Instagram, twitter, ads: fit, beautiful models, with flawless makeup and sculpted bodies follow us everywhere. Though it has been happening for the last 70 or so years, impossibly skinny figures have been set as a goal for everyone to reach. They are seen as the ideal body, the expectation, the epitome of societal beauty.
We see it everywhere, especially shopping online. Though stores such as Fashion Nova depict curvier models on their sites and even have an Instagram account dedicated to their plus line, many other clothing brands have not attempted to expand their lines to fit all body types.
Forever 21 is especially notorious for this. If you browse through their site, the models they use are undeniably beautiful but somehow unrealistically have abs, perfectly perky boobs that somehow fit into the size small the model is wearing, AND tiny, tight butts. Anyone can look at the outfit on the rack and be deceived into thinking that it will fit them in a size small or medium. HOWEVER – after hurrying to the changing room, the shirt, dress or romper does not fit over boobs bigger than an A-cup, or it accentuates the stomach chub you unashamedly have, or it’s too tight around your feminine curvy thighs.
It is almost as if Forever 21’s small, medium, and even large junior sizes are designed for 12-year-olds, instead of for teenagers of all sizes.
For reference, I am 5’3″ and weigh 127 pounds. There have been multiple times when I, a D cup, have browsed through the crop tops and realized that a size medium would fit me like a bra, not a shirt. Though I don’t mind buying a size large or even extra large, it made me question whether my body type was too much, whether my boobs were too big, created too much of an emphasis on my small frame.
The extensive sociology that goes into marketing is remarkable, and make no mistake that this was not an accident. Forever 21, a worldwide renowned chain, hires only the most trained marketing team. So why would they make most of their women’s sizes impossible for a woman to fit into? Could they possibly be attempting to push more customers towards their plus size? But yet, their social media rarely focuses on their plus size clothing.
It is almost as if Forever 21 wants to make teenagers feel obligated to lose weight or risk buying an extra large.
Though Forever 21’s marketing team is designed for teens, their clothing sizes focus on petite figures. This is causing their adult audience to shop elsewhere, but herding pre-teens to their stores. Their new kids line, which debuted in 2010, is also starting to give the stores the same vibe as Justice or Claire’s.
As women, we need stores that do not make our body types feel like “too much.” More brands need to take a page from Dove’s Real Beauty campaign that embraces all body types and encourages women to feel comfortable with their bodies no matter what they look like.
Forever 21 and the vast majority of clothing brands need to expand their lines to fit a diverse range of body types, instead of limiting their sizes to petite women. Curvy girls should not be made to doubt their body types while shopping. Fashion should be an escape to express oneself, while also feeling confident in the clothes you wear. If Forever 21 cannot catch up, the number of teenage consumers they have will continue to dwindle.
