As a size 24 content creator with a huge love and appreciation of fashion, I cannot begin to explain how challenging it has been trying to navigate the fashion industry over the last 13 years.

Before the rise of the body positivity movement a few years ago, “fashions for the fats” were bleak, to say the least. Not only were there limited clothing stores that catered to plus-size bodies, but the pieces that were available lacked style and a proper fit, with most designed to hide our bodies instead of enhancing and celebrating them.

Years later, as a society, a shift has happened within the fashion industry with regards to the extension in clothing sizes. This can be attributed to the rise of the body positive and fat acceptance communities filled with advocates, activists and plus-size content creators, like myself, who grace social media feeds wearing and styling pieces designed to make us – and our audiences – feel confident in our bodies just as they are.

Because of the surge in popularity of plus-size content creators, it’s no surprise that in recent years a stable of mainstream brands, including Erdem, Ganni and Rixo, have started to include an extended size offering within their main collection alongside plus-size specific collections. It’s a change that’s been a long time coming. 

In the last couple of months, however, I’ve noticed an increase in performative inclusivity. A group of other plus-size content creators and I have started noticing a growing trend in brands inviting us to preview new clothing collections, attend season launches and, indeed, write about new collections that aren’t available in plus-sizes. Read: none of the other plus-size women or I can wear these clothes.

My default reaction has become to start checking a brand’s website; if an invitation is extended to me, I will scour the brand’s website to see whether its clothing extends to larger sizing. If it doesn’t – which is mostly the case – then I enquire with the brand as to when it plans to create a plus-size category. Sadly, I’m more often than not met with answers that fall flat. 

To this day, I am still waiting for the extended size ranges that fashion brands assured me were coming years ago. It stings to know that they do not consider my body, and bodies like mine, valuable enough assets to dress, despite evidence that the market is booming. The UK plus-size clothing market is today estimated to be worth £9.03 billion, an increase from £6.44 billion in 2016. There’s money to be made, but still we’re treated as an afterthought.

It’s not only the plus-size community that is repeatedly snubbed by the fashion industry; disabled models and content creators have taken part in marketing campaigns promoting accessibility-friendly clothing collections, only to end up not being invited to launch events because they are hosted in venues that are not accessible for those with disabilities. 

Disabled model Lucy Dawson was recently tapped by a brand to help celebrate disabled bodies, yet wasn’t invited to the launch of the campaign and would’ve been unable to attend anyway because of the chosen venue’s inaccessibility. “I felt extremely hurt, tokenised and just generally disappointed when I ​​realised all the things I’ve tried to teach this brand were perhaps just for soundbites and quotes,” Lucy wrote on social media. Unfortunately, this wasn’t an isolated incident. 

To date this year, I have been sent eight event invitations from brands that purport to promote body inclusivity and positivity, yet whose collections stop at a UK size 18 – just one size larger than the UK average for women. Why plus-size, disabled and other minority content creators are still woefully underserved is beyond me.

That brands are still piggybacking on movements created by people with marginalised bodies in order to sell products for more privileged, able-bodied people is proof that the industry is still struggling to see through its blind spots. By inviting plus-size creators to attend events where their bodies aren’t catered for, you are essentially telling us that our platforms and our voices are good enough for you to access our audiences and gain visibility, but our bodies are not good enough to wear your clothes.

In 2022, there is now no excuse for brands to not extend their clothing collections to cater to larger sizes. There are plenty of examples of small, independent brands creating pieces that fit up to a UK size 40, meaning that from a logistical and financial level, these pieces are capable of being made. 

At this point, it is becoming a choice for brands to ignore the clarion calls to cater for larger bodies. Whether it’s because they assume we aren’t as fashionable as straight sized customers, or that our bodies may ‘cheapen’ their brand, it is time the industry realised that by choosing to opt out of creating accessible clothing for marginalised bodies, they are complicit in – and contributing to – the marginalisation and ‘othering’ of the very bodies they claim to champion.

Images: courtesy of Stephanie Yeboah; Getty