Body Positivity

Written by Jet Thurmond

Modern marketing campaigns have built an image of what beautiful is or should be by taking slender young people and enhancing their beauty through airbrush, photoshop, and other techniques to perfect their appearance. Until recently, racial diversity was not represented.

This has created an unrealistic and unhealthy image for consumers and society places pressure on them to fit these images. The fashion industry is one of the leading culprits, but thankfully things are changing.

Body Types In Fashion

While there has not been much momentum in luxury, mass-market has seen a lot more movement in a positive direction. After years of gradual building, enough pushback has come from consumers about lack of diversity and inclusivity within the fashion industry specifically to insist on change. 

Due to this demand, more and more companies have begun utilizing body-diversity marketing campaigns for all different races, genders, body types, and sizes. However, there is still a long way to go.

The body positivity movement is imperfect and there has been disagreement surrounding the term. It has been used as a trope by many brands. However, this concept goes well beyond a marketing tactic.

People should feel comfortable in their own skin and not feel the pressure to accommodate societal expectations, especially when they continuously evolve.

Image via forbes.com

Size Inclusivity

Each company has their own niche, but historically the larger fashion industry has overwhelmingly targeted the same narrow identity group: thin, able bodied people. Particularly in the United States, there is no size standardization. Each company has a unique fit model, size chart, and body type for their target customer.

This is compounded in an industry at the mercy of the customer’s vanity. Customers will reach for their alphanumeric size that they are accustomed to wearing, but depending on brand, the garment may be a completely different fit. A lot of brands that promote themselves as size-inclusive rarely carry XXS or smaller or above 3XL.

If these ‘extended’ sizes are available they are often found only online. There are practical reasons brands offer less frequently purchased sizes only online, namely inventory management. But is that really inclusive? While we recognize that inventory, particularly in a brick and mortar setting, is a huge investment of resources it creates an inclusive environment and boon for brands that can problem solve to accommodate.  

A brand’s size offering sends a subliminal message to consumers, even one that appears body positive and inclusive. To put this into perspective, the average American woman is size 16 to an 18. However, most brands don’t carry above a size 12. This issue doesn't just affect women. Though less common, men’s clothing brands have their own issues with sizing and inclusivity. 

Even within a single brand, there can be customer confusion and frustration if a customer needs different sizes across styles. Brands that offer different fits to accommodate varying customer silhouettes could further compound the issue and get negative feedback without clear marketing. If the customer doesn't fit into their “usual” size, it could result in a lost sale.

Certainly the disparity in sizing across brands has negative consequences on self-image and confidence. Alex Ferguson (@theAlexFerguson), an experienced fashion industry model, shared her perspective with us and gave insight on how the fashion and modeling industries perceive body positivity.

She is a strong proponent of body diversity in the fashion industry and wants people of all sizes to be healthy. Her advice for women struggling with fit, “No one sees the tag. Get whatever actually fits and looks good.” 

What Is Body Positivity?

This is where body positivity helps. The body positivity movement puts forth that all people deserve to have a positive self image, regardless of how society and popular culture view shape, size, and appearance. More simply put, self-love.

The main point of the movement is to love your body exactly as it is and to feel confident in yourself in spite of ‘flaws’. Regardless of body shape, size, or cosmetics, the purpose of body positivity is that what you perceive as a flaw doesn't make you less deserving of love and confidence.

Some other goals of the movement include challenging societal views and expectations of the body, fostering acceptance of all body types, building individual body confidence, and calling out unrealistic body standards (which is still a major problem in the fashion industry).

With her experience, Alex thinks “the body positivity movement … has allowed people to recognize that there are other body types out there [beside] the 5' 10” size 2 model. I think that’s great because that’s all we saw for so long and that’s what I compared myself to and aspired to.”

Image via girlfriend.com

Choosing Inclusive Brands

There are several brands doing it right when it comes to inclusivity and body positivity. These brands are using inclusive language, carrying extended size ranges, and highlighting models of all body types in their marketing campaigns. A favorite of Alex’s is Aerie, a size-inclusive brand selling bras and underwear. Girlfriend Collective, a sustainably-minded activewear brand, carries a size range of XXS to a 6XL, which extends further than other activewear companies within the industry.

