03 09 00

phat ads

Whoosh!

In like a lion, huh? For the last few days the temperature has been in the high 60s. It's been sunny, warm and beautiful. Today, however, the wind started. Huge gusts rocked the trailer all day at work. I told my supervisor "If the trailer rolls over I quit."

With the wind comes change. The temperature's dropped from near 70 late this morning to the high 30s now. Tonight it is supposed to drop below freezing, and we're due some rain or (grump) snow.

I look all windblown!

Anyway.

Last night I was paging through some more bridal magazines that I picked up at the library. I've already picked out a style for the dress (the actual dress retails for $1500!!! but my mom thinks she can make it for me for under $200. Go mom!) so I was just glancing at the articles, looking for more ideas on how to cut costs.

Suddenly, I stopped on a page. I couldn't believe it. They had ads for plus-sized wedding dresses, worn by plus-sized models!

I kept looking at the ads. It was great. I felt great. I wear a size 20 in jeans. (I don't have a clue what size dress I wear.) Very rarely do I see ads for clothes in my size; I always have to scour back through the plus sections of department stores looking for something I can wear.

But the really surprising thing is that they didn't make a big deal that these were large dresses. Normally when you see an ad for large clothing, they make a big production out of it. We carry sizes 22 and up! or We cater to the plus-sized woman. These ads had no such statements. They were included, with no comment, in a section filled with other, more "normal" sizes. How cool is that?

A few years ago there was a big to-do at the university over the yearly fashion show for the fashion majors. The seniors have to design some clothes for their final project, and a show is put on to display their talents. People from Big Name Fashion Thingees come in to see the show, and it allows the seniors a chance to do a little networking. Students are hired as models to wear the clothing, and they had a very strict set of requirements for the models. They had to be so high. They had to wear between a size 2 and a size 5. They had to audition, and if they didn't have "that special something" they were out. (In other words, if they weren't anorexically thin they didn't get the job.) They had to be, simply put, "perfect."

So, this being a college and all, someone decided to protest the height/weight requirements. They did the whole spiel, making signs and marching around the outside of the building during the show.

The college rag interviewed the demonstrators, getting their side of the story. Then they interviewed the fashion students, the models who did meet the requirements, and a few of the Big Name Fashion people. The students more or less rolled their eyes when asked about the demonstrators. However, one Big Name individual from Calvin Klein gave the paper a wonderful quote that inspired much letter writing over the next few weeks.

When asked what he though about the size requirements for the models, he in turn asked, "What are we supposed to do? Design clothes for fat people?"

Well. Would he prefer that the fat people go around naked?

I wish I had the guts to rip the pages out of that library magazine. I love those dresses. I love those women. And I love the designer and the magazine for giving the fat people a chance to look nice on their wedding days.

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