We’re All Square Pegs Trying to Fit Into a Round Hole
Women’s fashion, mass-produced clothing, and unrealistic body standards
“You have to eat so that your wrists get bigger,” my grandmother Ruth used to tell me when I was a kid.
I’m not sure if anyone else has tried to thicken their bony wrists through food consumption, but trust me: it’s pretty impossible.
What my grandmother was getting at — along with every other relative that’s muttered similar cliched encouragement — was that she worried I was too skinny. It was something a lot of people seemed concerned about when I was growing up (and sometimes still do). People just had to make a comment and often took the liberty to tell me, while I was eating, that I should have another round. A soccer coach even once asked my dad if I had an eating disorder.
In my mind, that coach — and all the commenters over the years — were basically saying my body didn’t look right. To them, I looked unhealthy, even though I was (and still am) completely fine. It’s just how my body is.
Years later, after I’d learned to accept my body and stopped trying to meet others’ expectations, I would start my own fashion business and deal with the issue of body norms again — specifically, the way the fashion industry promotes them through arbitrary sizing.
The history of sizing
The standard sizing system was introduced in the early 1900s to make mass production easier and ready-to-wear clothing more available. It’s been debunked again and again. Because women’s bust and hip measurements vary too much, there can’t be an exact sizing system representative for all. And manufacturers are left to define sizing on their terms, which is why a woman can be a size X in one brand and a size Y in another. Others, as recently pointed out by Project Runway’s Tim Gunn, simply don’t bother to adjust their designs for larger women (if they offer anything for them at all).
To me, the solution is made-to-measure clothing. Historically, clothing made to fit the person wearing it was really only available to those who could afford it or had the skills to make it. But the internet has changed the game. Over the last decade, e-commerce has caused an upswing in demand and an offset in pricing for made-to-measure suits and shirts, making it even more accessible for consumers. And yet, women’s fashion has failed to follow suit (no pun intended).
Why are there countless websites to help people find the right glasses for their face-shape, or to order perfectly-fitted men’s dress shirts, but scant options for ordering a made-to-fit dress?
When I started my own dress company, I originally just sold one design and offered it in standard sizes. Eventually, due to both customers’ requests and the realization that there was an underserved market, I began experimenting with made-to-measure dresses. It’s more of a challenge than just producing standard sized dresses, for sure. But when it works, a woman can have something in her closet that fits her body correctly…no matter her size. My company now only creates made-to-measure clothing that is both affordable and ethically-made.
Why? Because I’ve seen first-hand just how badly the standard sizing system in women’s fashion fails actual consumers. It doesn’t matter how comfortable you are with your body if you can’t find clothing that fits you properly. I’ve had customers who looked great in a dress but chose not to buy it, simply because they were ashamed of the number on the tag. I’ve also had customers frustrated beyond comprehension because their bodies were between two sizes and thus couldn’t find ANY dresses that fit them well.
Every day, women from all walks of life are made self-conscious of their body in some way. Maybe it’s their height, their weight, their bust size, or the proportions of their butt. Whatever it is, someone has decided their flesh suit doesn’t fit “the norm,” what an ideal body type should look like. And “the norm” is ridiculous. Just take a look at how the ideal body type for women has changed throughout history — from the Rubenesque figures of the 1800s to the heroin-chic models of the 1990s — to see how arbitrary societal body standards are.
Mark Twain once said “Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” I think the same can be true for one’s body. My 30-something self is less thrown for a loop by comments on my weight. I have come to terms with the fact that I have no tits and that my collarbone could double as a bottle opener. And that’s what I suspect most women do. We eventually realize “the norm” isn’t real, and we try to come to terms with our bodies and appreciate them.
But even after that, we have to fit our bodies to someone else’s standards — in this case, the designers who decide whether your bust and waist are proportionate enough to look good in their clothing. That’s why I believe it’s time made-to-measure clothing were both available and affordable for all women. It’s time to do things differently. It’s time to stop trying to fit the standard and make the standard fit us.
Maja Svensson is the founder and CEO of ELSA AND ME. Born in Sweden, she now lives and runs her business in Brooklyn. ELSA AND ME just a launched a Kickstarter campaign, which you can support by clicking here and follow along on social media via the hashtag #SizeMeUp.
