Actually, I said that many larger women are societally conditioned to
think that way not that they all do.
As for assumptions, I live this. Every breath of every day of
every year of my life I live it. Most of my friends llive it too, be
they 20 or 60 they live it.
The 30,000 beads and sequins on the typical ‘formal dress’ made for
large size women blows the idea of sparkle distracting from size
right out of the water. Though I suppose blinding everyone without a
20 foot radius might be considered distracting.
Furthermore, since they feel that they are disadvantaged
physically they make a fashion statement which makes them feel more
glamorous.
You must circulate in an atypical crowd, though you did say they tend
to be older, and they probably are upper middle class as well.
Anyone that is forced to shop from the likes of Roman’s and Lane
Bryant catalogs gives up on glamour in a hurry, it’s just not
possible from those catalogs and the alternatives are much too costly
for most.
In a silmilar vein, young girls tend to wear either jewelry
that is peer group conformist or which is inconspicuous inasmuch as
they are often not yet comfortable with their bodies.
We definitely move in different circles. The young teen girls around
here are very agressive with their looks, which is it’s own
insecurity, but it’s still anything but inconspicuous.
At the other end of the age spectrum, ladies who are approaching
middle age often use the diversion technique as previously
mentioned.
Let’s just say that I’m between ‘young girl’ and ‘middle aged’ and
pretty much typify the point where larger women generally decide to
tell the world to go hang or decide to remain in the shadows, the
critical juncture you might say. In general, women like me (large in
every way, including being as tall if not taller than their
mates/dates) prefer the classy elegance and, yes, understated and
unremarkable effect. It celebrates the curves without screaming
"look at me!"
But I suppose someone has to be buying those horrid beaded fushia
fiascos in the catalogs.
When it comes to ready made sizes in jewelry perhaps the
biggest gap in demand and flexibility occurs in precious metal
bracelets. Very few bracelets are available in other than seven inch
lengths. <snip>
Bangles. Try finding a bangle bracelet to fit a large person. Now
there’s one company, AmpleStuff, that carries some larger diameter
bangles but they are the only place I’ve ever seen them. Really,
anything remotely fitted is hard to get, rings, bracelets,
anklets… omegas. I’d love to own an omega but I’ve never seen one
remotely long enough.
I am afraid that the jewelry industry, including the small custom
shops, is even more conservative than the clothing industry when nit
comes to realizing trends and changes in the market.
It’s only in the past five years that I’ve been able to find women’s
dress shoes, and at the beginning the only place you could get them
was shops catering to transvestites. Yes, they made pumps for
men before they made them for the primary wearers of the style. So
while the jewelry industry is indeed lagging woefully behind they
aren’t the only ones slow on the uptake.
One of the obvious realities of the American marketplace is
that we are having difficulty reconciling the benefits of affluence
and the effects of overrindulgence.....gawd how I love ice cream!
Ron Mills at Mills Gem, Los Osos, CA
Large size isn’t always a result of over indulgence. The American
marketplace has flatly ignored statistics that show that women are
taller (and simply larger) then they were fifty years ago. You know
how men can buy pants with different specific inseam lengths, and
shirts in different sleeve lengths? That doesn’t happen for women.
Finally we can find some tall length pants (inseam length varies
though so you have to check the length if possible) but we still
can’t get shirts or coats in tall. It’s rather difficult to keep
warm when your sleeves are two inches too short and your shirt won’t
stay tucked in because the torso is also too short.
Lynn A. Davis
Tephra’s Treasures
Handcrafted Jewelry, Accessories
And Other Fine Treasures
