I wonder how well plus-sized models would sell to plus-sized women. Using a thin model may convey "this will make you look thinner" better than using a plus-sized model. If plus-sized consumers want their clothes to make them look thinner (which seems plausible enough) the thin model might sell better.

This also reminds me of the post from a few months ago about novels about large women still feature thin women on the covers.

As a large woman, I can't tell you how tired I am of major stores like Lane Bryant and such using "plus size models" rather than real, plus size women.

On the plus side (heh), I have a beautiful, sexy, and very fat friend who worked at Frederick's for a while. She didn't love the job--retail is hell--but she did say that it was a pretty size-friendly workplace.

"almost no women buying any of these clothes has a body that approximates the models in these photos"

I appreciate this point being made. While plus sized, fat, and curvy women are especially underrepresented in these type of photos, they standard of beauty that they are reinforcing is unattainable for most women.

Even though I'm a young and thin woman, I lack the "curves" that apparently "real women" are supposed to have. 99% of the time I'm very okay with this fact, but it becomes really frustrating when lingerie stores carry nothing that fits me!

I suspect modelling lingerie is harder than other clothing because it's so much harder to find a good bra fit. I wonder if this is a practical reason behind using those skinny models. Maybe there's a particular bra & panty size that generally fits a generic lingerie model??

BTW look at the poor fit of the Daisy Lace bra (the magenta one) on the model's right breast.

White, thin, blonde or light brunette models. But of course.

As someone who wears plus sized clothes I hate it when very small women model "our" clothes on websites and in catalogues. I have no idea what something is going to look like on my body type and they are giving me no frame of reference to use. I already have to a lot of my clothes online because stores don't carry 18 and 20s and this just makes it even harder to find something that fits properly.

Interestingly, according to the fashion industry, lingerie models are already "plus" size (yes, that's right, you heard correctly. Simply having breasts will eliminate any chances a model has of becoming a runway star). Many of the male designers loathe breasts and claim they are a total pain to design around, and that they "ruin" the line of a dress.

So, when we look at it this way, the model above is already "too" curvaceous according to some (insane) standards.

I am sure that the people at Frederick's visit this issue occasionally, and they have probably found they can sell the "fantasy" that is women's underwear more successfully with "thin" models than with "plus size" models, so it isn't worth spending more to have plus-size photos. After all, we don't want unnecessary spending cutting into profits, now do we?

I'm not sure if women feel that the bras will make them look more like the models or not, but I suspect that could be a subconscious dynamic at play.
Even I (a thin woman) experience "letdown" when I discover that a certain item of clothing won't make me look as good as the model I saw it on, which suggests I have unrealistic "transformative" expectations for the clothing. I am going to assume I am not entirely alone in this phenomenon.

Anyone else experience this kind of letdown?

From what I understand about Frederick's, it's a lingerie store that carries standard Women's sizes (the kind that you will find at mainly every Women's clothing store: Extra Small, Small, Medium, Large). But Frederick's has also gone above and beyond to capture the "plus sized" audience who generally fit undergarments with the sizes Extra Large (like myself), Extra Extra Large and more. It's even worse for those who fit more than 3XL.

Frederick's feels the need to boast that they carry larger sizes because it's very unusual to find larger sizes in women's ANYTHING unless the store is mainly for "plus sized" women. It screams HEY LARGER LADIES! WE HAVE EVERYONE ELSE'S SIZE AND MAYBE YOUR SIZE TOO!

I don't think they would necessarily use bigger women to model because they're trying to uphold the "fashion standard" sizes (our outrageously ridiculous norm) to appeal to women.

I wonder what would happen if Fredrick's DID use larger women to model their lingerie. Would smaller women still want to shop there? Or would they get the wrong idea that Fredrick's ONLY carries lingerie for larger ladies?

This is incredibly frustrating for me. I work at Lane Bryant (plus-size women's clothing retailer, for those who don't know) and it is a neverending source of annoyance to me that our mannequins are all skinny hourglass-shaped bodies. And, when we dress a form, we use pins in the back to draw the clothing taut around the form, so even if we are putting a size 28 (the biggest size we carry) on there, it will fit like it's a size 10. Even the size 14 (our smallest size) is too big to fit the form properly and has to be pinned. So we show these trendy, fashionable clothes, and YES there is a subconscious "ooh, that looks awesome, maybe it would look so awesome [meaning skinny] on me!" reaction from most women. A lot of us have commiserated that we have to constantly remind ourselves that the clothing, however good it looks on the form, will not magically make us the same size as the form it's on and won't look the same on us.

