Bang on Gemma. I actually think that those of us with boobs and/or a bum have to work harder to look on trend as let's face it - not much can look awful on a twiglet!

However, CQ's 'I Love What You're Wearing' isn't blameless. I've just scrolled through the archive and OK, they're not all under a size 10 but the limit does seem to be a 12!

I think this is a symptom of the wider fashion and associated industries. I devour loads of magazines every month and have done for years and can count on one hand the amount of 'normal' fashion spreads. Even in features claiming to be for everyone - eg bras for 'busty girls' often feature ranges stopping at a 38C - that ain't busty.

How do you fancy employing a 14+ correspondant?

Posted by: Laura | July 31, 2007 5:41 PM

Laura, you're absolutely right about I love what you're wearing. I've actually had very little to do with those pics so far but rest assured I'm always on the eye out for well dressed women of all sizes.

And drop me an email with your ideas on being a correspondant, I'm always on the lookout! xx

Posted by: Gemma | July 31, 2007 5:44 PM

Jesus, can we please stop using the term "real" to mean "plus-sized"? Being a size 2 does not make me any less "real." Words like "average" (which you also used) are more accurate and not disparaging to thin and slim women. To make larger women feel more accepted, we don't need to imply that thinner women aren't "real" women. So tired of this.

With regard to the fashion photos, look—I've worked at fashion magazines (and feminist magazines, too) and this is just the way the fashion world works. Fat people do not exist to these people, aside from serving as oddities or Andre Leon Talley. I'm a size 2, occasionally 4, and I am usually one of the bigger girls at the shows. I'm not saying it's right, but I'm saying that the fashion world is inherently exclusive, and all the body-image campaigning in the world isn't going to change a thing. I hate to say it, but it's true.

Posted by: Annie T | July 31, 2007 11:39 PM

Frankly the three outfits used are simply hideous. And, last time I looked, size 10-12 was perfectly acceptable. When did size 12 become 'fat'? I must have missed that memo.

Posted by: Bellacat | August 1, 2007 8:14 AM

Annie - I was talking in UK sizes, so I wasn't just discussing plus sized, but also the sorely lacking 12 - 16 bracket (which is US 8 - 12). And I know this is how it is in fashion, I see evidence of that every day, but these bloggers have a really good outlet to making changes and appealing to the everywoman, I just think it's a shame they don't do more of that. And sorry if my use of the word 'real' was offensive. Picking the right words is difficult in cases like this because you're always going to rile someone!

Bellacat - I didn't mean to imply that a size 10 - 12 was fat. Sorry if it read that way. I'm a 12-14 myself and perfectly healthy!

Posted by: Gemma | August 1, 2007 9:59 AM

Personally, what really, really gets to me when I read street style features is that NOBODY is EVER over 25! That HURTS...

(and again, I'm not suggesting we start pap'ing Grannies in the street for the 'style', but some acknowledgement that you don't put on a pipe and slippers as soon as you hit 26 would be helpful. I'm really not sure if the fault is with the photographers or the public...but I seem to know a lot of very stylish people who aren't student-age.

Posted by: Abi | August 1, 2007 10:04 AM

Gemma you are a gem... we need more people like you out there getting this topic talked about...

My comment however is for Annie, and the fact that you need to take your self righteous attitude on women and their portrayal by the fashion industry back to the archaic Prada inspired closet you crawled out from... it's attitudes like yours that will continue to perpetuate the increasing eating disorders and self confidence issues women have.

The fashion world is only inherently exclusive due to the pencils that are deemed cool enough enough to dictate it. What is the world coming to when the editor of Vogue stages an intervention and makes one of her staff go on a diet... positive role model!

If fashion designers got a grip and thought about the "average" "real" woman, the woman that buys the magazines, the woman that goes to work every day, the woman that has a family and a career... the real, average everyday woman... the consumer and started designing clothes that flattered curves and bumps instead of designing for a walking coat hanger then the magazines would have to start to do things a little differently!

I am the founder of a women's label that offers sexy, tailored clothes in sizes 8-20, we are not a "plus size" label but rather a label for real women who want to embrace and celebrate their body regardless of height, age, shape or size.

Fashion should empower, not enslave, and for as long as people like yourself are let within 10 feet of this industry anyone over a size 2 should just forget about clothes and opt for a potato sack instead.

If we can put a man on the moon surely we can represent the "average, real" woman in a fashion magazine/blog or two.

Posted by: Lil' Mama | August 1, 2007 2:11 PM

I would love to see women of all shapes and sizes on the catwalk and I think it would help a lot of women stuck on style direction like Gemma said.

Posted by: Gee | August 1, 2007 7:37 PM

Look, the people who run those "street style" sites are all gay men, and gay men have a pathological phobia of voluptuous, soft-figured, full-bodied women. It's why the fashion industry promotes emaciated androgyny rather than full-figured femininity.

