I laugh at this every time they send us a catalog. I can't bring myself to buy any clothes because I have no idea how they're going to fit!

That's hilarious, especially the weird tartany thing second from bottom :)

One of my biggest pet peeves! I wonder if it's a subliminal message thing, like 'hey plus size women, if you lose weight, you'd look like this!'
At least Lane Bryant features plus-sized models!

my guess is that they think if they put big clothes on little models, they will somehow fool viewers into believing that the models are, if not plus-sized, at least not as skinny as "regular" models.

I thought they did this because plus-size women who try and buy clothes from normal shops sometimes find themselves perpetually wearing things which are too tight, so the loose-fit look is appealing (and it's easier to imagine that something loose-fit will disguise your body, as plus-size women are taught to do).

I think it's absurd, and poor marketing. I agree with Sarah TX that knowing how something will fit is of major importance. When I'm doing online shopping, the place that uses plus size models is more likely to get my money even if I'm paying more.

Also, the big clothes on skinny models thing... well, I see is supporting this idea that fat women ought to wear loose and/or baggy clothing so that no one can see their form. I'm still experimenting with style, but it took me forever to realize that certain form-fitting cuts are incredibly sexy.

"this skinny woman looks very nice, if only her clothes would fit better! as i am bigger than the model the clothes shall have a better fit on me, therefore i will look even better than the model while wearing the clothes!"

I actually thought the clothes were made to be that way and now I feel very very stupid. XD

Extremely poor marketing on their part. I do occasoinally shop from their website which is even worse. Stick-thin women swimming in "big shirts". I don't get the reasoning. I know what clothing looks like on a thin woman, what I, as a customer, really want to know is how the clothing will look on ME.

I and a couple others have emailed Lane Bryant to ask why they don't use bigger models. I guess they do use "plus size" models, but even plus size models aren't actually as big as the women who wear the clothes in real life. Their answer was that their clothes don't sell as well if they use women who are actually plus size as models. I don't get it. Maybe some fat women don't want to be reminded that they are buying fat lady clothes? Torrid seems to do just fine using plus-sized women as models, who though they are admittedly on the thinner end of plus size, are big enough to properly model the clothes.

Those women are plus sized models. Can't you tell by their protruding collar bones and sharp cheek bones?

Wtf? That's just bizarre looking.

This site, by contrast, is quite good about using models in a range of sizes: http://www.makingitbig.com/models

These are plus size models. That is the real problem - these clothes, which are plus size, do not come in small enough sizes to fit plus size models. Depending on the market, plus size models start at a Misses size 8.

It seems obvious to me that they're marketing the idea that inside these clothes, you'll look skinny. E.g. You'll show "the woman within". Both that you'll look skinny within the clothes, and also that you'll display the (skinny) woman within your fat body.

Penningtons (I think just a canadian store?) also advertises using women that fit the clothes. I prefer shopping their, or at Torrid, when I can.

I find it interesting how the ones that do use plus-size models have obviously tried excruciatingly hard to make those women look thinner than they are.

I am disturbed by the name of the store. Does it mean "there's a woman there inside that fat person"? How rude. I suspect that the small women in big clothes thing is intended to give the same message?

I hope that's not the "Woman Within" me! I'd be seriously distressed if I had to be a un-stylish, garishly patterned, tent-wearing, wanna-be thin person. Ewww.

I've noticed a similar trend in large cup bra advertising. Ranges that go up the largest cup sizes available commercially anywhere in the world (United Kingdom JJ-K) modelled by women who look like they wear maybe a D cup. Granted, the bras appear to fit, unlike the clothes in this post, but since at that sort of range we're talking probable tripling or quadrupling of volume, I usually have little idea beyond colour and extent of lacyness what a bra is actually going to look like until I receive it -- I live in a rural region of Australia, so I do all my bra shopping online.

This always bugs me.
As a plus size woman I can't stand it when plus size clothes are modeled by small women.
I go to a website wanting to know how someone with MY body type looks in the clothes.
Good websites like torrid.com have larger women modeling the clothes, allowing their target market to properly appreciate the style.

