Why are companies still choosing to use only very slender models?

[WildFlowerBees]

I get it, the clothes look great and I can choose not to buy etc but it's not representative of all of the market, maybe that's their target market.

For instance I was having a look at Me&Em not one model over a size 8/10 I want to see what lovely clothes might look like on all different shapes and sizes or is it that their clothes will look shit unless you're tall and willowy.

Why in 2022 are companies still allowed to discriminate in this way because choosing very slim models only seems like discrimination to me.

I'm a size 12 I'm 5ft 7 but not willowy I have big norks and I feel invisible a lot of the time when it comes to clothing.

Am I being unreasonable with my little rant?

@goldfinchonthelawn I’m 5ft 2”. 😆. I’m certainly not slim

I think at a minimum, models should be a healthy weight. Size 16 at 5'4" is likely overweight.
There's something like a 3 stone window for a healthy weight, so plenty of scope for varying shapes and builds.

For a 5ft4 height (and be within a healthy weight) I think you'd be looking at size 12, and that's being generous

Not true. I'm 5'5" and was still a size 12 when I was barely eating, exercising obsessively, and for what it's worth had a BMI of 19. My pelvis is wide and I can't diet it away.

The reliance on BMI as a tool is so wrong. A friend was anorexic and didn't have a period for two years but because her BMI was 'too high' at 18, she wasn't seen as ill enough for treatment. She was profoundly harming herself but the doctors who worshipped at the alter of BMI didn't think she had a problem.

I read an interview a few years ago with a designer who said they'd initially tried to use a variety of model and mannequin sizes but actually those advertised in larger sizes never sold even nearly as well. She said the public think they want this, but it's hard to function as a business when this doesn't correspond to actual sales.

As pp said either the models are super thin or incredibly obese. Very few in between. I often look on Insta to see how medium size women wear the clothes.

Because thin and young is still pushed as the ideal of what is beautiful.

Thats why there is a difference between thin shaming and fat shaming.

I think at a minimum, models should be a healthy weight

What fattist bollocks. Shouldn't overweight people be able to buy clothes, or see what other overweight people look like in the clothes, to be able to make a sound decision as to whether to buy the clothes?

OF COURSE clothes shops don't want to show what their clothes look like on bigger people. Often their clothes are so badly designed and cheaply cut and made that they don't look good on anyone with an hourglass figure with bust and hips, let alone anyone over a size 12. And I'm including the more expensive shops in this, they sell a lot of polyester shite but put an extra £50-£100 on it.

But the good ones stand by their designs enough to show them on people in a range of sizes.

They could probably save a lot of money by investing in software that allows the user to put in their measurements and see what the garment looks like on them. This tech was around 20 years ago so it must have been refined quite a bit by now. But many wouldn't because they make so much money from people ordering and failing to return clothes in time.

As pp said either the models are super thin or incredibly obese. Very few in between. I often look on Insta to see how medium size women wear the clothes

Yes, that is a good point. I didn't think of instagram but there are some sites where customers have uploaded photos of themselves in the clothes which can be quite useful.

Little Lies and I think Joanie loves both show clothes on different sized models. As in: Jill is 5'2 and wearing a size 8 and Mary is 5'9 and wearing a 14.
I am a size 16. I do not consider thin models to be fat shaming. I do not look good this large and if people want me to buy clothes, I'm not going to buy them on people who look like me. I do not see fat bodies as attractive bodies and I can say this as I have a fat body.

It is much easier to design for a less curvy figure, dart placement can be more varied if you're trying to enhance smaller boobs/less definite waist rather than fit to the bigger curves. You also need fewer darts full stop and pattern pieces are straighter meaning you can get more out of a piece of fabric...

I often find with things that fit over my bust the shoulders are too broad and the arms are too wide. Most of my friends from sport, even the size 6s had trouble with shoulders and thighs being too tight while everything else was ok/loose.

There used to be some variety of cut in different stores, now everything is the same general shape in varying sizes.

