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Remembering That 'Forgotten Woman'
| Article
# : |
11397 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
Date : |
11 / 1986 |
1,676 Words |
| Author
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Rachael Sheli
Rachael Sheli is a freelance writer living in New York City
who covers the fashion field. |
FOR SLENDER WOMEN, CHOOSING clothes has been a matter largely dependent on budget and taste. But for larger women of whatever budget, there are only limited choices and constant frustrations. The woman of means and her budget-minded opposite are equals in a market of little choice, poor fabrics, and depressingly boring clothes. Double-knit, hard-to-drape, stiff polyester prevailed, as though size placed every other aspect of the market at the bottom of the scale of value. It was as if that cynical declaration of the late Duchess of Windsor about the impossibility of being too rich or too thin was being gloomily fulfilled.
The message was brought home with startling force to Nancye Radmin, a former size four whose successive pregnancies brought her increased weight that she did not shed afterwards. She wasn't uncomfortable with her new size until she went to buy clothes. Nancye had had only a year and a half of fashion retail experience, with a store of her own that catered primarily to small sizes. What she found or didn't find at the opposite end of the size scale shocked and frustrated her. Always a beautifully dressed woman, with a heightened sense of style that was reflected in her clothes, her store, and her home, she was convinced that other women were experiencing the same disappointments. There was a definite gap in the market, and she was sure that she could fill it successfully. What she wanted, other women would also respond to beautiful clothes, well constructed in good fabrics, sold in surroundings that flattered the shopper instead of confining her to some dismal corner, the shopping equivalent of Siberia.
She also had very clear ideas about the clothes she wanted nothing of the run-of the-mill silhouettes and styles that had long been the boring mainstays of what was then called the half size market ticketed from 14 1/2 to 24 1/2; shapeless muu-muus, elasticized waistline pull on pants, dreary don't-look-at-me colors. Nancye wanted to dress as she always had, fashionably, luxuriously, and comfortably. But all those desirables seemed to have been forgotten when it came to clothes for larger women.
Clothes had to be made, and made available. The first step was to get a store, and next to stock it. After setting her location, Nancye went about shopping the wholesale markets, steering clear of the traditional half size manufacturers. Instead, she took a two-pronged attack. She went to garment manufacturers who made the clothes she liked in conventional sizes, and convinced them to make special cuttings for her. Then, she utilized the talents of the artist who had hand painted and hand embroidered clothes
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