Story time: Mom vs Kohl's

Yes, I'm alive, yes. And RELEVANT!

I thought about beating you all over the head with news stories but I feel like I did that enough over Twitter, so now I'm hear to tell you all a story about body acceptance.

This actually happened a little before I got home, since it was so long ago I'm trying to figure out if I already told it but even if I did there's more to it since then.

So one of my favorite stores is Kohl's. They aren't cheap but they usually have things in my size. All of em. To put it out there at my smallest I'm about a US 16 & my biggest about a 20. It usually just depends on how the clothes were made, also I'm short.

My mom is down to a 20-22 thanks to this diet but she was a 24. So she goes shopping at Kohl's one day while I'm slaving away in the Big House school and she calls me up or I call her, whichever, and bemoans to me about the lack of attractive clothes for plus sized women. Mom likes to wear dresses (nice ones at that) and all Kohl's seems to carry is pants & tops as if plus sized women didn't like flowy things.

Me, since all I wear are tunics & pants/capris, I never noticed. So I was about to go into my routine of if you don't like that shit change that shit when, to my surprise, my usually docile mother did! I'd say I'm rubbing off, but when I say "change" I usually mean "burn the fucker down and their clothes with them--who's inside? I don't care who's inside."

So no I don't think it's the Xands-essence just yet, but anyway, mom complains! She complains to the clerk & writes a complaint on the site. Go mama!

Let me stop and ask if ANY of this sounds familiar REGARDLESS of what size you wear, regardless of GENDER--yeah I said it. I can only speak for the female experience but I've shopped for my dad who just so happens to be on the tall side & a little big. It's...a bitch.

Thought about it?

Yes?

Good, because shit doesn't change. That one particular Kohl's seems to hate big people (or big & short or big & tall, your combo) but the other 3 or so around us tend not to mind. However, every time we actually choose to go shopping there (it's still my store, in my heart) there's a clear...disconnect. Beautiful flowy dresses for "normal" women and...not always completely flattering or just ugly dresses for plus size women. You can walk through the aisles and if you're not expecting it, it's like "daaamn."

"So go to those lil niche stores," you say. Well fuck that, my family is poor folks and we don't have 40-60 and up dollars to be spending on fecking clothes. I'm damned tired of Layne Bryant, who, while having some nice clothes, is still out my price range & frankly those skeezers (I said it) are flat out incompetent when it comes to bills, at least where we are. I mean goddamn how do you fuck up three times?

I'm tired of niche stores. I can understand paying more for "more fabric", on a basic level yeah it makes sense, but I don't have to like it. It's like they're saying, "Well try not to be fat next time!"

I remember watching one of the previews for the Fashion Show on Bravo and some of the designers balked--BALKED--at having to design sizes for real women. Oh noes, not super thin models?! HOOOWWW WIIIILL I CREEEAAATE?! *tortured wail*

Yeah not many designers want to design for real people. They want either super thin models or perfectly buff male models on which to hang their clothes. But it gets weird when you realize stores aren't exactly carrying small sizes in bulk either so what gives?

I used to be quite sizeist myself until I had a think about all this a while ago. Yes I was one of those "burn skinny bitches burn" types because I couldn't find clothes in my size either that wouldn't rupter the bank account vein but then I realized, surprisingly, while they get the cute clothes, really skinty folks are necessarily being catered to either. I mean god forbid you be short and you end up having to wear kids clothes. Or be you really tall you're relegated to the plus size section anyway which doesn't seem to cater to short OR small people.

It's so duuuuuummmb, and we can complain about it to kingdom come--we can even burn down the stores if you're with me (yes you can ask) but there's just got to be a change. Come on, clothes are just a basic necessity, why is it so damn HARD?