impact of celebrities on the youth is negative when it comes to body image, “A lot of the samples are either size 6 or 8, some brands don’t do bigger than size 22, all large sizes need to be ordered online…”
17:28 – MoJo adds: “[A few years ago] I picked up size 20 or 22 at H&M and it didn’t fit!” She also shares that she has experienced vanity sizing. “Now that I’m older, with more money to spend, I can barely find anything [that fits]!”
17:30 – Lindsay opens the topic about the negative effects of vanity sizing on society. “If we’re smaller we’re valid …. The ideology about vanity sizing is that we need to be smaller to fit into society.”
17:33 – Fashion Marketing and Journalism student Seham Al Amshan asks the panel: “Why isn’t every brand size-inclusive, and what steps can be taken to rectify this and aid size-inclusivity?”
17:34 – According to Amelia, “it comes down to production costs. Smaller sizes are easy to make and it sells.” The fashion buyer talks about the way garments are made and that high-end brands might not consider larger pieces due to the more material it is required to be produced.
17:36 – Bethan says: “I don’t understand that brands don’t understand!”
17:37 – Jody adds to her answer that in the history of the fashion industry, tall, skinny and small figures have been manifested and preferred, as well as certain ethnicities. “It’s what sells, what the big corporations like to and think if it sells or not!” Jody goes further ahead to give his honest opinion on whether that notion of size inclusivity is going to happen. “I have seen a change but it’s a minuscule change… Realistically, I can’t say it can happen, knowing how much it’s going to cost for the production of each size.”
17:41 – Queen MoJo shares her thoughts on Jody’s answer, “a small part of me understands that, that the production costs will be huge, but many small brands are doing it for plus size, especially during covid times.”
17:43 – Jody shares his point of view on inclusivity: “There are very few designers that are women, you can count them on one hand, most of the big names, big designers are all men”
Jody Furlong
17:46 – Fashion Marketing student Lorena asks the panel: “2000s trends are coming back, and fear that they will bring back toxic beauty standards. Do you think it is possible for us to backslide, or is skinny going out of trend?”
17:46 – Bethan expressed her opinion on how the 2000s style is quite toxic. “Women’s bodies should not go out of trend, only clothes should.”
17:50 – Queen MoJo agrees: “Things go in and out of fashion all the time.” She mentions an issue with a trend – surgery on your stomach that is also related to people willing to be slimmer. MoJo points out the problematic understandings of society so “put on your clothes and leave the house, go shopping.”
17:52 – Josephine adds on to that by emphasising that fatphobia is an issue that has not been sorted out yet: “The fact that the word “fat” makes kids laugh and find it funny, shows us that fatphobia has not been fixed yet”. The school teacher says that children feel the stigma.
17:54 – Josephine says: “The reason fashion is not moving along is because society is not moving along.”
Jody agrees.
17:55 – Queen MoJo has experience with social media and the way it can influence people. However, she shares that she understands the impossibility of reaching out to everyone with her motivating posts. “My impact is actually quite small.” She adds that it depends on us and our vocabulary to minimise the scope of the problem.
17:57 – Question from Rose, a first-year student: “Hospital admissions for anorexia have risen by 84 per cent in the last five years, as we are more body-conscious than ever. Why do you think this is?”
17:57 – Bethan considers one of the reasons why most girls are body conscious to be Instagram, one of the examples of social media channels. “It definitely promotes anorexia, girls tend to change the way their bodies look and do photoshop.”
17:59 – Lindsay says: “TV is also an influence on our weight and the way we look. Our body is often associated with love and attraction, and if we’re bigger, we are not attractive – but being skinny is.”
18:02 – Jody adds that there is a change in the way the industry is moving. He also says that he has never been told that the people who are cast, should be a certain size. “If we don’t acknowledge [the small progress about inclusivity for the past years], they might stop doing that.”
18:09 – Student Michelle asks the panel: “Does the responsibility for the use of hyper-skinny models fall on the creative directors, or are they just reflecting what they see in popular culture, trickling down to the runway?”
18:09 – Jody answers by saying how high-end fashion and big designers’ fashion houses are the pinnacle of high fashion, “ the popular culture, is different from runway, it’s two very different things.”
18:11 – Question from Journalism student Neo to Amelia: “As an assistant buyer that has worked with many brands, what are some examples of fashion brands that are actively working to combat sizeism, and how have these efforts been received by consumers and the industry at large?”
18:11 – Amelia goes on to show how some brands do consider some factors of size inclusivity like pregnancy wear.
18:14 – Neo asks Josephine: “How can consumers advocate for greater size inclusivity in the fashion industry, and what resources are available to support these efforts?”
18:14 – Josephine enthusiastically shows her love for the freedom of expression through her style, “if anything, we are changing behaviours on an individual level, we can’t change fashion, I would much rather change the style itself.”
18:24 – Wendy shares a few words with the students and the panellists to end the debate.
18:30 – Students’ catwalk show “Come as you are” starts.
Listen to Lindsay talk about her experience…
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