Face it, if women saw how they really looked in the clothes, they would not buy the new clothes. That is why the skinny models. And I am plus sized. Women Within is for the larger plus size woman, but their sizes are wonky. Everything I ordered for them seems like a size or two larger than when I buy at the store. Perhaps making women feel smaller?

I've see it way too many times so I decided to contact the company via telephone and a representative said that their target audience prefers to see smaller women. Of course I asked who their target audience was but they kept giving me the same answer. I suspect they were reading from a card.

We have to ask who would specifically buy their clothing? Which persons wold find comfort in seeing a smaller women in plus size clothing. Possibly women that have serious disdain for their body. The woman that sees that if I wear this clothing maybe..just maybe if it hides how skinny that twig is wearing the blouse I too will be hidden underneath.

That company isn't selling clothing but some sort of ideal that if you wear our clothing people will see the skinny girl within that we know you wish to be. We know how much you spend on diets so we are giving you a break on clothing. here..try this poncho..hide the shame and wipe your tears on our 100% clothing fabric. There now don't you feel better? Hide that big butt because you're not want anybody wants especially yourself.

That's what they are selling folks. Shallow Hal Couture. 100% effective on the tired and unloved surrounded by shallow idiots. Why else would it be a mail order catalog and not a store? order in shame within the comfort of your own home.

If one just looked at the photos -- as I originally did -- one might have thought that the baggy look was coming back into fashion for women. I've been thinking about this recently, since, as a man, this is the expected form of casual wear. In the US, if you are a man and are wearing (while in a casual situation) form-fitting or figure-hugging clothes, then you would be thought of as somehow gay. Wearing clothes one size too large isn't merely allowable for men, but it has become expected.

Even the shape of a "unisex" (aka "men's") t-shirt is that of a block, which is great if you are shaped like a block and far from anything approaching the idea of form-fitting. True, there are men who wear t-shirts that approach form-fitting, but this is due more to the shirt being too small, rather than the design of the shirt.

Anyway, going back, when I looked to the pictures, I thought, okay, grunge stylings (if not color) is coming back. Oops.

BIG pet peeve! The biggest plus size model agency in Australia (http://www.bellamodels.com.au/faqs.html) has these guidelines if you want to model for them:
* Between 5'8" and 6'0"
* A size 12 to 18
* Healthy clean, skin, hair and teeth
* Age. 16 to 32 years
* Proportionate as a general rule your waist should be around ten inches smaller than your hips, however there are exceptions to every rule!

Australian sizing is 2 sizes smaller than US, so the biggest model they'll take is a size 14 US. Pathetic.

I loathe Woman Within. First there's the name: what is it supposed to imply? "Within you there is a beautiful thin woman, these clothes are for her and not for the ugly fatty on the outside"? Blah. Secondly, they send their catalog to me, once a week, although I wouldn't buy from them to save my life, and although I've repeatedly called and emailed them asking them to stop.

Thirdly, the sizing. Why do they start at a 12 (and, from the measurements, it's the same as a standard 12)? Size 12 women don't need to buy plus size clothes. I can't imagine why they would want to buy WW's frumpy muumuus when they can shop anywhere.
Finally, the models - maybe they are size 12 and six feet tall - I suppose it's possible, at 5'9" I looked skinny as a size 12 - but the clothes appear to be four sizes too big. I'm not sure what the justification for that is, but all the options I can imagine are offensive: maybe the clothes really do run four sizes big, on the assumption that either fat women want to hide in tents or aren't honest about their sizes? This is believable - I know Lane Bryant, for one, runs about a size bigger than the charts would suggest, or else has far more "ease" than regular clothing. Maybe they assume customers will be deceived into thinking "wow, that shirt is really *flattering*, it makes the model look so thin"? Even if they offered something I would consider wearing, I wouldn't buy from a company that seems to have such a condescending attitude toward me. Even at a size 18, I have other options, thank maud.

