The F@ Diaries: One Size Fits All

Written by Samantha Lee Jones, a Fattitude Guest Blogger

Hangers of tops with massive flowers printed across them, massive flowers that say, “This isn’t me but it’s all they had.” Elasticated waistbands and crotches that are too baggy. We’re looking for something else. Something different. Something that says our bodies are here, and we’re moving in the world like the rest of you, just wanting to express ourselves through our clothes, our style, our uniforms.

We want pinafores, dungarees, the tulle skirt, and the print leggings.

The problem is, stores don’t often get these in the plus size section, so we’re left to hit up the Internet to try and find that something special that screams I AM ME! AND ME IS FABULOUS!

eBay, Amazon, and Depop are places I have been known to frequent, and sometimes with great success. (Hello, pretty red Halloween costume with super special double tutu of 2014!) And Facebook! There are some really great Facebook groups for people to buy/sell/swap clothes, shoes and accessories for plus size loves.

But my problem, nay, my epic rant of all rants that I frequently, and angrily spout to my boyfriend while he plays The Witcher III, is about that pesky free size, that one size fits all crap. At what point in your life did you realize that item of clothing was only one size? At what point in posting your awesome yet unavailable-to-me shiny mermaid dress did you decide that one size covers us all?

That’s right my chubby sisters (and brothers!), apparently, one size fits all?! And that size covers a 0 to a 12, at best. But what about the one size that fits the rest of us? The one size that fits all of me?

It simply doesn’t exist. And apparently, neither do we!

When you’re selling and advertising clothing in which ‘one size fits all’, you are cutting people out. You are pushing them aside and saying they don’t matter. No. It’s worse than that. You are saying to the world, “Oh, right. Them. We don’t have to pay attention to them. They don’t count. Plus, they’re too fat to be fashionable. Do they even want to be fashionable?”

This exclusion is not exclusive to just us fatties either. Where are the full departments for the petite, and the tall? Any exclusion is unacceptable. (Though, I will say that often the petite section is still bigger than the plus size size section.)

So let me tell you something seller, I exist. WE exist! We aren’t too fat to be fashionable, we want to be fashionable, and we have money to give you if you’d take the time to cater to our needs.