I’ve noticed this with tv adverts recently too, there appears to be much more diversity with the actors used APART from fast food adverts where everyone is slim-oh the irony!

"I think at a minimum, models should be a healthy weight"

What fattist bollocks. Shouldn't overweight people be able to buy clothes, or see what other overweight people look like in the clothes, to be able to make a sound decision as to whether to buy the clothes?

Or, shouldn't underweight people be able to buy clothes, or see what other overweight people look like in the clothes, to be able to make a sound decision as to whether to buy the clothes?
Why did you assume healthy weight meant only not overweight?

THIS!

waists are always halfway up my ribs, often impossible to belt things for that reason.

for years before maxi/midi dresses came back into fashion I couldn’t buy a work dress without the skirt riding way up my thigh (places like whistles never sold anything longer than above knee for smaller people which is mid thigh for the giants.

just remember a LOT of pinning, tucking, clamping, steaming, lighting effects goes on on photo shoots. Agree with poster who said that buyers’ own pictures on review is the best way.

I’d like to see more midsize clothing models. So size 12-14.

It seems to all be the classic catwalk model physique (skinny) and then some overweight women (like Snag tights) thrown in for diversity.

You’d think midsize women (like higher end of a healthy BMI) would appeal more widely to people. And be aspirational - if “aspirational” is the marketing goal. Most women would never look like a catwalk model even if they lost loads of weight - but they might be able to aspire to a healthy size 12-14.

As long as we are wishing for models we will never get, can I hope for menopausal models?:) I am not overweight but am carrying all my weight in my stomach in peri. More models with no waists!:)

I agree.

Why on earth would you have all models a size 16 and 5'4'' just because that is the average uk woman? Shorter models yes but in the healthy BMI range.

Just popping on to remind people

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A HEALTHY WEIGHT

BMI IS A RACIST OUTDATED TOOL

Thanks bye

I'm skinny but I'm in my 60's and have had dc so many clothes don't look good on me either.
My body shows the signs of aging and being slim can't stop that.
Even plus size models will be young and therefore firmer so will look better in some clothing than I ever will.
Therefore it's not just different sizes but different age groups needed for modelling.

I have much more idea of what suits me now and also go for well cut clothes.
Cheap clothes only ever suit young and slim women.

I sort of see your point, but lots of otherwise slim women have larger breasts and discernible hips. The models shown are invariably smaller breasted with a straighter more athletic physique. That's great if that's your shape, or are we making larger breasts and hips - ie a perfectly normal healthy woman's shape - something that's considered freakish now?

BMI is so outdated my dh is 6ft 4 active and very broad/muscular but his bmi puts him as obese which looking at him is clearly not true.

Not every healthy person is below a size 12 it's not possible for lots of women. We need to promote healthy not skinny and see more women who are not obese or super skinny as models.

I really like Trinny but her closet confessions are based purely on her body type a pointless exercise unless you're like her.

@JOFFCV so why have all models over 5'8" and a size 8 or below? Surely the default should be average? I don't buy the 'clothes look better on thinner models' lazy excuse; it's just what we're used to. I'm not convinced by the concern trolling about health, either. I'm stronger and fitter at a size 14 than I was at a size 12.

I'm sure I read somewhere that when some shop or company, can't remember the name, used bigger models the clothes didn't sell as well. People wanted to believe the clothes would look like the model on them, not the larger size.

I wish I could remember the details because I bet I'm completely fucking up that explanation

I agree that models should be different shapes and height but disagreed that ALL models should be a size 16 and 5'4. I am 5'3'' and a size 12 but I'm trying to get to a size 10 as I have a small frame and put weight on around my middle - that is not healthy.

I agree that all models shouldn't be 5'8'' and a size 8. I'm middle aged and I know what things suit me at whatever size I am. I know I'm not going to suit some of the clothes on these models. So yes, more variation would be nice.

I like it when they show the same item on a few different models of different sizes. Must cost more to do but perhaps saves money from people returning clothes because they had no idea what it would look like on a different size.