Dear Target,

I want to start out by saying how much I love you. I visit you multiple times a week, I could stay for hours just browsing, I buy the majority of my ‘things’ from you, but… Yes, there is a ‘but’… What about us curvy girls? You know that most of this country is made up of women over the size of 14? Then how come you leave us wanting more?!

You have almost a city block worth of women’s clothes between your walls, yet only about 1/8th of it is catered to the ‘Plus Size’ woman. You continually place this section next to ‘Maternity,’ so we don’t know where one section ends and the other begins. You also make more stylish items for the pregnant ‘regular’ sized woman than you do for a plus size woman. You’re only pregnant for 9 months, but a lot of people are plus sized FOR LIFE.

You offer a few, sort of, cute ‘fashionable’ items—but there is a whole floor dedicated to fashionable ‘regular sized’ clothing. You do not offer any plus sized items (or offer a very limited selection) in sleep wear, under wear, bras, intimate apparel, outerwear, and hosiery. Yes, you do offer more of a variety online—but we like to walk into a store and try things on too! We don’t always want to order online and wait for it, only to find that it doesn’t fit or isn’t flattering.

Yes, you do have some of your ‘regular sized’ items go up to XXL or size 16/18, but they run VERY SMALL most of the time. Smaller than most other stores.  Granted I (personally) can scoot by and fit in some of your ‘regular sized’ XL or XXL items, but I am only on the cusp of the regular/plus size range. I only represent the beginning of women in the plus size range. What about others who aren’t in this category? Don’t you want to sell to them? They are the majority of your customers in other departments, why not cater to their fashion needs as well? Why not make us feel special and look beautiful?

I lost a little bit of love for your, when press got out for the scandal of the ‘Mantee Gray’ dress in plus size, that was simply a ‘Dark Heather Grey’ in regular sizes. Why would you insult your own customer’s like this?! Yes, you apologized, but still—YOU DID IT. That is where the plus size lady stands with you. We are a joke, of sorts.

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Target, I love you—even after the ‘Mantee Grey’ scandal. I have to say you are one of my most favorite stores in the whole world. BUT, what about us big girls? This is a plea from the size 14+ fashion world. Give us some love in return, and I promise you, you will not regret it!

Sincerely,

Laurel Teixeira

A Loyal (Plus Size) Target Customer

—> The original version of this post can be found at
The Curvy Elle Blog! Feel free to comment there.

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There has been a lot of hype lately about the “plus size” model Robyn Lawley—yes, she is beautiful, has curves to her body, and is pretty buxom… but, it is really hard for me to categorize her with the “plus size” crowd.

How can someone who is a size 30 relate to someone who has a perfect body and is a size 10/12? It seems the same as comparing an average size 10/12 woman to a runway model who is a size 00. There is always the unattainable that the majority of women will never be.  Sadly, there will always be girls and women looking to this perfection, striving to be someone they may not ever be.

[Left] Robyn Lawley (Pic source); [Right] Fluvia Lacerda (Pic Source)

See above, a picture example of two different plus size models. On the left is Robyn Lawley, a size 12. On the right is Fluvia Lacerda, a size 18. How can they be one and the same? They are both beautiful and they both have curves, but next to Fluvia, Robyn looks like the “average” sized woman.  Added to this, they both have perfect proportion—a body that is merely a larger version of the idealized body. How many people look this way when they are plus size or any size?

All of this does not make sense. Maybe there needs to be new terms to describe different types of curves and plus size… Maybe Robyn Lawley is “Curvy Slender” and Fluvia Lacerda is “Curvy Plus“…?

Until the fashion industry starts showing a more “normal” (as in shape, as well as size) woman—be it plus size or not—there will never be a change in the mindset of society, women, and girls. 

We are still striving to define ourselves, maybe we will never be satisfied. In the end it’s up to ourselves to walk through the sea of “perfection” to find the reality. Plus size is as plus size does.

This post was originally posted at The Curvy Elle Blog. Please feel free to comment there.

This post is a continuing conversation from a previous post entitled “What is Plus Size?”

I didn’t really know about the whole IFB controversy until the last couple of days (I guess I’m kinda oblivious—sorry!), so I don’t know all the details around it. BUT, reading up on it got me thinking…

I have lived, gone to school, interned, and worked in the New York Fashion Industry, in the Fashion Design field.

Even though people aren’t supposed to judge on weight, they still do. Even more so in New York City and even more than that in the Fashion Industry.

I have had first hand experience being looked over and exceeded by women that are thinner and have a certain ‘look’—who match the the Industry’s ‘ideal’.  I might have worked just as hard as them or EVEN HARDER, but looks and thinness over rule a majority of the time. 

It is sad and I hate to admit it, but it’s true.

Of course, there is always the other side of the coin, but that is harder to see in the Fashion Industry.

The reality of it is, at least right now, is that it’s MOTHER FUCKING HARD TO BE FAT AND WORK IN A FASHION RELATED JOB.

I am telling you the point blank truth.

Add in the job shortage and the plethora of silly women wanting to vie for under payed and overworked positions—you end up with a lot of back stabbing and shallowness.

In the end, if you want to work in the Industry you have to have a thick skin, balls of steel, and an undying passion…because it will try you, time and time again.

My passion has never died for the Fashion Industry, but I have found that I can’t live that way. I want to be a part of the Industry, but on my own terms. I want to live a happy, fulfilled life where I can make some sort of difference.

That is why I am here.

Doing my own thing.

Doing the Fashion Industry on my OWN terms… and at ANY size.

*** Also posted here: http://www.thecurvyelle.com/2012/08/being-plus-size-fashion-industry.html