OMG! Check out this blog on
Mamma Mia's website.
Lucy Gransbury shares her experience with Kookai's sizing system.
They use 1 or 2. They deleted 3. Be a smart idea for them to niche and market themselves as a small, narrow frame designer, but they don't.
The real issue here is that there are no
sizing standards for women's fashion in Australia. The rest of the world have them and we don't. Rock on TFIA - the battle for sizing standards is not lost. We simply have not won yet!
My clients regularly ask me what size they are in different labels because they simply don't understand it. How on earth is it that I can be a size 10 in one label and a 'large' in another? Let's pretend I'm in kindergarten and tell it to me like I'm only four years old.
Fact is, Australian designers are messing with our heads. I've been sharing this revelation with corporate and personal clients in seminars and personal consultations for years. A size 14 woman goes shopping and fits into a size 12. Is she happy about that? You bet she is. All of a sudden she finds more in her budget to spend at THAT store. Why? Because she's feeling pretty damn good about herself right now. She's feeling slim, successful and that deserves rewarding, dosen't it? Huge win to that designer. They get the sale and serve to confuse the consumer about their size.
Another label decides to toss the sizing system out the door and label garments with 1, 2, 3, 4. Well that sounds more attractive than 10, 12, 14, 16 dosen't it? It serves to mask the fact that she really is a size 16 - now she's size 4. Relate that to sizing standards in the USA. She's looking quite thin now!
The real problem is that so many women define themselves by their clothing size, not their shoe size of the length of their hair - their clothing size. So when a designer like Kookai stocks only 1 or 2 - it automatically makes over women over size 10 feel less than fabulous. If there's one thing that sucks the energy out of room in a nano second, it's a woman trying on a garment that is way too small. You can see the thought bubbles flying out of her head "not good enough", "I'm too fat", "nothing here fits me" .........
It's bad news for women. I've been known to cut labels off while shopping, or re-label a 16 to be a 10. That's how much impact the numbers have on some women!
What's your experience?
It doesn't matter the size on the label. Its about how you feel and how you look. I agree Helen, cut the label off it that makes you feel better. Woman who are a size 22 can look gorgeous and woman who are a size 10 can look hideous.
ReplyDelete