The world of fashion can be brutal—especially to women who are not classically beautiful by society’s standards. And when Leslie Jones tweeted yesterday about not being able to get a dress for the massively awaited Ghostbusters premiere, people noticed. Whether you say it’s because of her size, or her height, or her hair, or her skin color, there really is no valid excuse as to why designers are so narrow and discriminatory in their thinking.
Pret-A-Porter took the opportunity to talk to Hollywood stylists about why this is happening to someone who has multiple magazine covers and red carpets, but the piece really showed how bad the industry is towards women who don’t fit into sample sizes.
First error in the article is when they point out, “Stylists I talked to estimated that the 6-foot stunner is probably not a sample size, meaning a runway model size 4, but rather a size 8 or 10, and that could be part of her frustration. But not because of any size bias.” This is not a real problem—if she were Kate Hudson or Jennifer Anniston and happened to flux in weight, brands would pull from their stock or directly from the store and have the dress altered.
The second error in the article is when they asked stylist Jeanne Yang and she commented, “It’s just pure economics. People have this belief that showrooms and designers have racks and racks of clothing in all sizes. They don’t.” This is true—showrooms usually only have one size of everything and loan each piece out to celebrities and magazines. However, designers frequently make exceptions for women that they want to dress. Tell the truth—it’s more so about who it is, than their size. Somehow women like Rebel Wilson, Melissa McCarthy, Christina Hendricks continue to get custom pieces. This is not rocket science.
The third and final error, which in my opinion is the worst of them all, was when stylist Jessica Pastor said, “This is nobody’s fault except Leslie’s. She should have known four to five months ago the date of the premiere. I’m not a sample size, I need to go to designers early or buy myself a dress. Don’t be blaming designers and saying they don’t like you.”
And while Christian Siriano saved the day by saying, “”I love Leslie and I’m a huge fan of her work. I can’t wait to create something special for her to wear. Hopefully I will see her in my studio this week to make something new and exciting for her to wear. I support all women no matter age or size!” it doesn’t make it okay for these celebrity stylists to put the blame on her. If designers and stylists really wanted to help women of all size they would, no questions asked. The bottom line is they only want to when they feel like it’s a ‘risk’ they’re willing to take.
