Antonella Baccaro (photo by Carlo Furgeri Gilbert).
P.while in front of an underwear showcase, the other day, something unusual caught my attention: a size 46/48 mannequin made a fine show of itself. The first of those features I had ever seen exhibited.
I know a well-known sports brand has been using them for a long time, but for me this was the first ever. The shopkeeper had placed him next to another of classic size, dressing them in the same way: a bra on the top and pajama bottoms underneath.
Too bad that the latter, worn by the curvy mannequin, appeared visibly in tension: the seams seemed about to jump and the final effect was what a garment a couple of sizes smaller than it should have had on anyone.
Paradoxically the message of that mannequin, bought on purpose to attract the ladies with soft features, was exactly the opposite of what it was supposed to convey: «Don’t buy it, it’s not for you».
But there are still plenty of ungrammatical errors like this one out there. For example, in many television commercials from the States, plus-sized girls are often portrayed by young blackswith this crystallizing the assumption that between them (but only between them) roundness is a factor of beauty.
“Wrong” spots and one-size-fits-all shops
Furthermore, in many underwear commercials circulating the curvilinear girl is actually just a girl with a sixth bra and a wasp waist: a combination that little represents the real curvy. And then there’s the totally incorrect case of those teen clothing chains that only sell one size fits all. I happened to go there and check that on average a shirt worn by a 46 remains nailed two or three fingers under the breast, even when the purpose is not to show the navel.
And that’s all a curvaceous girl can afford to buy there. Fortunately, there are also the other shops. Elsewhere this year the oversize fashion has allowed curvy women to grab all the large ones intended for smaller sizes that in other circumstances they would not have been able to wear. Stylists, what are you waiting for to change register?
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