projects. While there is always room
for growth, there are some great
resources currently available.”
Of course, if plus-size women were
to wait around for mainstream fashion
to give us what we want, we would
not be having this conversation today.
Eleven years ago, Full Figured Fashion
Week (FFFW) arrived in New York
City. Created as a platform to celebrate
and nurture the plus community and
its fashion designers, FFFW paved the
way for new brands, collections and
influencers. FFFW also offered an inno-
vative event blueprint that inspired oth-
ers, including TCFStyle Expo, District of
Curves, Lifestyled Honors, The Curvy
Con and the newest addition, the Full
Figured Industry Awards.
Veteran plus-size content creators
and bloggers leveraged their social
media platforms to build their own
empires. Chante Burkett of the blog
Everything Curvy and Chic now
owns One Curvy Boutique, her own
brick-and-mortar plus-size shop in
Ocala, Florida. Personal style blogger
Kelly Augustine has launched her
own online store, August Raye.
Designer Elann Zelie started off as a
blogger but now runs the L.A.-based
bohemian luxe plus-size brand Zelie
For She. Plus-size model turned
business owner Grisel Paula launched
Rebdolls, with sizes up through a 5x.
Influencer Francie Maupin has the
Diva Kurves Collection and produces
an annual pool party.
As Allison Mcgevena, a televi-
sion personality and former plus-size
model, observes: “The general fashion
industry still has a great deal of catch-
ing up to do when it comes to putting
out trendy, size-inclusive collections,
but if plus-size women have proven
anything, it is that we are not willing
to settle.”
Indie Plus-Size Designers Are
Taking the Lead
Perhaps the most interesting recent
development is the role of indie plus-
BY THE
NUMBERS16 to 18
IS THE SIZE
OF THE
AVERAGE
AMERICAN WOMAN$24
billion
IS SPENT ON
PLUS-SIZE
FASHIONS
ANNUALLY168.5
pounds
IS THE WEIGHT
OF THE AVERAGE
AMERICAN
WOMANsize designers, who don’t hesitate to
innovate and push their collections to
the edge.
While fast fashion brands and
stores like Zara and H&M have
given us a range of options, what
is often missing from plus-size
collections are the high-fashion
and statement pieces—and this
is where the indie designers have
stepped in to fill the void.
“The industry once lacked in
offering collections with better
fabrications and couture details
presented with high-level creative
direction and sophistication,”
explains Moses. But this is no lon-
ger the case, especially in today’s
fashion climate, which has allowed
more of us to take the leap intoentrepreneurship. Some of the most
creative work is being done in the
contemporary space, as plus-
size fashion becomes as diverse
and segmented as mainstream
fashion lines.
Ultimately, the plus-size fashion
industry really is about options and
access. As the newer brands and
traditional ones like Ashley Stewart
and Lane Bryant engage with the
plus-size consumer, technology and
social media are constantly making
room for more innovators to enter
the arena. So where does this leave
us? As with any evolution, one must
adapt or get left behind. Fashion
executives are finally noticing that
the plus-size community deserves
more than what has tradition-
ally been offered. In a $21 billion
market where sales potential has
not been fully actualized, the ball
is in the retailers’ court. Yet even
now, with brand launches and new
collaborations, traditional retail-
ers and brands have yet to fully
understand the needs and desires
of the plus-size community. And so
entrepreneurs will continue to cre-
ate their own plus-size resources,
tapping into the huge potential
market through their indie clothing
lines, magazines, blogs, events and
boutiques. As Mariah Chase, CEO
of Eloquii, sums up: “While there’s
been exciting growth over the past
few years, we see the current size-
14-plus industry continuing to grow
based on the fact that the custom-
er’s options, both online and offline,
are still significantly underserved.
When you unpack population and
demographic statistics and com-
pare those with the current mar-
ket size in dollars, we’ve still got a
significant gap to close.”Marie Denee, creator of the digital
platform the Curvy Fashionista, is a
respected voice in the plus-size
fashion arena.ESSENCE.COM I 83 I SEPTEMBER 2019