Lifestyles of the Thick and Famous

If I were to walk the red carpet I would wear Alexander McQueen with gold accents throughout on black fabric. It would be a dream. Literally and figuratively. I don’t believe designers would either be able to or want to loan me a garment to wear on the runway unless I was a size four or smaller. So asking for a size 16 gown...probably out of the question.

To those who feel that money can buy them anything, especially something as materialistic as a gown for the red carpet, be prepared to be salty. No matter how famous someone is in the entertainment industry there are not many designers willing to supply them with a dress to wear to their up and coming fabulous red carpet event. For some reason, they’re just not here for it.

Celebrities such as Dascha Polanco (Orange is the New Black), Melissa McCarthy (Ghostbusters), and Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World) are being told no when it comes to wearing designer clothes at red carpet events. Just when you thought it was only difficult for us average curvy women to find a good outfit for a date night. I highly doubt that Melissa McCarthy intends to wear a Forever 21 dress to the Oscars.

My question more than anything is why? Why are designers so reluctant to dress plus size celebrities on the red carpet? As a matter of fact not only plus size, but anything larger than a size four. I thought the promotion of “nothing tastes better than skinny feels” and the heroin chic body type popular in the 90’s were things of the past.

It all begins early. Design schools training their students to focus on making garments on body forms that are a size six. If they want to make anything larger they have to either request to or buy the larger form themselves. I had the opportunity to speak with fashion design student Gerrika Lewis at the Academy of Art University. She herself would not be considered plus size, but she still has a desire to design clothing for the plus size market. “They don’t teach you how to even understand a plus size woman’s body. They teach you how to understand the perfect size six (and below)” Gerrika relays in discussing how she feels plus-size fashion is viewed by the fashion world at large.

I get it. It’s easy to not understand something when you’re not living in it. However, isn’t the fashion industry supposed to be full of those who want to be the first to do something? The first to find that next IT thing. Shouldn’t designers be fighting over who's going to be the first to clothe top plus size model Ashley Graham on her next red carpet event?

According to Travis M. Andrews in an article for the Washington post that discusses the constant refusal that curvy celebrities keep getting in regards to being dressed for fashion events, “All of these actresses (Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones, and Christina Hendricks) found designers to create stunning dresses for them, but as The Washington Post noted in 2014, “it takes years and years of success” in Hollywood before designers are willing to accommodate them.” So there’s a possible excuse. You’re not only overweight, but you’re also not famous enough for me to take time out of my schedule to design a dress that will fit you. Maybe some of these curvy actresses should win a couple of Oscars and then maybe they’ll be worthy enough to be clothed like the size four celebrities who haven’t even been nominated.

The current average size of a woman in the United States is 16. The designers who start the trends for those women are designing for women who are a size four. When the question of why a certain store doesn’t sell plus size clothing is presented by non-celebrity curvy women, the answer provided is that it costs too much. It would require more than just adding a few more inches of fabric to the garment. Proportion sizes change, production time, etc. So what’s the excuse for designers not making one additional garment? Just one. One for a red carpet event that would more so benefit the designer than the celebrity wearing the gown. One for a celebrity who has won Oscars and earned her right to be in the spotlight. What is the excuse now?

Christian Siriano, who is an advocate for making clothes for the curvier woman, has recently been the main one to design red carpet gowns for celebrities who are refused by other designers. While receiving congratulations for working with Leslie Jones (Ghostbusters) on her dress for the red carpet when no one else would, he tweeted the following words of wisdom in response.

“It shouldn’t be exceptional to work with brilliant people just because they’re not sample size. Congrats aren’t in order, a change is.” - Christian Siriano

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