I would love to give all my money to Junonia, made in USA thank you, and their shirts are far more comfortable, but I can't afford to live in it all the time. When I've looked at Torrid, they don't go big enough and I couldn't wear most of their stuff to work anyway. Lane Bryant decided to go upscale and more expensive and *smaller*, and before that, much of their stuff in the store local to me was absurd ugly polyester I'm allergic to. I have to fight to get stuff from The Avenue, most of it is too small. When I order pants and shirts from Woman Within, they move okay, they fit me, and they don't look like I've wrapped myself in jeans-colored cling wrap. Which is the trend around here for all sizes of women, and really doesn't work for me when sitting at a computer all day long. Aside from this brand, Catherine's online and a few others are what I'm left with. Possibly your really big sisters buy from this site as that's what's available for them?

I'm a little late to this party, but I actually emailed OneStopPlus.com about this issue last October. Their response was very interesting. Apparently, we won't buy the clothes if we see what they'd actually look like on someone our side.

Here's what I said:

I am new to OneStopPlus. I am happy with most of the clothes I ordered recently, but I was annoyed with the email I opened this morning ("Guess what? You can have it all"). Why haven't you used a plus-sized model? It's upsetting enough to browse pictures of small women wearing clothes on your website, just trying to IMAGINE how they might look on a woman like me (size 22). But I know that the products come from many different websites and you don't necessarily have control over their models. But for the email, you have chosen ONE model to represent your line, and she's not plus-sized. You're sending a very negative message to your customers. In spite of the title of the email, we cannot have what we see in the picture. I teach college classes so I need a professional wardrobe, and the few options afforded to plus-sized shoppers make shopping a crapshoot--something that fits, looks nice, and fits my style is rare. I wish I could take my business elsewhere, but I don't have much of a choice. Maybe I will as the country continues to get fatter and more companies choose to enter the plus-sized clothing market. I just hope you will show your customers some respect by employing models that look like us.

And here's what they said:

We appreciate your letter expressing your feelings on the models we use in our catalogs. We do understand and we want you to know your complaint is not unique. The comments we have received in the past two years have caused us to take a second look at the way our catalogs are presented. We are moving in the direction of more mature and fuller figured models, however, we are sure we are not where you want us to be, and we may never get there. Please let us explain. We run tests selling the same item displayed on our average sized model and on a larger size model. We assign a particular code to each, and every sale is tabulated. In every case the final results show that the merchandise displayed on the larger model sells about 50% less than the same merchandise displayed on the regular sized catalog models. As an organization, we appear to have a serious dilemma. Our customers ask for fuller figured models, yet when we use them, these same customers don't respond as well to the fuller figured models. As a result, our business is left with no choice. We are interested in keeping the line of communication open with you and with customers like you. While we are sure this letter has not given you the answers you wanted, perhaps it has made you a bit more aware of the issues that we are dealing with. We welcome any further comments you may have. We look forward to serving you in the near future and apologize for any inconvenience we may have caused.

i wrote to them long ago about the same thing and got the very same response. i agree that larger sized models would make it easier to try and visualize what the item would look like on ourselves...however... lets face it.... we don't choose clothes strictly by color... but whether it fits "and makes us look slimmer". When we see the outfits on large women, we think "...gosh I don't want to look fat in that outfit...and she looks fat!" That's because she IS fat! Personally, looking in the mirror is not my favorite pasttime. I am 5'2" and wear a 44ddd and size 24 almost everything else. Women's petites don't fit through my inseam correctly... hence all my pants need hemmed. when i look in the mirror , i don't think i look too bad most of the time...but i know that in reality... most people look at me and think " obese". Even you. And you might be the same size as me! Until people in general can realize that being fat isn't a "choice", just like being thin isn't either for most, and accept that we are all unique individuals created by God... short, tall, fat, thin, dark, light, etc...(challenge a thin person to gain 50 lbs vs a fat person losing the same amount and see what happens)..... the fashion industry will continue to create "crappy" clothes for "fat" people -- because after all... we need clothes of some type... Lord knows we can't go out naked! people might go blind!!!....(LOL)... but clothes will continue to cater to the "average" sized person. Personally ...i hate clothes shopping. I'm short and have a big butt. pants never fit me right. they swoop down in the back and stick out. i finally found jeans that fit properly at fashion bug of all places! ...in the section of jeans that are color coded based on shape ... and i bought several pair (though they were of course limited to two denim shades). i will be turning 50 this year and have finally decided that my clothing choices are my own. i really don't care what other people think about it. im not going for the "thin" look anymore. take me as i am!!! and i am on a quest to find comfortable clothing that fits me. i'll let you know if i ever succeed. in the meantime, i'm stuck with a few good fitting items and some "crappy" clothes... *sigh*

My thing is this... The name, as others have mentioned, is just insulting. "Woman Within" like we're not women because we're fat. Like we have skinny women begging to get out. Bah. BAH, I SAY! I'm only one woman and she's a size 20-24 (depending on the clothes).

