The Forgotten Woman

As I read a recent Los Angeles Times piece about how fashionable, plus-size clothing is still difficult to find even in 2009, I remembered a conversation I had with a relative over the weekend. The relative, who wears about a size 16, was complaining about how Victoria's Secret doesn't have queen-sized clothing. "Plus-sized women would love to walk through the mall carrying a Victoria's Secret shopping bag," she told me. I felt bad for her. For some reason, the omniprescent lingerie chain has stubbornly refused to carry what's considered plus-sized lingerie. It's strange when you consider that the average American woman wears a size 14.

"Department stores typically offer tiny sections with only 20 or so brands that fit sizes 14 and up -- compared with the 900-plus brands they carry in their regular women's wear departments. That leaves style-loving full-figured women with a clutch of plus-size chains including Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, Avenue and Torrid. Or big-box stores such as Target, Kohl's and Wal-Mart, the No. 1 seller of plus-size apparel in the country -- though most of its selection consists of basic, often matronly items. Beyond this, plus-size clothing is largely relegated to the Internet, where customers who already have a complicated relationship with clothes are unable to see, touch or try on merchandise. It often seems that it's easier to find and buy stylish clothes for Chihuahuas than for roughly half the country's female population."

You'd think that given the dire straits of the retail industry, merchandisers would have figured this out by now. Or maybe many have and as the Times piece points out, just refuse to accept the fact that the average American woman isn't built like a super-skinny Victoria's Secret model.