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I Found the Best Jeans For Curvy Women After Years of Disappointment


I’ve always had problems finding jeans that fit right. Even from a young age—when I was stick-thin and in ballet class four times a week—my butt always made it difficult for me to fit comfortably into pants, especially because I grew up in the age of low-rise jeans. And as my body filled out more over time and I put on weight all over, it became clear to me that most of the popular denim brands simply didn’t make jeans for bodies like mine. Thus, I began my journey to hunt down the best jeans for curvy women.

Mind you, by standard sizing measures, I technically fit into the “straight size” category (as opposed to plus size) because I fluctuate between a 12 and 14, or 31 and 32. But because my butt is on the larger side, straight sizes don’t usually work on me. I would always have to size up to get them over my hips and so that my thighs wouldn’t feel like a tourniquet was being wrapped around them—but then I’d always end up with the top being too big. I was constantly battling the seemingly-unfixable waist gap and even if they fit well, they would split awkwardly in my thighs due to them rubbing together and wearing down the seaming. Over many years—and many weight fluctuations that prompted me to try out countless denim brands—I came close to giving up on ever finding the perfect pair of jeans. I was convinced that I was doomed to live a life in dresses and skirts forever.

Then I found DL1961. I’d never heard of it, even though the brand was right under my nose at Nordstrom, Shopbop, and Amazon. I first discovered the brand through its collaboration with beauty influencer Marianna Hewitt and had the chance to try out the Hepburn High Rise Wide Leg pair. To say that my world was forever changed would not be an understatement.

I never knew that jeans could be so comfortable, but still look unbelievably chic and flattering. The high-waisted fit actually comes up past my belly button—something that was missing in literally every other style I tried from different brands—and the fabric has enough give to allow me to sit comfortably without the waistband digging into my stomach. But the best parts? No waist gap and my big ole’ booty looks amazing in them, if I do say so myself. This single pair of jeans has become my gold standard for denim, and they convinced me to give denim another try.

In all honesty, after discovering what I believed to be the perfect pair of pants, I was scared that it was a fluke and that other fits from the brand wouldn’t flatter me as well as the Hepburn did. Thankfully, DL1961 proved me wrong, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the brand offers inclusive sizing both on its site and through a few other retailers.



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Chromat's Becca McCharen-Tran on Curvy Mannequins, Size Inclusivity, and That Major Nordstrom Buy


Since its first New York Fashion Week show in 2016, Chromat has been an important voice in the industry’s size-inclusivity conversation. Its casting is always notably, radically diverse, with models of all shapes and backgrounds making their way down the runway in the brand’s futuristic swimsuits, as designer Becca McCharen-Tran envisioned them.

And though shoppers could find its full size run on the brand’s e-commerce, the retailers who stocked Chromat would usually stop buying the collections at large. That all changes this summer: In March, McCharen-Tran announced that Nordstrom had made a substantial buy from her Fall 2018, including the first order for Chromat swimsuits in sizes up to 3X. This year, more and more people can become #CHROMATBABES.

“It’s major,” the designer tells Glamour at the Savannah College of Art and Design’s SCADstyle conference, where she was speaking on a panel. “Our wholesale accounts dictate what goes into production and what kind of lives and dies on the runway—basically what you’ll see once and never see again.”

Before the Nordstrom buy, there was a disconnect between what people saw at Fashion Week and what actually ended up on racks in stores. “We’ve been in Barneys for a long time and they’ve really supported us over the years, but their size ends at large,” she explains. To have a major stockist invest in its larger offerings represents something much more monumental: “Nordstrom is for sure at the forefront of size inclusivity in retail, so I do see that, finally, that consumer is getting more options in the high fashion space.”

PHOTO: Noam Galai

A model on the runway at Chromat’s Fall 2018 show.

Shortly after McCharen-Tran revealed the Nordstrom news, Refinery29 reported on behind-the-scenes images of Chromat’s swim production process (posted to the brand’s Instagram Story), including the 2X fit mannequins the team uses to make its size-inclusive swimsuits.

“People really responded to [the mannequins] and I was like, ‘I’ve seen this before!'” McCharen-Tran tells us. “That one picture of that curvy mannequin got re-posted on so many other accounts.”

