Tim Gunn Explains Why The Fashion Industry Needs a Complete Makeover

Source: Project Runway
In an essay for PBS NewsHour fashion guru Tim Gunn addressed the need for the fashion industry to start catering to real-sized women. Source: Getty Images
Blasting the industry for ignoring plus-sized women, Gunn said it is time American designers started designing for the average American woman. “Would it surprise you to know that the average American woman now wears between a size 16 and a size 18? She is what the industry calls a plus-size woman, a term that I would like to erase,” Gunn tells PBS.
Gunn went on to say that there are more than 80 million “plus sized” women in the U.S. and they spend a lot on clothes, but “many designers refuse to make clothes for them. They pretend they don’t even exist.” Source: Getty Images
According to Gunn, the fashion industry all revolves around thinness – a standard that was established years ago. Admittedly it is hard to break that habit. “For decades women have trotted down the runway with bodies that are completely unattainable for most women,” said Gunn. “Yet we have been conditioned to think that that’s what looks good. There is no reason why larger women can’t look just as fabulous as all other women. It’s a design issue, not a customer issue.”
Gunn asks for designers to step up to the plate and start designing less “boxy” clothes that make plus size women look larger and instead create fashion with a “harmonious balance of silhouette, proportion and fit.” He also said retailers should start demanding high-end designers to cater to larger sizes.