I’ve had fashion on the brain lately. Maybe because the weather is changing and it’s getting warmer. Maybe it’s because I’ve been watching fashion week coverage and living vicariously through fashion editors and attendees. Or the fact that I am hyperaware that the cost of everything has gone through the rough while the quality has nosedived. Which leads me to my latest installment of State Of a Dress: Fat People Deserve Nice Clothes Too.

When it comes to conversations around clothing, style, trends, sustainability etc fat people are often, if not always left out of the conversation. I’ve talked about how shopping while plus size sucks before. We’ve reached a point where consumers are more aware than ever about clothing quality and the downsides of overconsumption. But why do companies constantly leave fat people out of the conversation?

Fat People Deserve Nice Clothes Too

I love expressing myself through my clothes. Dressing well and vibrantly is an act of rebellion in an increasingly beige depressing world. I’m not overly attached to my clothes, but on bad days sometimes getting dressed and pulling myself together is what I look forward to. However society and more specifically clothing brands don’t think I should like getting dressed at all.

Fat Shoppers are an Afterthought

Many a time I have walked into a store that’s supposed to sell plus sizes, asked where they are, and either be pointed to a dark dingy corner or told to look online. There’s been tons of buzz about us regressing in terms of plus size fashion and diet culture. I grew up in the thick of early 2000’s diet culture. The thought of low rise jeans coming back in style sends chills up my spine. It was a terrible time to not be rail thin, let alone visibly fat.

If a brand sells plus sizes, I should be able to go into one of their stores, and find said plus sizes. I shouldn’t be told to try another store, or check online, or that they only carry a small range of their plus sizes in store. I also don’t want ugly polyester monstrosities brands seem to think plus size people want. As my girl Samrya said, If you want plus sizes to sell, why do you keep making them ugly as hell?

Fatphobia Makes Shopping Hell

My villain origin story started in the pretty plus department at Sears. I will completely morph into Bane if plus size brands keep folding. And my eyes will roll into oblivion if I hear one more person rant about slow fashion but leave fat people behind. There’s this underlying societal idea that if you are fat, it is either temporary, or you’re only goal in life is to be smaller.

Options for shopping while fat are for the most part, garbage. I’ve spent a lot of money on clothes in my life. I would be willing to spend a lot more if it guaranteed I would get well made, quality clothing with structure using natural fibers. No matter what size I am, or what my goals are, I as well as all the other fat people, deserve to wear nice clothes too.

One of the ways I have worked on healing my relationship with my body is dressing for the body I have now. Not the body I want, or the body 20lbs from now, but the body I am living in, in this moment. I deserve to feel beautiful and confident in my clothing. I deserve to wear clothing that doesn’t fall apart after one wash, or stain my furniture.

Fat people deserve nice clothes too.