Tailored chic for 'real' women

Plus-size fashion has seen a revolutionary change over the past decade. What started out as a tentatively serviced niche market offering the older woman a limited range of staid fashion options, has now blossomed into a lucrative high-street staple for all ages embracing catwalk trends. Gone are the days of the fuller figure woman being ostracised by the fashion world for not having a size-zero waistline, now fuller-figured women have more options but are all their worries really over or does the target market of this booming business niche still feel there is more for retailers to do?

The Arcadia group was one of the first high-street retailers to cater solely for the fuller figure in their Evans stores.

Gayle Jared-Hillier, senior designer for Evans, explains the ethos behind the designs in their collections: "It's all about the translation of trends and looks from the catwalks and magazines into actual garments that flatter and suit our customer's figure. It is also very important to create a great fit for their figure as plus-size shapes can really vary in where they carry the weight."

Elegant range

Evans offers a range of fashion solutions from support underwear to elegant evening wear and accessories. Their success soon saw the group's other well-established fashion labels such as Dorothy Perkins, Wallis and Top Shop develop plus-size ranges. High-street fashion labels such as Monsoon and H&M have followed suit and diversified their brands to cater for the plus-size market and all with unprecedented success.

The huge demand for plus-size fashion has also seen a flood of refreshing newcomers to this fashion market specialising in fashionable clothing for larger women. Many of these started as online or mail order businesses and those that were successful have then gone on to develop a global retail empire. H&M's dedicated plus size range, Inclusive, launches this spring

Dress young

One such business is that of Friedrich Popken, who set up Ulla Popken, a young fashion range from size 16 in 1986 with ten retail stores. Now his label sells in more than 300 stores, by mail order and online with the help of selected franchise partners in Europe and non-European countries — including the Middle East. Like many of its competitors, Ulla Popken prides itself on offering women the opportunity to develop their own style — regardless of their size — and with a new collection every month, they also keep their customers current.

Following the launch of their brand in the UAE last year, Marc Brocato, head of global franchising for Ulla Popken, describes their understanding of this unique market: "Our sensibility to the plus-size market in the UAE has grown strong since we met with our local partner Kamal Osman Jamjoom Est in 2009. We are adapting very quickly to the local needs, regional realities and new climate. The market is broad-based with both younger and older clients as our targets. Our collection ranges from the Modern Fit [casual] for the younger woman; to City for the Metropolitan fashion business woman; and Selection for the more elegant."

On paper, it would seem plus-size fashion is hot on the heels of high-street fashion and the void between the two is rapidly diminishing. However, despite fashion retailers and industry newcomers embracing the plus-size market in recent years, there remain many shortfalls and today's fuller-figured women say they still face difficulties in finding fashionable clothes.

Breaking the silence

One woman whose career in PR and media has meant many hours in the spotlight looking her best saw fit to break the silence and speak out in empathy to fellow plus-size women. Alice Dogruyol writes a fearless and highly amusing column entitled Big Girl in a Skinny World for the UK's Daily Mail newspaper and in January, she launched her blog www.stylistplus.co.uk, about her trials and tribulations as a larger woman.

Dogruyol describes her battles with fashion: "Often fashion trends don't flatter a larger figure so I stick with what suits my shape rather than what is in fashion. Trousers are always difficult — if they fit on the thighs they are usually too big on the waist. Bras also used to be a problem but we have a great choice now."

The need for niche

She says the plus-size fashion industry has great room for improvement: "The industry isn't keeping up. There is no point producing what I call ‘skinny' designs in larger sizes as it's unlikely they will flatter a size 16 or 18 plus. The majority of clothes made for larger ladies are not particularly fashionable or flattering. They are often in bad fabrics and lacking in style and tailoring."

Gail Potter, a British expatriate living in Dubai, shares Dogruyol's concerns but also believes the problem in the UAE lies in poorly trained sales staff who add insult to injury: "I am a size 18-20 and six feet tall so it does offer some difficulties sometimes. Mainstream high-street brands tend not to go above a size 14 or 16 and rarely offer longer trousers. I tend to avoid the shops in which I know I cannot find clothes to fit me because I will want to buy all the lovely things that don't fit and I also feel embarrassed sometimes. The store staff out here tend to be petite in height and build and they look at you as if you're from another planet because you are tall or curvy. I have been in to ask the price of, say, a dress in the window and their answer was: ‘Too small for you, Madam, you fat.' Really! I was asking the price not the size — maybe I am shopping for my skinnier sister! Occurrences like that really knock your confidence."

More than before

While Potter admits there are a lot more brands that carry plus sizes now than when she first moved to Dubai in 2002 — when it was a struggle being limited to two or three stores — she also explains the fashions that are available are lacking in understanding of the customer for which they are designed: "I do sometimes look at what's available and wonder who designed them — have they got a clue what size 16 and upwards women need to wear to flatter themselves? Most curvier ladies look great in something that covers their upper arms, creates a waist, has a scoop or a V-neck and covers the curvy areas of hips and stomach, so when I see lots of short length, sleeveless, high-neck tops in the plus-size section, I despair."

Ulla Popken's Brocato agrees: "Plus-size retail is not just about making clothes in bigger sizes as some competitors think but it is about following the trends and translating them to fit the plus-size woman. The specialised knowhow on the market for plus-size fashion is still not what it should be, but it is growing. "

So what are retailers such as Ulla Popken doing to address these issues and how can they improve on servicing their customers? "Our collections have been studied and developed for more than 20 years to serve the plus-sized woman. Our knowhow, modelling and fashion market research is complete and fast. We have 12 collections per year and we give our client a new product every month. We scout new trends worldwide and translate them to fit our needs," Brocato says. He adds: "The industry has to become more sensitive to the customer's needs and also focus on the fitting and forms. So often, non-specialised brands want to cover the bigger sizes but do not understand the market."

Edit and enhance

For Evans, it's all about the "edit" when it comes to catwalk fashions: "We really edit the looks that we feel will flatter our customer. And anything that we feel will not flatter her or make her feel great, we leave out of the collections.

"We carry out a lot of research into the shape of our customers to achieve the greatest possible fits in the plus-size market," Jared-Hillier says. Evans are also improving their offerings by developing a new range with a higher price point called Collection, which will launch in May. It will provide a more premium product for their customer.

Simple start

Potter offers a more simple suggestion as a core starting point: "I think they should move away from calling it ‘plus size' — I really loathe that term and the negative connotations that go with it. People's shapes are changing. People who are size 16 and above can be perfectly healthy — ‘plus size' just does not sound right. After all, what is really more acceptable — a woman who doesn't eat, who is starving herself to be impossibly thin at a size six-eight, or a healthy-eating, physically active, curvy and voluptuous woman at size 18 who is tagged with the term ‘plus size' and made to feel bad about herself as she has to buy clothes in special shops? The industry should help in trying to erase these connotations and impossible body image conundrums."

So while many of the players in this mildly misunderstood market get up to speed with the likes of Evans and Ulla Popken, where can we look for exciting cutting-edge fashions for the fuller figure? With years of experience and an enviably groomed personal style, Dogruyol shares her online favourites: "I buy a lot of clothes from Anna Scholz (annascholz.com). She cuts her clothes perfectly for bigger girls and chooses fabrics that hang off your curves rather than cling to them. I also love Sandwich (andwich.eu) and Mint Velvet (mintvelvet.co.uk) as their collections fit well and are young, fun and stylish."

Dogruyol is also working on her line of plus-size jeans to be launched this year. Watch this space.

Beatrice Boardman is a UAE-based fashion and interiors consultant