It’s advice we’ve all likely heard at some point throughout our careers. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve written it in the pages of a magazine at least once in the near decade I’ve worked in fashion. The thinking goes as follows: If you want your bosses to see you as someone who can take on more authority, you need to act that way. Part of that demonstration is in how you present yourself.
For thin women, it’s good advice. I can still recall the outfits I wore to land each of my jobs “a million girls would kill for.” A fit-and-flare Kate Spade dress with teal-blue peep-toe pumps (it was 2013 and for a cheeky teen magazine). A fitted black sheath with a tweed Tibi blazer and pointy Louboutins. In hindsight, shopping for those interviews was easy. Sure, I was stressed and wanted to look perfect, but it was nothing a quick trip to Barneys after work couldn’t fix.
Then earlier this year I found myself at a place in my career where I was ready to take on more ownership. I’d just turned 30, landed my own video series, had already been managing a growing number of responsibilities—and I also had recently gained 60 pounds.
That last part is important, because as I started looking to my mentors for guidance, suddenly the very advice I’d clung to as I climbed my way up the ladder had landed me flat on my (now size 14) ass. One told me to work on my “presentation,” while another flat-out told me I needed to “dress better.” Admittedly, I’d been wearing a lot of oversized sweaters and jeans because my “dress for the job you want” investments—$500 printed floral maxis, whimsical wrap dresses, and silk button-downs—were now collecting dust in my closet, waiting for my weight to yo-yo back to a size 10 so I could squeeze into them again.
As someone who has worked tirelessly to prove myself in an industry where I’ve often felt like I needed to be better—better-spoken, better-dressed, better-made-up—it was a crushing blow not just to my ambition, but to the way I felt about my body. Even
with Glamour's commitment to size inclusivity over the years, I'm only one of two plus-size people on staff and often the only curvy person on shoots and in senior-level meetings.
How could I tell these women I couldn’t dress like a director because all the beauty directors I knew wore brands like Dôen and Sleeper, which stopped at a size 10 or a small 12? Did I really need to lose weight to be any better at my job?
Of course not, but therein lay the issue: For women above a size 12, there’s invisible labor that goes into putting together outfits the fashion world considers stylish. We can’t just pop into a department store or Zara and buy off the rack. We have to hunt down pieces online, spend extra money for shipping, and carefully study measurements to find things our colleagues can buy with ease—or are sent for free as gifts from brands. It’s easy to be fashionable when you’re thin.
I was disheartened at first, and then I got angry. Taking cues from Lindsay Peoples Wagner’s groundbreaking report “What It’s Really Like to be Black and Work in Fashion” for The Cut, which spurred a thoughtful and nuanced conversation about the pains of racism and bias across every facet of the fashion industry, I set out to talk to dozens of others who are also plus-size and work in fashion.
I did eventually find brands I look and feel great in—many at the recommendation of the dozens of people I talked to—but what I walked away with was a network of women who are ready to do for fashion what Rihanna did for the beauty industry: Revolutionize it.
I listened as other editors, writers, photographers, influencers, models, and stylists told me I wasn’t alone. Models shared their frustration over the lack of jobs both on the runway and off, not to mention the horrific, blatantly fatphobic things designers have said to them. Editors and influencers shared stories of being confused for the help at Fashion Week. Consultants discussed how brands would hire them for their plus-size marketing experience then decide to go in a “different direction” (read "the same tired stereotypes plus women are sick of;" more on those below).
Plus-size women represent 68% of shoppers, and yet for each of these individuals below, we’re often only a small percentage of the people in our respective positions in fashion. The majority of decision makers are still straight-size. But change is on the horizon. As writer Nicolette Mason puts it in our September cover story on the New Supers: “Inclusivity is the future in fashion. You can either get on board or fade into irrelevance.”
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