Friday, October 19, 2012

Plus Size Supermodeling - Part 4: The Designer

Catch up on:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

While trying on all the clothes brought in by The Stylist and The Client, the front door to Design Collective opened and The Designer whooshed her way in. The Designer was a force of nature– all eclectic jewelry and flowy, layered clothes. Her energy was high and consuming.

The Designer began hanging up the pieces she’d brought with her, and I tried to get a good look at what we’d be working with. There were three or four dresses, a poncho, a couple of vests and an oversized tropical print shirt. Nervously, I glanced over The Stylist who appeared to be doing her best at keeping a neutral face. Maybe everything would look spectacular off the hanger on a body.

With that in mind, I hauled the clothes into the dressing room and starting putting pieces on. The first item was a gray knit dress. The fabric was chintzy, the cut oversized and unflattering. For some reason, the sleeves featured extra fabric at the underside of the arms – creating a bat-wing effect. I gulped and reminded myself that I didn’t have to like the clothes, I just had to model them.

I stepped out into the shop to show the first look. “Plus size women hate to show their arms,” The Designer declared. “This extra detail,” she gestured toward the batwing arms, “is exactly what a plus size woman wants.”

Nevermind the fact that I’d shown up in a sleeveless sheath dress straight from work. Arms exposed.

 Every piece went like this – there were grand declarations about what plus size women want and don’t want, which boiled down to shapeless clothes to hide in. Every time The Stylist would try to add a belt to define my waist, The Designer would shake her head. That’s not what plus size women want. I realized that The Designer was completely out of touch with what the modern plus size woman wants…everything seemed so dated, like Catherine’s or Lane Bryant circa 1989.

Again and again, I reminded myself that it didn’t matter how I felt about the clothes. This wasn’t about me, it was about The Client. My job was to make the clothes look as good as possible – and to seem appealing to…someone. It began to dawn on me, though, that maybe the models I see in catalogs and on runways don't actually like what they're wearing either. 

For all the glitz and glam that goes along with the fashion industry; all the effort that goes into selling an image; at the end of the day, it's possible that the familiar faces of models and celebrities don't actually like what it is that they're selling.  I realize this isn't a novel concept...it's called doing a job if you're a model or a celebrity.  But as a plus size fashion blogger, used to dressing myself and sharing with readers only what I really, genuinely like- it was kind of a revelation. 

We almost got through the fitting without anyone asking my opinion, until The Client turned and asked me what I thought of what I was wearing. At the moment, it was wearing an oversized sheer tropical button down shirt. That was tied in a knot at my crotch. Over black pants. I blushed bright red and mumbled, “I’m not sure I’m your core customer…”

At the end of the session, when both The Client and The Designer were satisfied with the selection of clothing options for the photo shoot, I started toward the dressing room to change back into my own clothes. Suddenly, The Designer turned to me and asked dramatically, “And how will you model my designs? Show me a few poses.”

I stared blankly at her and thought, “That’s a really good question.” And something I’d better figure out before the photo shoot.

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