I don't know why a store chain that caters to women of size wouldn't, y'know, actually have mannequins that are a little closer to the size of its customers. :-/

I emailed Woman Within a few months ago complaining about their use of thin models and explaining why it was a problem (offensive, clothes don't fit a thin model like they would fit me, etc.). The response I got back was essentially that think models sell more, even when they are modelling for plus sized clothes. They claimed that they had tried using plus size models, but that sales were better with thin models.

I wish I had kept that email. But I was annoyed and deleted it.

Sadly, I've read that using plus size models to advertise plus size clothing can backfire and actually slow down sales numbers.

Admittedly, I like the "plus size" mannequins, because they are about the same size as me and I do happen to have an hourglass shape (which is surprisingly difficult to shop for, given how idealized it is - my chest, hips and waist are three different sizes), but I'm just a bit too small to fit into the clothing at most of the stores that carry plus sizes.

First off, 'full figure' is not inherently indicative of plus-sized. If the picture is anything to go off, it's indicative of large breasts. Most lingerie stores build their stock around the size 34 B, with anything smaller than a 34 A or larger than a 36 C totally unavailable. Believe it or not, someone with large breasts or even a large rib cage does NOT have to be plus-sized. The models have large breasts. The bras are for women with large breasts. One does not have to wear a size 14 or higher to have large breasts, and it's pretty problematic to make that assumption (not that this blog is any good when it tackles breast size. I guess at least the full-figured women can rest easy that their boyfriend isn't a closeted pedophile).

Second off, and I don't know what everyone else makes of this, but the styles that are offered for plus-sized that would actually apply inherently to a plus-sized woman (lingerie, panties, etc) are the same styles that are offered in their smaller sizes. I don't think any of the plus-size styles are unique to those sizes, at least they weren't when I last browsed the website. They therefore feature the same model who models the smaller sizes and note 'this style also comes in X, Y, and Z larger styles.' The only reason they're in a different clickable as opposed to the drop down 'XS thru XL' menu is because of difference in prices. Like I said, make of that what you will (I can see how a lot of different opinions on this point could be taken), but this is NOT the same as Lane Bryant using size 10 women to model when the average size 14 woman cannot reasonably shop there. Fredericks is simply pointing out that they AREN'T Victoria's Secret, which will throw you out on your ass if you are not exactly a 34B, but using the same models to model all of their styles, some of which go up into plus-sizes (panties and lingerie) or larger than average cup/rib cage sizes.

"Sexy at Every Size" is the tag line. And their range only goes up to 3X/42F. The only time I have been small enough to fit into a 3X was when I had an eating disorder and also wore compression garments under my clothes. And even then, I wore bras several band sizes above 42.

With such a skewed notion of the range of female body sizes, the skinny model photos don't surprise me. Frederick's probably thinks those women are huge.

I remembered Leg Avenue using actual plus size women for their plus size lingerie. Looking at their website they still do. They're airbrushed, but not moreso than the thin versions are. A few of the pictures don't have a plus sized model, which may be due to the cost/inconvenience of taking additional photos/hiring another model. But there's definitely some effort there to present the image of a glamorous plus sized woman.

Since they are a lingerie site some pictures might be NWS. I tried to link to one that wasn't.
http://www.legavenue.com/en/women/lingerie/plus-size/81201Q/

I feel the need to give props to Sock Dreams for using their employees, who come in all shapes and sizes, to model the socks and tights they sell. Too bad most other online retailers won't do the same thing.

http://www.sockdreams.com/_pages/index.php

BTW, I don't work for them. I just shop with them.

I'm not sure any of the models are meant to appeal to me (or anyone I know). It seems like they are advertising more to men than to women anyway.

La Redoute uses plus-sized models to sell regular clothing--or at least they do at their UK web site. Evidently, it works for somebody.

In regards to size, I was buying underwear the other day. I have been the same size for the last 5 years, always buying a large. Now medium is 36-38 and large is 40-42.