Fat Tax and the End of Settling

Who spent this weekend looking at the prettiest dresses ever??

Oh...it was me!!!

Most people are going to think I'm crazy - and maybe you're right, a little bit.  My wonderful friends and husband are planning a 30th birthday party for me.  I could not be more excited - it's a masquerade ball!!  I just want to invite everyone I've ever met and have a fabulous time (uh - ps, you're ALL invited, provided you want to make the trip out to California).  But in reality what I want most is a beautiful ball gown, so I have been looking all over for ball gowns all weekend.

As I was going through one website in particular, I started finding myself annoyed when I came across this:

(no, I am not crazy enough to be spending nearly that much anyway in case you were wondering)

Please don't misunderstand me - I understand that bigger clothes take more fabric and therefore cost.  Of course I also know that the difference in fabric amounts between a 16 and an 18 is not that much.  On the other hand, a 10 in that huge dress is going to use a LOT more fabric than a size 2.  So how is it fair that only size 18 and up have to pay the amount?  Why don't my skinny friends get a discount?

You'll notice from my title that I have a name for this charge.  I call it a fat tax.  And yes, I think it's unfair.  If you are going to charge based on fabric, charge a different amount for every single size.  Will that kind of suck for everyone?  Maybe.  Would I happily pay a higher price based exactly on what I'm getting?  Definitely.

The random injustice of being told we have to pay more to look nice is so frustrating.  There are even some plus size sites that charge you more over a certain size.  Not to mention that's just when we're able to get something similar to non-plus size clothes.  Most of the time the plus size versions of clothes are crazy - giant weird prints, unflattering cuts, tents!  Even at my store of choice (Old Navy) you get your regular size dresses and then the plus size dresses are lumped in basically with maternity.  Wider straps, less detail.  A lot of fabric to try to hide your shape.  But very, very obviously just a "fat" version of the cute smaller clothes.

For those of us that are on the journey to losing weight, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And that light is that eventually we'll all find our wonderful normal-size find, that perfect dress or shirt or whatever that makes you feel like jumping up and down and screaming that you lost weight.  For me this came in the form of a dress I wore to a friend's wedding in LA last month.

To get it though, check out this progression of dresses I've worn to various weddings....

This dress...I can't tell you how much I hate it.  There are no words, I just hate it.  and that is the look after hours of alterations, not to mention this dress came in regular sizes with thin straps, a better length and altogether way more wonderful. (and of course cheaper)

 

I'm pretty sure I posted pictures of this dress when i wore it.  It is an ok dress.  It had in addition to the bow under the bust that you can't see in this picture, bows at the shoulder.  It suffered from way-over-detailed syndrome, but I was pretty happy at the time to find a big girls dress that was not black..

This dress...oh my goodness, this dress.  Let me explain...

The thing about the dress I bought in December...is that I bought it at a juniors store.  I bought that dress for $22.50 at Charlotte Russe, and didn't have to alter it.  I'm going to let that statement re-sink in to my own mind.

To be able to shop at a normal size store is wonderful.  To be able to shop at a juniors size store is amazing.  I remember when the standard for a great dress was "minimal alteration, not black" - who wants to live like that?  Shouldn't the standard for a great dress be "feel fabulous, wear exactly what you want" instead?  It was eye opening for me to realize that.  To realize I could feel that great, to realize that I could be that happy with an outfit.

It couldn't have happened for a better wedding either.  Surrounded by Indian women in the. most. beautiful. saris you've ever seen, anything less than the perfect dress would have made sucked all the confidence out of me.  Wait - I am so distracted by how much I love that dress that I forgot my point.

OH!  Here is my point, let's bring it all back around. I am annoyed that people want plus size girls to pay more for clothes that are less wonderful.  I want to FIX it.  The epiphany that we don't have to look at clothes the way we are used to is a powerful one.  Now I get it.  And I want it to be that way for everyone. *end rant.

I just wanted to end on this.  I wish i could wear this every day.  Ok maybe minus the sleeves...