Can nobody over a size 10 dress well?

Gemma Cartwright has a bone to pick with street style photographers...

I absolutely adore street style websites. It's quite lucky, then, that visiting blogs like The Sartorialist, Face Hunter, Style Scout, Manchester Looks and so on is considered research for me. But one thing has struck me whilst visiting all these brilliant photography blogs. They definitely know how to spot great style, but where are all the 'real' women? I'm not talking about the non-fashion crowd here - it's no surprise that blogs snapping well dressed (or at least interestingly dressed) people is full of fashionistas - but where are the size 12 - 16s and the plus sized divas? Where are the average women making the most of their average bodies? If you have time to sit and look through the archives of these sites you'll quickly notice that barely any of the people pictured are above a UK size 10...

Photos: Facehunter, Manchester Looks, The Sartorialist.

I know clothes have a tendency to hang or sit well on slim people, and I'm not saying these bloggers should suddenly stop taking pictures of slim people just to keep us 12+'s happy. But there are plenty of women out there who're not model slim but still look amazing...and they seem to be lacking on these sites, which is a real shame. I'm not talking about suddenly filling blogs with plus sized women just to be PC (I'm not getting into the 'good role model for curvy women' vs 'unhealthy and obese' debate right now) but when you consider the average dress size in the UK is now a 16 (which can be perfectly healthy depending on your height) it's a shame more women of this size aren't applauded for their style on sites like this.

Granted, few of the Shoreditch Boombox crowd favoured by The Facehunter are big and beautiful. But what about The Sartorialist? He seems to be all-encompassing when photographing men across the world's most stylish cities, but 90% of the women that grace his blog look like they've fallen off a catwalk (and not just because they're well dressed).

I'd love to see more pics of girls with boobs and bums working what they have, bolstering the already fabulous fashion snaps these talented folks already bring us. I'm sure it would open up these sites to so many more women (and men) who'd love a bit of style direction.

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Kari

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!

Helen

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.

Kristy

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.)

Kioewen

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.

Gee

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.

Can nobody over a size 10 dress well?

Can nobody over a size 10 dress well? - Comments

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