Friday, September 3, 2010
Designer Couture for Plus Sizes - new or same old?
A couple of weeks ago Marc Jacobs president, Robert Duffy, announced that the brand will now extend their line to plus sizes. This is exciting news for fans of the label that don't fit into the standard 8, 10, 12 size range. So far so awesome.
Most of the media coverage broke this news as a "first" although of course for us slightly bigger fashion girls, we already know that we can get DvF, Temperley, Marni, Lanvin, MaxMara and McQueen up to a size 16 already. And we do.
But all things being equal this is quite good news. But it is not as good news as it may seem. Let me explain.
The more cynical of us recognise this move as being motivated by nothing more than the same old desire for cash. It is not the fashion industry suddenly waking up to the fact that true style and fashion panache knows no size. It is rather a realisation (somewhat delayed) that larger (read normal) sized women actually have pretty good wallet sizes. And it is this that they are chasing. As they should to stay in business. And so while we welcome Marc Jacobs into our wardrobe we just feel that we need to call like we see it. But let this not stop anyone else jumping onto the bandwagon. For once we welcome this whole heartedly.