Walking through town this morning I was horrified by some of the outfits I saw on people. “Unflattering” doesn’t even begin to describe what I was seeing.
This has very little to do with weight or fitness (though it never hurts to have the figure of a super model). What it’s really about is the crappy clothing we let manufacturers get away with.
A Fit About Fit
Women’s clothing used to come in many sizes. Sizes like 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16. Now even jackets and pants are sold in small, medium and large. Buy a medium and it fits like an 8 — way too small. Go with the large, and it fits like a 14 — and you’re swimming in it.
Of course, one brand’s “medium” is another brand’s “large.” The new sizing (or lack of it) means that a very high percentage of what you try on in the fitting room makes you look like you’re wearing someone else’s castoffs. If you’re in a hurry and you buy it…ugh.
Construction Zone
There used to be these things called darts. The darts shaped clothing along the shoulders, bust line, and hips. Almost no clothing today has darts — unless you are shopping in a vintage boutique.
Lining also seems to be a thing of the past. Linings in jackets and skirts prevented clinging and bunching.
Darts and lining are both expensive, adding time (and materials) to the clothing construction process. Lined clothes require dry cleaning, which most women don’t want to be bothered with.
So, we have cheaply made clothes that look like we slept in them.
Material Failure
Stretch fabric for women’s clothing emerged in the 1960s, and a lot of it was bulky and sweaty (the dreaded polyester!). Today Lycra and other high-tech stretch fabrics get combined with cotton and wool and rayon in comfortable and attractive blends. Well — at least they start out attractive. Part of the problem with stretchy clothes is that they look great for a while and gradually began to bag, sag, and wear thin. The rayon blends are particularly vulnerable to sagging and pilling.
People tend not to notice this gradual degradation of their favorite dresses and pants and thus don’t realize they are soon running around looking like slobs. Sadly, there is little that’s uglier than a pair of designer yoga pants that are now wearing thin in the butt.
So there it is: Contemporary clothing sucks and we run the risk of looking ghastly in it. Don’t even get me started on the shoes that are crippling our feet.
Fitness, Food and Fashion 