Dear Niel,
I tried the new dress you have made specially for me and I love it! At first, I thought the huge prints will make me look bigger but then what's the point of denying the fact? It's bold and fun just like me. I like how it shows off my legs. I also like the cool belt! Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me.
I thought my fashion woes would end with the arrival of the curvy Barbie dolls. I was hoping that I can share clothes with them. When I found out that they can share clothes with dolls having the original body size, I felt something is wrong. I knew that I still have very limited clothing options.
How can a curvy girl share clothes with one who is not? What kind of delusion is that? Dolls of different body types sharing the same size of clothes trivializes the fashion problems of plus size people. How can other people understand the frustration and the difficulty of someone bigger trying to find the right size of clothes? Mattel decided to just sweep our frustrations under the rug by adjusting the curvy body so it won't be too big, so it will still fit the clothes meant for the original body size. It's like the fashion industry telling fat people to be slimmer so they can fit in the clothes the fashion industry makes.
These curvy dolls could have communicated this fashion frustration to kids and collectors had the dolls been curvier. Mattel could have addressed the issue with the fashion industry's lack of attention to the plus size figure by making a separate set of clothes made specially for the curvy dolls. Mattel could have done so much with the new body but they took the easy way and designed the curvy body to make the fashion problems seem almost non-existent. It just shows that Mattel is part of what's wrong in the fashion industry and at the same time denying something is wrong.
Different bodies being able to wear the same size of clothes isn't a celebration of diversity. It's forcing people to fit in one size.
But you get it. You get me, Niel. You understand that I can show off my style even if my body is bigger, even if I don't have a pronounced waist. You understand that I can have this body and still be beautiful. I'm so lucky.
Feeling loved,
Vernie
