Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Dear Joe Zee and Elle magazine, way to give the industry standard the finger and some inspiration too!

Hey Girls,

I was reading through the June issue of Elle magazine this afternoon and I LOVED the editorial with Joe Zee this month, which got me wondering, have you seen ELLE's Creative Director Joe Zee on the Sundance Channel’s new show All on the Line?

It's a show about designers on the brick of bankruptcy, closing shop or losing their homes from scrapping by with a lot of passion but not surviving, and Joe Zee shows them how to get their act together by instilling the will to design better and smarter, and sell more!

Aspiring models, I think you will find interesting the part where I circled in yellow. I hope you can read it okay. I have been aware of the way the sample sizes designers create influence what the  magazines feature but Joe shares more insight on why the short girl and humanistic models aren't often seen in fashion editorials, or never is seen.

Joe Zee is right, he can't change things over night and  it will take a huge mind-changing perspective and makeover to the culture of fashion and fabric for change to happen in a noticable way anytime soon. And it's not a size zero thing, and it's not a size 14 thing, --it's a design for all sizes thing.

click images to view full article:


What struck me also was that Joe mentions the resist from some designers on the show to go towards designing for the relatable every-day women. The designers and brands out there should want to allow women of all sizes the ability to get dressed with ease, it shouldn't be a privilege because you are a certain size. Then mental head-game of not being able to morph into someone they are not just to buy a fricking outfit shouldn't even be facet of their lives. And you'd think with this ever-growing consumerism, that designing for all sizes would be gushed over by brands and designers to make more money to spread their logos around further, branding, branding, branding, get more twitter followers, Facebook likes, but...that's not in the their design program...it's not...yet.

What if designers of all price points got over their fright of all-sizes and the every-women, real-women, --why are they afraid of us.....and catered to our needs better? What if designers high to mid-level to low noticed more often the demand of all shapes?  And why don't they? It only makes sense since so many brands report their earnings and so many of them want to gain more consumers each season and year. 

I am sure by designing for more shapes they would sell more product and make more money. And I'd like to tell them to not be afraid, I think the consumer can handle seeing in ads and editorials of the "real" way the clothing will look when worn.

Granted I am a petite, and do wear a size zero-or two but that doesn't mean my shopping experiences are any easier, because everything I see or try on is 6 inches too long and I have friends who are all sizes, including above size 12 and Joe Zee includes in the editorial, "...some designers don't cut any size above a 12, despite the fact that the average American woman is a 14."

Well, Why is this? Cost of fabric? Cotton has gone up in price, but is that the real reason? Come on! No excuses! Mmmm...Is it their selfish ego? Why wouldn't a designer design for all sizes? Is their vision for who deserves to wear their clothing narrow shape-minded? If that is the case then no wonder they are broke and bitchy, ---because no one is buying their designs because no one fits into them.

So, now I think to myself, "Are all rich people thin?" 
No, I'm sorry to tell you but not all people who have money are thin, long giraffes.

But even if high fashion starts making their cuts for size 14, that doesn't mean  every size 14 girl can afford high fashion, I think the retail world as a whole needs to become more verstile, and in the areas of petite girls, curvy girls, all shapes, there is a lot of fabric out there in stores, and a lot of waste actually, because half the stuff doesn't fit on most people anyways.

Opps you designed that, put it on the rack, and no one can fricking fit in it! The fantasy might drive the high-fashion world, but the reality is no one is fitting it.

I think high-end for ALL sizes could find true success, but high-end for a limited selection, for only the right silhouette, won't much longer? I am not buying that limited attitude will be doing well in the coming years.

However, there are some designers designing to making women feel good about their bodies proving it should become more present hopefully in coming years:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/natalia-lopatniuk-brzezinski/designer-shoshanna-talks-_b_865287.html
We have become a fashion obsessed culture in the past ten years, and more than ever people want stuff, I am not saying that this is a good thing, I am not saying that all this shopping is not killing the soul, because it is,---- but I am saying that the every-day woman comes in all sizes. There is no normal size anymore, there is no standard to become so you can get dressed. We are who we are, face it already, and designers should give a crap about the real-deal, the reality, if they want to succeed and sell their goods.

So, aspiring designers, step it up! It's your moment, it's time to give a high-five to all sizes and seriously kick ass, because you will make a great deal of money from it! So get at it, I am waiting! MANY of us are!

And, Joe, when you need a petite for a petite pride feature, I am there to help you give the petite's props, please get in touch!

Cheers to the pint-size!
~Isobella Jade

http://www.isobelladreams.com/


P.s:  Girls, size zero-to size 14 to any size that you are,  please email me at petitepride@yahoo.com and let me know where you shop and what your thoughts are?

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