The Fashion Industry Ignores Midsize Girls

Scroll through any retailer’s website and you’ll see every item of women’s clothing depicted on a size 6-8 body. If not, then the item is probably in the plus size range and the model’s a size 18-20. There’s a huge gap in the representation of girls who have in between bodies.

Something that looks stunning on a size 8 isn’t going to look quite the same on me because I’m not that slim. Unsurprisingly, not having a flat stomach can make a garment look a whole lot different to the pictures on the website.

It’s so frustrating I can’t ever see what something would look like on somebody with a similar body to mine without trying it on myself. And there’s no point me even skimming through plus size ranges because they stock sizes too big for me.

Midsize women are ignored by companies. To them we’re not technically straight sized and we’re not plus sized either. Retailers have only started paying attention to the plus size market since the body positivity movement gained popularity.

Clothes in medium probably don’t feel as marketable to shops. Small is consistently depicted as desirable and inspirational whereas plus size is always about loving the skin you’re in. What about being in the middle? What’s profitable about selling clothes in midsizes?

There’s a massive gap in the fashion industry for a company to come along and actually make clothes suited for in between bodies. Currently, I feel like there’s a pressure on mediums lose weight to be a small. Drop some pounds and it won’t feel like such a chore to find clothes that look and feel good.

A handful of ‘straight sized’ retailers even punish the midsize bracket with their prices. I once bought a £32 denim skirt from Warehouse in a 12 — it would’ve been £28 if I got a size 10. (Funnily enough the company is now permanently closed after being battered by the economical effects of coronavirus.)

Furthermore, social media is dominated by very slim women and only a handful of influencers being plus size. I only see female influencers my size when I search for them and I started doing that after I stumbled across Lucy Wood’s YouTube channel over a year ago.

Midsize influencers focus on fashion and have a decent following. Despite this, they just aren’t promoted in the same way as bloggers who wear single digits like Freddy My Love or are plus size like Nadia Boulhosn. Women like these two have hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram whereas those like Lucy Wood have less than 100k.

I feel disappointed by this. It frustrates me that stylish women in the 10-16 bracket aren’t ordinarily appearing on my feeds. I have to actively hunt down women I can look to for style inspiration for my body type. I didn’t know medium-sized women even made content about fashion until a year ago.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom. I’m very slowly starting to see women like me popping up here and there. I’ve recently seen a couple of TikTokers posting about midsize fashion — my personal favourite is Abi Nunn.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve started to follow more midsize bloggers. Surround myself with a little bit more positivity. If these girls start to gain a bit more popularity then maybe, just maybe, we’ll start to see them represented better.

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