A few years ago, I bought a girdle to wear with a dress my mother made me. Now, I can't get off of them. (I have been doing better with not wearing them though. I do not want to wear them as I live in California, they're thick, hot, and squeeze the dickens out of me.) It's hard because I have a long torso with a large tummy and small breasts. Shirts tend to not cover my tummy all the way if I raise my arms up or the jiggle of my tummy pulls shirts up. It... sucks. Having small breasts (which is not what most people think of when they think of fat women), also doesn't help because shirts tend to be either well fitting in the chest and tight on my tummy or huge on my chest and well fitting on my tummy.

And, I have some crazy short legs. Yeah. I have this fabulously funny body that equals an extremely adorable young woman, but makes for very difficult shopping trips.

It's confusing because Evans - a UK brand for plus size DOES use plus size models. I can't find anything to link to but I've seen the ads lots and always been pleased about that. Bravissimo which sells larger than 'average' bras uses slim-ish models but they are of the right size for the bras being sold as far as I can tell...

WW drives me nuts. I've spent a lot of time looking at Evan's, Asos, Pennington's, and Additionelle... The clothes look far more fashionable, and the models look a bit more "fat" than the American companies use. I've never ordered anything though, because I am terrified of getting an ill-fitting item and having to wait and wait and pay exorbitant fees for international shipping.

Fashion Bug has gotten so much better about sizing and style in the past few years, however their models could use a bit more fleshiness. Lane Bryant is too expensive. Old Navy has lovely clothing and acceptable prices, but the sizing is inconsistent. Torrid tends to be too 'edgy'.

We can't really win, no matter what, can we? I get especially frustrated when shopping because I am only 5 feet tall, a size 24 or 26, and carrying around a 42H set of breasts (talk about impossible to find a bra to flatter under thin strapped or strapless tops/dresses!). I live in a constant rotation of 3 pairs of jeans, 2 t-shirts, 3 sweaters, and 2 dresses because I hate shopping that much.

In my opinion, it really depends on the type of body you are. Choose the most comfortable and fashionable clothing for yourself.

I have bought from both plus size stores and catalogs and what I hated was that even if you bought the same item in the same size, often they were two different garments. One would have different, smaller or shorter sleeves and sometimes one garment would be just too small compared to the other even in the same color and fabric. If you got the same garment in different color or fabric the difference was even more evident. I like to buy things in multiples when I find something I like or need but I have stopped buying altogether because of these problems. And don't get me started on how they make women's socks!!!

Another site marketing fashion for plus size women that uses plus size models is http://www.kiyonna.com. They design contempory, stylish clothes best suited for gals in their 20's to 40's.

Even worse is the current catalog (WW30331), which features their newest Ellos fashions. The photographs are obviously not taken of plus size models. One blatant example is of the jeans on page 26. There is absolutely, positively no way that anyone who wears a plus size will look like that. Rather than looking like me (size 18W), it looks like my daughter - who is 5'9" and wears a size 5 - 7. Shame on them.

My mom used to get these catalogs years ago and I used to laugh at them because it was just so ridiculous. The clothes hang on them so that no matter what it is, it looks like a muumuu. I would never consider buying from them. Now I was just looking for a raincoat for myself and this is one of the sites that came up, and I can see that nothing has changed. Putting these women in plus sized clothing that hangs so unflatteringly is insulting, it says to me that even the sellers of plus sized clothing don't consider plus size women attractive enough to model what they are selling. Still not shopping with them!

Howdy,Admin
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Howdy,Admin
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They started using plus size models and I started buying from them. Now they have gone back to the same old thin models. Nope.