Finally! Clothes cut to fit the great British body

FOR years now, a paradox has existed in fashion. While the average British woman is a size 16, only 20 per cent of the womenswear market was accounted for by plus- size clothing, (most commonly taken to mean a size 16 and above). In other words, women with curves weren’t buying clothes.

Retail bosses tried various tactics to persuade these women to open their purses: more sizes, larger sizes, even dropping the term ‘plus size’ in case it caused offence.

One enterprising sportswear brand, Manifesta, went as far as to dispense with numerical size indicators entirely — replacing them with flower names which, it felt, sounded less judgmental.

trouble was, in order to work out whether you wanted your yoga kit in a ‘Daisy’ or a ‘Dahlia’ meant taking body measurements. It all came back to numbers in the end.

then came the realisation that plus-size women didn’t necessarily care so much about what you called the clothes, or indeed the sizes. What they really cared about were the designs and, frankly, most of them weren’t great.

the trouble lay in the fact that bigger sizes were simply scaled up versions of a size 10. So, a flower print, for example, wouldn’t be adjusted to take into account the extra fabric in the garment.

this meant a size 18 woman would find herself sporting many more blooms than her size 10 sister, and therefore in more danger of looking like an armchair.

POCKETS

were another difficult area. Lovely on the back of a size 10 jean. Lost on the back of the size 18 version.

Jewellery, too, was problematic. how and where a pendant falls depends very much on the topography of the woman beneath it. What works across a 34B chest won’t look so great on a 38FF.

It’s a design challenge that M&S has tried to address with its new Curve range, launched earlier this year.

‘Curve’, incidentally, seems to have replaced ‘plus size’ as the fashion industry descriptor of choice for women bigger than a size 16.

the new M&S range is designed specifically for women between sizes 18 and 32 and is displayed on size 20 mannequins.

In addition to paying attention to the aforementioned prints and detailing, the M&S design team thought hard about fit, putting hidden stretch jersey inserts in the sleeves of one design to ensure it looks properly tailored while being comfortable.

Sleeves, in fact, are a big gripe for larger women, who say that simply scaling them up from a size 10 doesn’t take into account how women carry weight. What you want is more give in the upper arm without finding yourself with acres of superfluous fabric flapping around your wrists.

River Island, too, was praised by its customers when the store launched a plus- size collection, featuring a good range of tailored jackets which fitted well both in the sleeves and across the bust.

at last, it seemed, designers were realising that just because you’re a size 18 doesn’t mean you want to spend the rest of your life swathed in wraps and ponchos.

Sadly, however, much of the British high Street is still playing catch-up.

Larger sizes are still frequently hidden at the back of rails like an after-thought. and that’s if they’re there at all.

When we trawled London stores for sizes 18+ we found that, although they might have a good plus- size selection online, this often didn’t translate to stock in the shop.

It’s hardly surprising, then, that some very good online retailers are now catering to plus-size fashion lovers. aSOS Curve (with most designs available in sizes 16 to 30) is excellent, covering almost all bases including nightwear, lingerie, belts, jewellery and swimwear.

Meanwhile, elvi.co.uk is gaining a reputation for chic designs which look far more expensive than they are and mostly go up to a size 28.

those with more expensive tastes should head straight to new site 11honore.com.

Launched last year by two american fashion veterans, it offers capsule collections from top designers including Michael Kors, Marchesa and Zac Posen in sizes 14-24 (and yes, they ship to the UK).

Significantly the founders

approached the designers direct to produce their exact designs to the highest quality possible, with the same perfect fit.

navabi.co.uk, meanwhile, offers more midrange designers, including lingerie by curvy supermodel Ashley Graham, in addition to her collection for italian label Marina rinaldi. You’ll also find pieces from Phase eight’s plus-size sister label Studio 8.

if you’re looking to splash out on occasionwear then designer Anna Scholz has a beautiful range of dresses available in sizes 16-28 at annascholz.com.

Back on the high Street and some retailers have caught on to the fact that, with more considerate design, there’s a lucrative plussize market waiting to be tapped.

Forever 21 may be a bit teen-y (distressed denim high-rise shorts? Maybe not), but there are also some pretty maxi dresses and wrap tops. Violeta by Mango is great, meanwhile, for a casual weekend wardrobe.

the next hurdle is getting stores who are doing plus size well to show it off properly. imagine a high Street where size 16 mannequins were the rule, not the exception. With Ashley Graham now one of the top ten highest-paid models in the world, according to Forbes, that surely isn’t such a wild idea.