“I would like to take this opportunity, gentlemen stylists, to remind you of the existence of an element that you have undoubtedly omitted, which is called the Stomach. It is located between the breasts and the pelvis. It has a digestive or respiratory function. So if you could incorporate them into your creations next time. I know it will distort your sketches, but think about it, it's a vital function. Brief "
Excerpt from Florence Foresti's speech at the 2020 Césars.
So true. And the reflection of a reality that goes well beyond the subject of large sizes.
In France, the fashion industry considers large size to be anything larger than 42. This is a real social issue, and I will address it in a future article.
Here, I especially want to finally highlight the fact that, the majority of the time, fashion does not take into account a woman's curves, regardless of her size. As if a woman were a flat, straight highway. One of my friends, size 36, recently told me she had trouble finding well-cut pants. The height. Let her say that to me, who fluctuates between a 44 and a 48! His problem " ? She has a rounded butt! So either she takes a 36 which closes at the waist, at the risk of exploding the back seams. Either she takes a 38 which she has to have the size altered. I advised him to switch to another brand and another cut/model but the problem remains.
So, ok! You will tell me that not all women necessarily have ultra plump buttocks. It is a fact that we are all different and to add a layer of complexity, we also evolve during our own lives. It is therefore difficult to create stable categories, and even categories at all. There are daughters close to Jane Birkin and others close to Monica Bellucci. But let's be fair, a woman generally has curves, at least more than a man.
Another friend of mine, a lawyer, a profession where the dress often makes the monk, told me that she had difficulty finding a shirt whose buttons did not explode in front of her opulent chest. The reason ? Buttons sewn too close to the edge, and fewer buttons than needed so they are spaced further apart. Or how to save money on buttons and fabric yardage.
To get back to the stomach. This dig from Foresti made the room laugh, because it reminded us that the actresses certainly had to starve 15 days before the ceremony to fit into their outfits.
Beyond this anecdote, you should know that as soon as you go size 42, you have exponential consequences.
Because there are plenty of missteps made by the fashion industry.
Ok, are we tight in the stomach? you can take a size larger. Provided it exists. Are there any? Great, but then it's the arms that are too wide. Or the cut no longer looks like anything. Well-fitting, this notion of clothing fitting well and the person being comfortable in the room, no longer fits well at all. Because it's not enough just to add centimeters to a pattern when you enlarge the size. You have to adapt the pattern, modify the curves.
Mathilde, my dear friend and partner in the Atelier 312 adventure, said to me, one day when I was ecstatic in front of her examining and retouching a pattern: “it’s easy, fashion is a story of volume, it’s math” (this math story obsesses me, I already talked about it in this article ). So you have to believe that it's not easy for everyone, because I won't forget that it's easier to draw a line than a harmonious curve.
You must be able to breathe in your clothing, be able to move with complete confidence, but not only that. You should also feel that the piece you are wearing fits as it should. That it was made for us. So you will tell me that here I am talking about tailor-made. Even if it is true that nothing can be more accurate than tailor-made, ready-to-wear now has tools, technologies and knowledge of the body and the population, making it possible to adapt its proposals to women's bodies.
It is so true that it is up to the clothing to adapt to the woman and not the other way around . The woman must be able to forget the clothing she is wearing so that she no longer has to think about it and can thus think of something else. Clothing as an instrument of one's freedom.
It's ultimately just a story of curves. Women's curves.
Sabine,
Founder of Atelier 312 Paris
Clean women's fashion from 42 to 52 to follow on Instagram and Facebook
