If I had a bit of money to invest and a more business-oriented brain (I'm couldn't be farther away from that mindset), I'd love to start my own clothing line.
My clothing line would cater towards smaller and shorter women and men. Short and small women and men have a very difficult time finding clothes that fit them right. They swim in all of the excess fabric. Petite women are stepping all over their pants bottoms. And god forbid if you're a small size, too -- you've been sized out of most stores. I know that pain -- as a small, petite woman, I've been sized out of many stores by now.
I've been sized out of the Limited, Express, and Old Navy, when they got rid of their XXS size. I remember when their size 1 was way too tiny for me once I got my adolescent growth spurt. That was at the turn of the century, 1999-2000. It's 2007, and not only is their size 1 gigantic in the waist, but their 0 now is, too! Since 2000, I have gained two inches and roughly fifteen pounds. It makes no sense.
And as a small petite woman, the phrases we absolutely HATE to hear are:
"You're so tiny, you should shop in the kids' section!"
First off, thanks for not recognizing us as adults.
Two, kids' clothes are not proportioned for an adult body. I would not be able to fit my 36" hips and bubble butt into any pair of kids' pants. Period.
Three, ever try looking for a suit or a business-casual outfit in the children's department? Guess what? That doesn't exist!
Four, the designs aren't adult, they're juvenile. I'm 21. I do not need to be wearing jeans with glitter and sparkley butterflies on them, a screen-print Bratz tshirt, and my wardrobe shouldn't not look like one I would find in some eight-year-old's closet.
Why are you complaining, I'd love to have your figure!
You'd absolutely hate this figure once you find out that you can't find nice clothes, I'd bet you. I like my body, don't get me wrong. What I hate are the manufacturers who are downsizing sizes on larger clothes, aka "vanity sizing". Ten years ago, I probably wouldn't have had much trouble finding clothes. In 1997, I would have been a size 6. In 2007, I'm between a 0-2, and subzero in some places. It's depressing. What is an enjoyable activity for many women is a burden, a chore, and frustrating for me.
Ew, why do people make subzero sizes it promotes eating disorders!
I could say something really crass here, but I won't. All I'll say is that if I said there shouldn't be clothes for sizes over 20, I'd have legions marching to my apartment with pitchforks and torches in hand.
It doesn't. Again, manufacturers and their vanity sizing. I'd hate to be an ultra-thin ana in this day and age; people just don't make clothes for the thin anymore. I fall into the subzero sizes in many places and I have a healthy BMI of 20-20.6. It's ludicrous.
Besides, if half the people who say that even knew about the origins of eating disorders (oh, and btw, compulsively overeating is also classified as an eating disorder, it ain't just thin in this department). It isn't linked to trying to fit into a certain size, as some of these dipshits believe, it's linked to obsessive-compulsive disorder and is a body dysmorphic issue.
Oh, and god forbid if you're short, small, and MALE. Feeling that you're not "man" enough to fill out clothes, negative, emasculating comments directed at you from both men AND women -- to these guys, it sucks. Oh, and try finding a 26 or a 28 inch waist pants -you're just not going to find them. Finding a size 30 can be a stretch nowadays. Shirts hang off their figures like drapery. This niche has hardly been filled, if it all.
Try telling a guy they need to shop in the kids' department, and I hope you leave with a black eye and a fat lip. Try telling a female that and I wish the same upon you. Remember, short girls often wear stiletto heels, and that's one of the last things you'd like protruding from your gut.
