By Grace Koh
Not long ago, I chanced upon a blouse that I immediately felt was ideal for casual wear on sweltering days outside. I pulled one out of the rack in my size (Medium) and realised that it was way too small to fit me. The one in “Large” still looked too small, so I settled for XL since it looked to be the best fit. When I tried it on, I found that it did fit me, perfectly. Extra Large.
Now, while I am no Twiggy, I’m not exactly a Plus-size contender either. As I mentioned before, medium sizes usually fit me. What alarmed me was that this wasn’t the first time I had to end up with XL, and I don’t think it will be the last. Just as well I have lived through enough years to not become paranoid about clothes size. Imagine the effect such an experience would have on an impressionable young girl whose sense of identity is still fragile. We have to thank the clothing and fashion industry for this state of affairs.
As if to underscore this unhealthy development, I recently stumbled upon a scene which left me boggled. I was channel-surfing while waiting for my programme to start, and stopped at a reality show for budding designers as I was interested in what they were creating. One of the designers had fashioned a tight skirt that looked ultra small. He had to choose the skinniest model so that she could squeeze into it, and yes, she definitely looked squeezed in, despite her skin-and-bones frame.
If sizes are being calibrated smaller and smaller, the message sent to our children can be damaging. It will only add to all the other esteem-sapping messages now inundating a youngster’s world, especially for girls. Trained from childhood to soak up images of reed-thin dolls, and then later on exposed to social media that reinforces the benchmarks which are already taking firm hold in their minds, it is really not surprising that they grow into young adults ready to maintain and perpetuate the misguided notion of how they should look. The pressure to remain true to this image has spawned numerous down-line industries that “help” believers in their quest to remain “model-slim”.
We even have health aids that claim to block digestion (and therefore prevent the conversion of excess food into fat), supplements that have the ability to break down fat at a faster rate, detox agents to cleanse the system and therefore aid weight-loss…the array of such products that crowd chemists’ shelves today is indeed overwhelming. Sometimes I wonder what we are doing to ourselves.
The encouraging thing is that Elle France decided to take a stand and feature plus-size models on their cover in April 2010. Although this may not seem like much, it is a good thing nonetheless. Every small step counts, every little gesture helps. As far as I’m concerned, it’s better than continuing to feed a trend that surely needs to be course-corrected.
This article also appears in http://www.blue-topaz.org.
Article Source: Fashion Sense – Not!
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