Dear Fashion Designers

Dear Fashion Designers,
I am your average client. I am a woman in my middle twenties who has self image issues and wants clothing to flatter the parts I like and hide the parts I don't. I am not your 5'10" 100lbs girl who has no more hips than she does doctorates or your 5'4" 130 lbs girl with boobs bigger than her hips, that you apparently design all of your clothing for. I am pear shaped, I have a relatively standard waist and rather large hips and ass.

 


I do not dislike my hips or ass in the least bit, in fact, they are one of my favorite physical aspects. BUT, you and your design skills make me loathe them every time I try to buy clothing. From dresses, to skirts, to jeans, and especially shorts, my hips and butt eliminate me from wearing the cutest of items. I love your flowy little skirts that were inspired by the 70s, but why can you only create them in the micro, micro minis that are of a reasonable length in the front, but do not cover my panties in the back, or the ankle length skirts that because of my height only reach the bottom of my calf?

I love the look of pencil skirts, but unless I buy 2 sizes or more bigger than I really need and have someone basically remake it for me, I cannot wear them. You design for women without hips, without a butt, truly without curves. I HAVE CURVES (at least to my lower body). Even if I wear Spanx, I cannot reduce enough of that tush to wear that classic skirt. Do I even want to reduce the size of my derriere?  Quite honestly no. I love that part of my body that screams, "I am a woman, here are my curve! If you can't handle it, walk away!" Especially since due to my lack of a chest, I have always felt that I had a very boyish figure. I've even been called a "9 year old boy" while we were overseas in 2009, repeatedly. Did this bother me? No, for 2 reasons, the person who initially said it was joking and I knew he was joking, but mostly because in my uniforms (thankfully) there was so much bulk material that any shape was camouflaged. I didn't want them to notice me, I would rather be a little boy to them, but I'm not in the military anymore and damnit I want to be able to dress like a woman!

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, I enjoy my little butt, and I'm sure when the time comes for me to have my children, I will appreciate my wide hips even more than I already do. But right now, simply because of clothing designers, I am frustrated with my shape. I want to feel pretty in clothing and not have to buy everything in the largest size possible and have it remade. I tried on the cutest dress today at Kohls, which I cannot find on their website, but they had only a medium and extra large. I'm sure a large would've fit nearly perfectly since the medium fit my top half, and the extra large fit my hips.

Also, why are all shirts so low cut? I am not well endowed by anyone's standard when it comes to a chest but I do like shirts with an interesting neckline, rather than tee shirt style necks. But at the same time, I don't want to have to pull my shirt up every 5 minutes because my bra is showing- yesterday is a perfect example because that's what I did ALL DAY, and I had an undershirt on as well. I wear undershirts every day now, unless I'm wearing a tee shirt. I shouldn't have to, but I do because all of the shirts that are large enough for my arms- which are not fat by any means, and long enough to cover the tops of my pants, have such deep necks that you could see my entire bra, or are such a thin material that you can tell exactly what shapes and colors are on my bra (including and bow or design in the center of the chest piece).
Please, please, please! Clothing designers! Please make clothing that fits the average woman!! I do not think that my body type is so entirely different than a lot of other women. 33, 31, 41.5- besides maybe a larger chest, I think I'm pretty normal. Design things for my body type!!