One of the biggest pitfalls to being overweight, besides the potential health issues, is the discrimination from the fashion industry. I can’t tell you how many cute, sexy, sassy or just outright adorable tops, skirts and other types of clothing I have seen in regular sizes, while finding nothing like it in the plus size sections of stores. What is available in plus sizes in most retailers (Walmart, Target, K-Mart, etc.) is frumpy and plain. Or, it doesn’t run true to size, so if you’re normally a size 24 or even 26/28, you’re out of luck in regular stores, since their 24s and 26/28s are more like 22s and 24/26s, respectively.

Now throw some pregnancy into the mix, and you’re really in for some fun. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I only found one pair of plus size maternity pants that were in the range of affordable (read: less than forty bucks), and they were solid black, plain and very frumpalicious. I also found a solid black t-shirt and a solid hot pink t-shirt, both of which I wore to death in that pregnancy and during my next pregnancy.

So the second time around, when I was pregnant with my son, I didn’t even bother to look for maternity clothes or maternity dresses. I got a lot bigger with him and carried him lower, so once I reached five months and was having a lot of difficulty with most of my pants, I took to using a thick hair band looped through the button hole and then around the button of my pants. That combined with longer t-shirts and tank tops, and finally loose fitting pajama pants in my last two months, kept me relatively comfortable until Ryan was born.
(I’d also like to mention that the belly band did not come in plus sizes either, so that wasn’t even an option)

So, take it from fashion designers: fat women not only want to look plain, frumpy and anything but fashionable, but they never get pregnant, either!

Tags: rants

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 16th, 2009 at 11:50 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.