Shopping for a plus-sized dress can be a nightmare. It is easier to find cute styles for plus-sized women today than it was ten years ago but they are still expensive and the selection is limited.
Let me share a not so pleasant experience from a few years ago when I needed a dress for my niece’s wedding.
It started out with going to the mall. I hit Torrid, a store with trendy plus-sized clothes. They had cute clothes but not much for a Spring wedding. The one dress that I liked was $180. It was basically a simple long cotton dress with wide shoulder straps but I was not going to pay that much for something I could make for a quarter of the price.
So, it was off to the other stores that might have something suitable. We (my sweetie and I) hit JC Penney. We walked through the store and couldn’t find the plus-size section. I asked someone and they told me it is upstairs with the bedspreads and towels. I felt like they were hiding the shameful big girl clothes from the world, lest they offend someone. We rode the escalator up and looked at their sparse selection. All the patterns looked like Jackson Pollock threw up all over them and the styles were not appealing.
We headed to the other end of the mall to Macy’s. We stopped in Forever 21 where the 23ish looking saleswoman sneered at me when I asked if they had a plus-sized section. She told me they have a few things in the back corner and then she ignored me. They had a few larges but nothing plus-sized so we headed to Macy’s.
Macy’s hides their plus-sized section way in the back. Their selection was pretty good but there weren’t many dresses. The one dress I liked was yellow and I cannot wear yellow with my skin tone.
The message these retailers are sending is not flattering to curvier women. It’s not very smart because one in three women are overweight, according to the data I Googled. They’re missing out on a big market.
Crazy Crafty Lady 