The designer procured hers at Alvanon, a New York-based company that uses aggregate data including sizing and body scans to create the figure. “We’d been getting fit feedback for years from the curve models that walked for us on the runway, and other friends and fit models that we work with on our plus size patterns,” McCharen-Tran says of how she landed on the 2X shape.

Chromat - Runway - February 2018 - New York Fashion Week: The Shows

PHOTO: Noam Galai

A model on the runway at Chromat’s Fall 2018 show.

Alvanon made two mannequins for Chromat: a standard-size medium (used for measuring sizes extra small through large) and a 2X (for sizes extra large through 3X). The designer is also ensuring that the factory producing Chromat’s size-inclusive swim run understands the nuances of making a garment for different body shapes: “There [are] a lot of different little techniques, like making the straps wider for bigger sizes or adding a kind of power mesh into some places so [there’s] more compression if that’s what you want.”

The online reaction to Chromat’s mannequins highlighted another aspect of the inclusive fashion conversation that hasn’t received as much attention as, say, body-diverse runways: the lack of resources for designers who want to make their garments for a wider range of customers—mannequins, patterns, manufacturers, and so forth. And McCharen-Tran believes the access to should start with design students: “I think in the school process and educational process, those mannequins need to start there and continue.”

Chromat - Runway - February 2018 - New York Fashion Week: The Shows

PHOTO: Noam Galai

A model on the runway at Chromat’s Fall 2018 show.

At the moment, fashion schools are only just starting to incorporate body forms for non-sample size garments. (“Even [on my visit] at SCAD, I didn’t seen any plus-size mannequins,” McCharen-Tran notes.) Though, the need is becoming apparent for some institutions: “I remember going to Parsons and asking about their sizes, and they are starting to add more 16’s and 18’s within the educational program to where students can kind of drape on different bodies,” she says.

With the news of the Nordstrom buy and the excitement surrounding Chromat’s curvy mannequins, McCharen-Tran hopes that perceptions of plus-size bodies will continue to evolve, along with the products available to them in stores.

“I think it’s the stigma around plus size that needs to be abolished, not the definition itself,” she says. “I think people will always need to know what size range is available no matter what you call it. Hopefully, the stigma around larger bodies in the fashion industry at large is changing. That’s what really needs to be exploded and expanded upon.”

The Savannah College of Art and Design paid for the writer’s travel and accommodations for the purpose of writing this story.

Related Stories:

Jeffrey Campbell and Curve Model La’shaunae Steward Are Releasing Size-Inclusive Shoes

For Young Fashion Labels, the Runway Is a Place for Inclusivity

Chromat Just Sent Cheetos Down the NYFW Runway, and We’re Here for It





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Ashley Graham Discusses Why It's Taken So Long for Curvy Women to Be in Beauty Ads


On Wednesday, Ashley Graham was announced as the new face of Revlon, making her one of just a small number of curvy women to front a beauty campaign. Here, she reflects on why we need women of all sizes represented in the beauty landscape—and how far the industry still has to go.

If you ask any big girl what’s her favorite thing in her closet, she’ll give you one of two answers: accessories or makeup. It is how it is because, traditionally, we’ve never had clothes that were cool enough or accessible enough for us. The beauty of makeup, though, is that it isn’t about size—it fits into every person’s makeup bag and should work for every single face. And yet, when I was growing up, the women I saw in beauty campaigns were always unattainable. They were either an A-list movie star or a super thin model I’d never seen before.

Back then, I didn’t understand the effect that would have. I wasn’t really looking at those women to identify with them, I just wanted to know if a foundation was going to look beautiful on my skin. But the more you don’t see women who look like you in images that reinforce what’s “beautiful,” the more that affects your perception.

When I first started gaining weight in my teens, I remember my mom walked in on me while I was rubbing my hip. I told her, with tears in my eyes, “It just bulges out right here.” She was like, “Ashley, that’s just a part of your hip and your butt. If you didn’t have that, you wouldn’t fit into this family.” Then it kind of hit me. It was okay. That side butt—that’s what my husband calls it now—is just something the women in my family have.

“There’s no size requirement to fit a lipstick, so why have there been so few curvy models in beauty campaigns up until this point?”

I was lucky then—and still now—to have a positive role model. But where are the role models for the rest of us? There’s no size requirement to fit a lipstick. So, why have there been so few curvy models in national and worldwide beauty campaigns up until this point?

