Sharjah: Shopping without shame was a feeling I had heard of, but never felt as an overweight child. I have been plus size since I can remember, and sometimes I don’t see it as such a bad thing, until people make me feel inferior for being what I am and looking what I look like.
Being fat is not easy because there is too much baggage you carry with yourself and one of the worst things is shopping for clothes.
The shopping struggle is almost always emotionally overwhelming with an incredulous, inevitable thought that either nothing will fit or whatever fits will look repulsive.
One time, a woman stopped me at a store I usually shopped from and asked me if I wanted to lose weight. She ruined what could have been a perfectly good Thursday and a much-anticipated weekend, in addition to making shopping a furthermore hellish ordeal.
This was not the only time I was treated wrongly. Once I went to shop at a local retail store for my friend’s birthday.
Being in these stores was like one of those far-fetched dreams that I could never achieve, as all the clothes were not of my size.
I was looking at the tops and found many that would make a perfect gift, but it was evident that I needed help. The salesman walked past me and helped a woman a few steps ahead. When I asked him for help, he looked at me disapprovingly and said it wasn’t available in my size.
I became furious hearing this and told him that I was not looking for it in my size and would ask what I want if he’d let me finish my question.
He obviously helped me with what I wanted eventually, but I was really dismayed by his behaviour as I felt like a minority.
Outraged
It seemed like I was considered irrelevant in a store merely because my size wasn’t available. To be treated like this was outrageous.
Retailers are essentially dealing with women who may or may not be content or poised about how they look and feel, or might be in the progress of losing weight or if they are anything like me.
Each new year’s eve, their resolution might be to lose weight and yet somehow by the end of the year they find themselves shopping in the plus size section.
I am absolutely sick of having to cover my arms with a black cardigan, which in my mind is the invisibility cloak. Shopping brands should know that plus sized women don’t want to feel like a minority and want clothes that fit us well and make us look like the beautiful women that we are.
Some brands advertise latest styles for the ‘normal size’ consumer and assure us that we must relish the perks of fashion. However, with that comes the marketing ploy of messages comforting and encouraging us about how beautiful we are. It is an ambush of sugary-sweet messages about the most important kind of beauty — the beauty within.
But, is it not time we expand our mindset from the, ‘damsel in distress little fat girl, let’s encourage them a little’ promoting trick? Is it not time that we are seen as, treated as and accepted as an equivalent part of society, too?
In my opinion, there aren’t many choices available for plus size women because most fashion brands spend so much time treating us like a niche market for their own advertising needs. We are just overlooked by many fashion brands. However, contrary to popular belief, we want to wear clothes that we cannot only breathe in but those that draw attention and portray us as confident.
With so many clothing stores, I am still unable to find decent clothing because these stores have more than half of the section dedicated to sizes 6-14 and very little or almost no variety available in sizes above 16.
Willing to spend extra
Women will also be willing to spend an extra dirham if the collection became more appealing. We all come in a variety of shapes and sizes; keeping in mind it’s justifiable that brands can’t gratify each one of them.
But, it’s shocking that they would forget this segment of the marketplace. A poor lifestyle adds many to this classification, however there are additionally those whose health issues cause an increase in weight.
Conversely, owing to the fashion bloggers and increase in awareness of our needs, there are many new brands launching with renewed perspectives, styles and patterns accompanied with a variety of colours. The plus size consumer has just as many needs to look good in something that is in trend but it seems like the fashion industry is still trying to reach the standard.
So, dear fashion brands - stop telling fat women that they’re gorgeous the way they are and begin selling them what they are demanding, which is amazing quality and a variety of trendy fashion clothing. We know we are just as pretty as thin women, now give us clothes that convey that.
— The reader is a student at the American University of Sharjah.
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