They showcase models of different body types, gender orientations, and races in advertisements and for products on their website. Their models are also not photoshopped or airbrushed, and the result is refreshing. JessaKae, a brand that creates whimsical and feminine dresses, carries sizes XXS to a 6XL in all of their dresses rather than a line specifically dedicated to plus-size customers. 

Models for Universal Standard. Image via barrelny.com

Universal Standard is an apparel brand that is reinventing the way the industry identifies fit. The brand not only carries one of the widest size ranges currently available in the fashion industry, size 00 to 40, but they also specifically engineer their size charts around the average size worn by American women, 16 to 18. This becomes a size medium, and they reconfigure the rest of their size chart around it.

Universal Standard also offers a program called Fit Liberty, which lets customers buy for their current size. If that size changes within a year or purchase, they will replace the same garment in the customer’s new size. The goal is to reduce body anxiety so that people don’t have to worry about body changes.

Image via jessakae.com

Can body positivity become a toxic mindset? Absolutely. The phrase “too much of a good thing” can apply, and there is still a large amount of importance placed on physical appearance within the body positivity movement. You are still taking the time to evaluate your body and make calculated judgments of it, even if it is under positive pretenses. 

Body Neutrality: A More Realistic Expectation

When having a conversation about the fashion industry and body positivity, it is important to discuss its lesser known counterpart: body neutrality. Body neutrality takes a different, slightly more realistic approach to the same concept.

The main priority of body neutrality versus body positivity is that less time is spent thinking about and analyzing the body. It reduces the importance of the aesthetic component of our bodies, whereas body positivity wants us to celebrate our physical features including things we don’t like, which can feel artificial.

Body neutrality is more about what your body can do for you as an instrument and less about how it looks.  Alex is in favor of body neutrality “...embodying health and nourishing your body so that it is an instrument. That seems to me, way more body positive.” 

However, there is an alleviation of pressure that is caused by body positive mindsets that encourages us to love ourselves even when it might not be feasible. Lizzo, a Grammy award winning musician, has always been candid about her opinions on body positivity and inclusivity. She opened up in a heartfelt instagram caption, talking about how difficult it is to be body positive, especially when the people the trends are inspired by are consistently excluded from it. 

“‘I think it’s lazy for me to just say I’m body positive at this point,” Lizzo says. “It’s easy. I would like to be body-normative. I want to normalize my body. And not just be like, ‘Ooh, look at this cool movement. Being fat is body positive.’ No, being fat is normal.”

Image via people.com

Both of these concepts have benefits that can make it hard to choose an approach to follow on a personal self-love journey. Some of the benefits of a body positive approach are the reduction of negative thought patterns and that it may boost your mood or may allow you to take control over feelings about your physical appearance.

One of the main benefits of body neutrality is that it takes away the mental pressure of positivity, especially in times where positivity doesn't feel realistic, genuine, or feasible. Each side of the argument has benefits, but is one truly better than the other?

Well, why not use both? Each approach can be equally beneficial when utilized in a healthy way. Allowing yourself the space to feel happy or confident in your body while still giving yourself the space to not love yourself all the time can make it less exhausting. Confidence often does not come overnight, especially in a world with increasingly accessible forms of media that might tell you to think differently. 

The fashion industry has come a long way, but we are still figuring out how to navigate and support the movements. There are several approaches a company can take that may improve customer perception of the brand as  “inclusive” or “body diverse”.

When asked what the industry can do better in terms of promoting inclusivity in her opinion, Alex said, “I think knowing your audience and knowing who is buying your product is key, and then also not going to the extreme … either pick your lane or figure out how to do it in a healthy way that includes everybody.” 

How Fashion Can Improve

In addition to this, other potential solutions for brands could include: 

• Offering inclusive size ranges in store and online
• Include body positivity/neutrality in messaging that is genuine and reflective of their values and physical stores.
• Implement fit standards in the US market to make sizing more consistent across the board and categorize sizing based on real measurements (not ones of vanity). 

Body positivity and body neutrality are imperfect movements, but the fashion industry is changing and it is imperative that brands understand the current environment and learn how to support it. Even small changes count as progress, and as an industry we should aim to embrace the need to change to accommodate a broader range of customers.