“Mid size”. The term is starting to become known to the general public, but no one really knows what it means. For women who are questioned on the fly, it is often a question of size. “Is it from 44? Or 42? More? Less?” Chloé Bidault, aka TheGingerChloé on social networksis one of the content creators who try every day to popularize the term and make it more acceptable to everyone.
But then how to describe it? “In my opinion, these are sizes starting from 42,” says Chloé Bidault. “In terms of fashion, this means something because it is from this size that luxury brands like Sandro or Maje stop, while brands specializing in large sizes start from 46.” “Mid size” is therefore an intermediate size forgotten by the industry. However, for Chloé (as for others), “the acceptance of oneself is largely through fashion.”
42, the average for French women
This is one of the reasons that motivated the designer – now followed by 343,000 people on Instagram – to further encourage her followers to embrace their own self-esteem through their looks. Even if it meant hitting on their complexes a little with tight-fitting and transparent clothing. “At first, I only talked about body positivity, but I realized that there was really a lack and a need,” admits Chloé Bidault.
Because just like on the catwalks and in magazines, on social media, no space was reserved for women who were larger than a size 36. “We always saw the same profile and women couldn’t imagine themselves in a garment worn by a size 36.” However, in France, the average size of a woman is a 42, the measurement at which most of the trendiest brands stop.
A new fashion possible
With the possible exception of Almé, a clothing brand designed
is seven years old for sizes ranging from 36 to 54 and with whom Chloé Bidault collaborates. At its head, Emmanuelle Sokolowski who after two very close pregnancies had to discover plus-size fashion. After a traumatic experience in a store, the former bank trader can no longer find clothes adapted to her new body shape. “I understood that clothing was the first stone of my reconstruction”. Her idea? “Revolutionize and dust off plus-size fashion”.
However, the “plus size” label is not so important here. “The goal is not to hide and lose weight. It’s mainly to make fashion that is adapted.” When asked how she would describe the “mid-size woman,” Emmanuelle Sokolowski replies that she doesn’t “want to put anyone in boxes. I don’t like to put labels because I don’t want to judge and be judged in return. On the other hand, I know that when you’re over a size 40, I can clearly see this profile where you end up in the middle with nothing. At Almé, we think about this niche.”
“Digital technology has amplified fatphobic discrimination”
While the two designers see the changing views on their “mid-size” size, they know that there is still a long way to go. For researcher Dimitra Laurence Larochelle, lecturer in media sociology at the Sorbonne Nouvelle, the digital space has allowed for greater visibility of large bodies “that did not necessarily exist in the dominant media”, but social networks remain double-edged. They participate “in the resistance” and at the same time are not neutral.
“The Instagram algorithm is built in such a way that it puts a lot of emphasis on thin bodies, bodies that conform to dominant beauty stereotypes. Digital technology has amplified fat-phobic discrimination,” regrets Chloé Bidault. This is evidenced by the comments on posts under the posts of “mid-size” people. Sometimes criticized as being too fat, sometimes as too thin. And Emmanuelle Sokolowski emphasizes: “Mid-size people form a community that is suffering because they have not been heard for years.”
Now the founder of Almé hopes to see things evolve, especially in fashion. “The textile market is changing. If today a brand makes sizes 36 to 40, you can’t decide overnight to go up to 54. Mentalities are changing and I hope it’s not a fad.”
Source: www.20minutes.fr