Here’s the crazy part, I don’t have an answer for you. I’m 30 years old, and I’ve been modeling for 18 years. And every single year I’m like, “Why has no one been knocking on my door? Why are there no beauty brands that are like, ‘Hey, we want Ashley Graham?'” I really think it’s because so many brands are comfortable with the status quo. For years, mainstream society created narrow definitions of what beauty means.

In the past, I’ve been been told things like, “Well, you’re only plus-size from your neck down; your face isn’t plus-size.” What does that even mean? If my face isn’t “plus-size,” then by that logic, why wouldn’t you put me in a cosmetics campaign? That’s always confused me. It’s like I’ve been boxed into a category where I can only be used in fashion campaigns where other women look like me. Which is why when you hear voices standing up for inclusivity, or see you body positive hashtags, it’s important. It shows there’s a demand for better representation. There are so many different types of models now with unique perspectives on beauty, brands should actually use them.

What I’ve been hearing from women is that if we don’t see ourselves in a campaign, then we’re not going to want to buy your product. We know a lipstick isn’t going to change us into looking like the model wearing it. But if you bring in models who are representative of the everyday woman—which, by the way, the average-sized American woman is a size 14—we are going to want it so much more because it feels accessible. It’s very basic if you think about it: The more you see someone who looks like you in the campaign, the better you’re going to feel about yourself, because you’re not striving to be someone you’re not. We’re not trying to be an idea of what the beauty industry is telling us we should look like. We’re making our own beauty.

PHOTO: Courtesy of Revlon

Revlon’s Live Boldly campaign, starring Achok Majak, Raquel Zimmermann, Ashley Graham, Imaan Hammam, Adwoa Aboah, and Rina Fukushi

I also think Photoshop plays a huge role here. I’m personally okay with fixing the light or removing a really big blemish that’s taking over the photo. But don’t completely change my body, and don’t change the shape of my eyes or my skin tone or my hair to make it look fuller or more “perfect.” I don’t agree with that. It was actually an important factor in creating this campaign for Revlon. When I found out Cass Bird was going to be the photographer behind it, I was really excited. If you know anything about her work, you know that she hates retouching.

At the end of the day, I hope people understand how groundbreaking this is—that Revlon now has a curve model with a contract on their campaign. This should be the norm. I tell myself the affirmation “I am bold, I am brilliant, I am beautiful” every morning and that’s exactly what this campaign is about. I’m really hoping and striving that in the next 10 years we don’t even have to discuss this. Beauty is beyond size. If more people get vocal on social media, and more brands and designers put all types of women in their campaigns, it will change how we see beauty. We have to stay loud about it.





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Ashley Graham Calls Out Rihanna's Fenty Runway Show For Not Using Curvy Models


PHOTO: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images

Ashley Graham has long been the face of size inclusivity on the runway, constantly pushing designers to do better and cast more plus-size (or curvy, as Graham prefers to be called) models in their shows. And though the fall 2017 shows saw a record 27 plus-size model appearances in New York alone—up from 16 the previous season and a mere six the one before—Ashley says there’s still lots of progress to be made.

In an interview with Yahoo! Beauty, Graham, who has her own lingerie brand, the Ashley Graham Collection, does not think that this year’s collections will be as progressive as last season’s. “It’s sad,” she says. “It’s funny to me, because I’ll look at runways and think, ‘I’d look so great in those clothes’ or ‘I know curvy women who would look so great in those clothes.’”

And she even called out a few names in particular. “I was at Fenty, and that was an amazing show. But how dope would it have been to see some curves on the runway? I think Baja East would be really cool to have curves on the runway. Philipp Plein would be really cool.” Though Rihanna has proved that she’s devoted to providing every woman with an option in the beauty industry—stores cannot keep the deepest shades of Fenty Beauty in stock just days after it dropped—Ashley does have a point that true diversity is not just limited to skin tone.

But it’s not all bad. There were the Christian Siriano and Prabal Gurung runway shows, both of which Graham and other plus-size or curvy models walked in, plus the Chromat show, which was one of the most diverse, with plus-size, transgender, and older models. Nevertheless, designers should all strive to include as many different skin tones, body types, hair textures, etc., as possible.

Related: The Problem With Kmart’s Relabeling Plus Size as ‘Fabulously Sized’



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