Skirting the Issue: So Abercrombie & Fitch has finally woken up and admitted it needs to sell larger sizes. Whoop-de-do - is that it, asks Louisa Peacock, who hails Debenhams and its new size 16 mannequins as a far better way of revolutionsing the high street
A&F has said it will start selling larger sizes of clothing - its current stock only goes up to a UK 14. Photo: Getty Images/ Justin Sullivan
In the same week that Debenhams
launched size 16 mannequins in its stores, Abercrombie & Fitch
said it would introduce
larger size clothing. Both stories hit the headlines. The first is
to be applauded: it's the only mainstream retailer to have taken the plunge.
The second ... is that it? What's taken them so long?
What A&F considers as 'large' currently is a US 10, the equivalent of a
size 14 in the UK. Offering larger sizes presumably means it's going to
offer some size 16 skirts and tops. It's a step forward for a brand which
markets itself based on images of skinny, popular teenagers. And one which
prides itself on hiring only 'beautiful people'.
But it doesn't go far enough. Most retailers already offer size 16 - telling
the world that you'll join the pack too shouldn't really be news, should it?
Every woman knows that what is a size 12 in one shop is a size 14 in another,
a size 16 down the road and, if you're really lucky, a size 10 in another.
Any woman can leave a shopping trip later on today feeling either remarkably
fit and in-shape - "I've got a higher metabolism than I thought; those
extra desserts haven't sratched the surface" - or remarkably fat and
frumpy.
Of course, it's the size 10 we'd rather be able to squeeze into, even if we
know deep down it's more like a size 14-16. We know it's bulls***t. But we
can't help feel delight at the smaller size labels because we've got used to
the playing the silly game of the High Street, which sells us one thing when
pretending to be another.
Debenhams will be using size 16 dummies alongside size 10; appearling to
customers of many shapes and sizes
That's why it's exciting, then, that this week Debenhams launched size 16
mannequins in its stores. Finally a retailer has admitted that it's about
time dummies better represented women's bodies. It's OK to be a size 16.
It's also OK to be a size 10. Everybody is different. Wouldn't it be lovely
for our daughters and daughters' daughters to walk past a shop window and
not feel immense guilt that they don't have the perfect bodies presented to
them in the window?
The dress size of the average British woman has grown from a size 12 to a 16
in just over a decade, but stores typically still use size 10 mannequins to
advertise clothes. Opting for a size 16 mannequin reminds us that we aren't
all perfect, that you don't have to be stick thin to look good and
everybody's different. It makes good business sense.
Some people immediately attacked Debenhams for encouraging a generation of "fat
people" to continue to over-eat and indulge themselves. This argument
is flawed on two counts. One, as I've alluded to, what can be a size 16 in
one shop isn't so in another. Size 16 does not necessarily equal fat. Plus
women can have big boobs or big hips that mean they need larger clothing but
they are still within a healthy BMI and aren't 'fat'.
Two, the alternative is to continue using rubbishly unrealistic mannequins
which make many girls feel awful about themselves and lead to disastrous
problems like anorexia and bulemia. Most people wouldn't condone size zero
on the catwalks; why allow this strive-for-perfection unhealthy image to
plague our shop windows?
We must stop this moralising about 'size 16' and about what weight you should
be. As long as you're healthy, why should it matter? And yes, you can be
healthy at size 16; there are plenty of factors that decide 'health' besides
a silly label on a garment.
And nor should larger sizes equal the end of what is considered 'beauty' in
the fashion world. Last Friday night, I went to St
Alban's first ever Fashion Week show, hosted in the city's
cathedral (and hence had possibly the longest FROW in the UK!)
Strutting their stuff on the catwalk were a range of young and old volunteer
models, small,
large and larger still, all looking fabulous and fiesty on the
floor. The event proved that you don't have to be stick thin to look good
and it was entirely refreshing to see such a range of models represent the
'face of fashion' that night.
Debenhams broke ranks earlier this year and vowed to ditch airbrushed models.
Debenhams has realised the appeal of this. But as my colleague Emma
Barnett pointed out earlier this week, Topshop and Miss Selfridge
still generally use size 10 mannequins, while Dorothy Perkins and Wallis opt
for size 10-12.
It makes business sense for retailers to follow Debenhams' lead. After all, if
they're interested in upping their sales, this is (to use the jargon that
company directors would) a quick win.
As for A&F? It seems it's strategy for shifting clothes is behind most.
Its falling sales has forced it to rethink. May it do so fast, or lose out
on even more business.