Until the day comes when a heterosexual male creates a "street style" site, our culture is in the hands of men who are not attracted to women.

Posted by: Kioewen | August 2, 2007 4:33 PM

I'm a size 2 (sometimes a 4) and I certainly don't consider myself a coat hanger! In fact, I am very busty on top so I have lots of curves. Just like women in larger sizes are tired of being labled, so are us girls that wear smaller sizes (such as "eating disorder" or "walking coat hanger"! Neither of which is true in my case.)
And don't think that because some of us are a size 2 that everything fits us great, looks great on us, and everything is designed for people my size. That is flat out wrong. In fact, at a size 2, it can be very difficult to find things in my size that isn't designed for a 14 year old girl. At age 35, I am long tired of the Junior department. Don't even get me started on how impossible it is to find a size small shirt for a big bust.
I was blessed with a fast metabalism (that is probably slowing as I age), I eat healthy, and lead an active lifestyle - yet I constantly hear snide remarks about being thin. You know what, I don't even remotely resemble a magazine model - never have. Yet I don't complain about why magazines/blogs don't show more really "real" women. Let's face it - the women in most magazines are in their teens, usually very thin, tall, perfect skin, gorgeous face, etc., etc. In cases that they aren't all those - it's called airbrushing and photo-shopping. That is what sells products and in turn, is what the fashion industry picks up on. Int he case of the street blogs, the pics more accurately reflect an anomoly of a person on the street looking like a model. That's not the norm nor should we expect it to be!
I think the bigger problem is why we feel the need to compare ourselves to magazine models and those that look like them. My life certainly isn't the "champagne wishes and cavier dreams" that I see in lot of these mags/blogs. I love the blog bagsnob.com, but I promise you that it will be a cold day in heck before I ever own 98% of the expensive purses that they talk about there.
If these things were more like my life, than I probably wouldn't read it. I can get that from myself and friends. If we want to see something else in blogs and magazines - then my suggestion is to go create it yourself. If it doesn't do well, then at least you have your answer as to why it isn't already being down (hint: because people aren't buying/reading it.)

Posted by: Kristy | August 3, 2007 8:18 PM

i'm not even skinny, and this whole "real woman" thing really bothers me. every woman is a real woman. you don't have to have "boobs and bums" to be a real, sexy, gorgeous woman, just as you don't have to be a size 0 to be beautiful. i agree with the above poster who said that "average" should be substituted for "real".

also, i don't think that these bloggers are discriminating at all. when i walk around new york city (home of the sartorialist) i, for the most part, see slim, incredibly well dressed women. this isn't to say that there aren't "average" or larger beautiful and fashionable ladies in the city--there are plenty. but the majority of the fashionistas are quite slim. i think that these photographers are merely presenting what they observe to us. maybe if designers and retailers made more fashion-forward clothes that looked fab on the "average" figure, THEN we would see a change.

Posted by: Helen | August 3, 2007 11:55 PM

This is the first time I have ever "Posted a comment" anywhere, I usually keep them to myself, but this was one issue I just couldn't keep my mouth shut about. I am a 34 year old woman, who up until 5 minutes ago, was having a great day just hanging out with me. I am also a size 10. I love fashion, the clothes, the bags, the shoes, oh my goodness the shoes! Now, I can't afford almost all of the major labels, but I do try to make do with what I can afford, that is another issue all together (the prices!), but as we all know we go to these stores and file into the dressing rooms with the intention of buying the one thing that makes us look and feel better about ourselves. I mean isn't that the point? For me it is. When we are in those dressing rooms looking at ourselves in the mirrors, with that 'Looks perfect on the mannequin' dress on OUR body, the first thing that we think of or say is not, "Gee, look at that drape!" or "This dress is soooo Couture!!" NO we are thinking and saying, as we twist and turn and crank our heads around like we are Linda Blair in The Exorcist, "How does this make me look?, Do I look fat? Does my butt look big? Can you see it jiggle when I walk? Does it make my belly look bigger? If I wear the proper panties will it look better? Or should I just not wear panties? Would another color make me look better?". Then after a half an hour twisting and turning and walking back and forth to the mirror we finally realize we are TOO SHORT! What I am trying to get at ladies is that EVERY WOMAN DOES THIS no matter what the size, I have seen this behavior and I am sure if you were to look in a dressing room you would too. I know what is in some of the fashion magazines is very disappointing as far as the sizes they say are most 'fitting' for that 'fit'. I have seen articles talking about that, how woman should be happy with who they are and they shouldn't put emphasis on size, then on the very next page you see a really slender girl in an ad for denim. I also know not every woman is like me, when I buy something for me I buy it because it makes me feel good about me, oh yea and it makes my butt look good! I wish more disigners realized that every woman is different, in looks, but we all want the same outcome, to look beautiful!

Posted by: Kari | August 4, 2007 6:10 PM