The Big and the Beautiful

Melissa Schorr

Thursday, Oct. 16, 1997 | 9:30 a.m.

Imagine life as a size 24 in a size 12 world -- that thinks it's a size 6 world.

It's going shopping for blue jeans and being told of the wonders of Jenny Craig.

It's having to substitute anklets for bracelets to fit around your wrist.

It's being told you are "queen-sized" and feeling likened to a mattress.

Worst of all, says Rita Farro, it's trying in vain to find a wedding dress or a maternity outfit in your size.

"I guess we're not supposed to get married or have sex," quips the author of the book "Life is not a Dress Size," who addressed about 200 plus-size buyers from around the country at the Big and Tall Women's Convention this week at the Tropicana hotel-casino.

But apparently, no one ever said that plus-sized women weren't supposed to prowl the catwalk.

Ubermodels -- in every sense of the word -- Ellen and Joyce strutted and twirled down the runway to the mellow music of Kenny G, modeling this year's must-haves for the whistling and appreciative audience: flowing earth mother dresses in muted tones with a Moroccan or Asian motif.

And buyers like Wanda Koczka, from Zephyr, were relieved to see an alternative to the typical fare: "Yucky stuff, like teddybears and bows on large-size women. I think that's nuts."

Once upon a time, a plus-sized woman had about two fashion options -- polyester pants or a flowered mumu. Today's size 5xers can find anything from silk negligees to exercise gear.

"We've been an often ignored segment," explains Farro, herself a size 24. "The truth is, 64 percent of women are a size 14 and up. And when you walk in a mall, how many stores are devoted to those sizes? Maybe 5 percent?"

Because many women can be reluctant to hit the malls until they've dropped weight, designers in the past have felt little demand to cater to this market.

"When people get that obese, they've often given up," says Andreah Davi Warner, executive administrator of the Weight Watchers of Las Vegas. "They're not looking to dress a whole lot better."

But Farro dismisses that old excuse in her seminar, "How To Dress With Style When You Feel Like Cher But Look Like Roseanne."

"Women say, 'I'm not going to have a whole closet of clothes size 20.' Why not?" she demands. "You are a size 20!"

"You can't put your life on hold while you wait to get down to size whatever," she says. "You have to go out there in the world, no matter what size you are, today."

Coining her latest mantra, she cries out: "Fat girls have gold cards, too!"

And it seems the industry is paying attention.

In fact, in the last three years, sales of plus-sized clothing (size 16 and up) have topped $20 billion, growing faster than sales of women's clothing overall, according to to the NPD Group, a marketing firm that tracks the retail industry from Port Washington, N.Y.

For example, In 1995, sales of plus-sized women's clothing were up 6 percent from the previous year, while sales of women's apparel as a whole were only up 1 percent.

And for those who still like to imagine it is a size 6 world, consider: According to the NPD Group, 25 percent of all women's apparel sold last year was in the plus sizes.

That correlates neatly with a 1995 survey of 1,000 adults, which found that nearly a quarter of Clark County women reported themselves as overweight, according to the Clark County Health District.

And now that plus-sized women are using the power of the purse, the industry can't afford to ignore them any longer.

"It's a dollars and numbers issue," says Sandie Sabo, fashion editor for Dimensions Magazine. "Half the population is plus sizes, and designers are finally starting to wake up to the fact that we're going to quit trying to change our bodies."

TV star Delta Burke, of "Designing Women," Richard Simmons and actress Jaclyn Smith have all come out with a plus-size line.

Gabi Fhima's company, Casablanca Dresses, offers dresses in sizes up to 5X. "Big ladies are very limited in what they can wear," he says. "We have respect for these ladies. We try to take care of them."

JC Penny's has a catalog devoted to larger-sized women, while New York's Saks Fifth Avenue relocated their plus sizes from the basement to Salon Z, the whole top floor of the store, says Farro.

And magazines like Dimensions, Radiance, and Big Beautiful Woman provide work for plus-sized models and role models for readers.

"We're tired of seeing our clothes on average size models -- even in other plus-size magazines," says Sabo. "We scream about that. So our fashion section always features at least one supersize model -- over a size 28."

"We've become more demanding," says Farro. "And they're starting to pay attention. Five years ago," she marvels, "I couldn't even buy a bathing suit."

Nowadays, just about anything comes in Rubenesque.

Then, the other day in Lane Bryant, a retail chain of 800 stores nationwide catering to large sizes, Farro stopped short, seeing something she thought she'd never see in her size in her lifetime: a plus-sized thong.

"I'm not completely convinced it's for me," she admits.

Local business owners agree that the selection is getting better for plus sized women.

"You can be a large-sized woman and still look nice and fashionable in your clothes," agrees Susan Locklin, manager of the Ample Boutique, a Southwestern chain that offers sizes up to the rare 10X, and accessories, such as generous-sized bracelets and necklaces.

"Today, all the designers discovered the business, that there is a market," says Moshe Shevach, owner with his wife of Rivi Fashions. "Today, you can get beautiful things -- if you're willing to pay."

Mabel Murray, owner of Trudi Fur and Leather in Las Vegas, offers anything -- in any size -- from a leather miniskirt to a mink bikini.

"My biggest gripe (about most plus size clothing) is that I know that the people that make them don't have to wear them," says Murray. "They're gross and frumpy. But if you have on a pretty dress, it doesn't matter whether there's some skinny chick on the billboard -- you feel pretty."

At a clothing convention show earlier in the year, Murray fell in love with a dress with a dreamy chiffon top. To her dismay, it wasn't available in plus sizes. When she asked the sales person why, the woman, full-sized herself, simply shrugged.

"Maybe," the clerk theorized, "we're not supposed to wear it."

Perhaps Murray might have accepted that answer at one point, but not any longer.

"Pshaw,' she snorted back. "You can wear anything you want."