Why Does the Fashion Industry Refuse to Listen to Women?
Stop designing for trends and design for our bodies.
Recently, I needed a dress for a party. I don't usually buy fast fashion, but with clothing prices rising and my budget dropping, I caved. I ordered a red velvet swing dress from the retailer Free People.
But when the "dress" arrived, it didn't move with my body. It exposed my body. The dress was really a shirt that hardly covered my butt. I looked like a child who had raided my mother's closet.
Clothing can be hemmed. My height cannot.
This is just one way the fashion industry has been infuriating me lately. Women keep telling fashion designers what they want — i.e., clothes that fit our bodies — but they refuse to listen.
The fashion industry never caters to women's bodies. It caters to beauty trends.
Throughout history, form has superseded function. When the hourglass shape was trending, women endured bone-crushing corsets. When big butts were in, women wore bustles that made it impossible to sit. When wide hips were coveted, panniers and hoop skirts forced women to shimmy sideways through doors.
