Here’s The Skinny On Big, Beautiful Fashions
by carnaval on Mar.07, 2010, under Fashion Shoes
How many times have we all been tempted to rip out the pictures of ultrathin models from fashion magazine? Yet more than half the women in America wear plus-size clothes size 14 or larger. Still, it took a family crisis for us to realize how to love the bodies we were born with.
The thing is, our family’s physical heritage tends to run large. We’re descended from sturdy peasant farmer stock – tall men with broad shoulders and tall women with big hips. This is great when you’re plowing fields and having lots of babies to be farm hands, but it can be a disadvantage in our time of highly processed foods and much less physical labor.
The whole thing came to a head when our cousin got engaged to her high school sweetheart. We’re a close family, so she wanted as many people as possible to be in her wedding. We were beginning to think there’d be nobody left in the pews on the bride’s side. Our laughter turned sour, however, when our cousin got hold of some bridal magazines. It wasn’t long before we were fighting over how to lose fat instead of getting ready for a joyous wedding.
Our family fights over losing weight finally reached such a point that Celia and her fiance Frank (who’s no beanpole guy, either) thought they might have to elope because nobody was talking to anybody else. That’s when Celia’s mother, Aunt Marge, got into the act in a great way.
One of Auntie’s friends sells bridal dresses and evening gowns in town. She told our aunt that the question of body size often comes when choosing bridal gowns. Instead of trying to argue anymore, though, Auntie’s friend loaned her a couple of catalogs that she uses to order dresses for her shop. These catalogs were full of beautiful, full-color photos that showed how a plus size wedding dress could fit well and look stunning at the same time.
Now Auntie is cunning. She knew we wouldn’t voluntarily come to another family gathering about wedding dresses, so instead she invited us over to try on party jewelry. While we were going ga-ga over all the sparklies, Auntie pulled out the catalogs and her measuring tape. We knew from the look in her eye that none of us was leaving until we’d solved this wedding dress issue.
Marge, who is a fabulous seamstress anyway, got out her tape measure and measured everyone of us right then and there! We each wrote down our measurements and decided on what body shape we each have. We haven’t had so much girlie fun in ages!
Our cousin was a romantic vision on her wedding day in a fabulous gown that fit perfectly. And the rest of us, her bridesmaids, were just as beautiful, because we chose fashions that suited who we are.
