WILL THE REAL
DESIGNERS PLEASE
STAND UP? by Bailey Rufer
You are not a designer if you refuse to
work with bigger individuals!
L
et me repeat myself.
You are not a real fashion designer if you
openly refuse to work with any group of
individuals, including (but certainly not limited
to) those who do not fit within the realm of a
“normal size range.” You are not a real fashion designer
if you decide that your work is meant for a specific
group of people. You are not a real fashion designer if
you claim that creating garments in larger sizes is “not
worth the effort.” That’s garbage, and we all know it.
Designing clothing is difficult regardless of the situation.
There are countless things that need to be accounted for
during any design process, like fit, garment construction,
and functionality, and I’d be lying if I said that designing
clothing for plus-size people wasn’t any more difficult.
The issue isn’t that there are more “rules” to designin g
for plus-sized individuals (Note: There aren’t “more
rules.” There aren’t any rules at all. Fashion isn’t a board
game, it’s fluid and ever-changing), but the issue is
that there are designers that choose to play it safe and
restrict their designs simply because they are scared.