Fashion stretches to fit plus-size teens

CNN ^ | April 29, 2009 | Lola Ogunnaike

[2ndDivisionVet]

While companies across the country are downsizing, some in the fashion world have decided that it's time for a bit of upsizing. This spring, the cheap chic emporiums, Target and Forever 21, will launch plus-size lines for teenagers.

Forever 21's line, Faith 21, will have sizes ranging from XL-2X, while Target's Pure Energy line will go up to a size 30.

It's about time, said several shoppers scouring the crowded racks of a Forever 21 branch in downtown Manhattan, New York, one recent afternoon.

"I would love to be able to shop in one store with my friends that are all different sizes," said one young petite college student, who was eyeing the $2.50 tank tops. "I think it's great that they're expanding."

Another shopper, a full-figured teen in a stylish baby doll dress, was also excited. "I tried on something earlier that was totally cute and it did not fit my breast size, which is really frustrating, because I liked it."

Faith 21 will feature of-the-moment pieces like sheer peasant blouses, denim leggings and curve-hugging mini dresses. Pure Energy will have skinny jeans, maxi dresses and sleeveless party tops.

"In the past we've had XL sizes and we would sell out of them so quickly," said Heidi Canalizo, a regional manager at Forever 21. "Our customers have been asking for this for so long and in the past few years we've really decided it's time to get into it. Not everyone is a size 2."

[2ndDivisionVet]

High Fructose Corn Syrup.

[exist]

Even chubby girls have the right to dress slutty.

[SkyDancer]

Hairspray - Tracy Turnblad ....

[mockingbyrd]

Damn. I’m rapidly closing in on 30 and would kill for the figure I had in my teens. I was a 4 then, three babies later I’m an eight, and gave away all my 4s. There are serious health consequesnces ahead for these gals.....

[Paved Paradise]

I agree. It’s really pitiful. Our neighbor has two daughters and one is horribly obese. I feel just terrible and I never see the kid outside doing any kind of physical activity. Your health is priceless people!

[Right Wing Assault]

CheneyChick will be thrilled. She can take her two friends with her.

[Paved Paradise]

So true. If you have 4 kid and are an 8 you are still svelte.

My doctor says I need to lose 10 lbs but I want to lose 20.

Oh well... I was a twig in high school - weighed 97 lbs. After my first child I fluctuated b/t 102-105 and was 105 until about age 31. Then the fun began.....

I see a lot of very hefty girls in the college I now attend. And I just wonder what they will look like in their 40’s and 50’s, esp. if they’ve had a child or two. They are all going to be having bariatric surgeries.

[bobby.223]

I agree. the other day I was thinking when I was in school long ago there were maybe only one or two ‘cartmans’ in each grade, at the very very most. now everywhere you look you notice a huge percentage of these kids just so horribly out of shape. yep, health IS priceless but as it is said, “youth is wasted on the young”, they just don’t get it and evidently the parents are not pushing health as much as they should either. oh well.

[ktscarlett66]

I agree to a certain extent that some of this is due to obesity. But not all of it is. I had friends in HS that were just bigger than everyone else. They weren’t fat, and even now in their 40s, they look great and aren’t big. But in those teen years, your body does funny things and sometimes it grows ‘out’ before you start growing ‘up’. I was pretty small, a size 7 or so, but I had boobs. A blouse that fit everywhere else gaped at the bustline. Or pulled too tight across. And my sister, who was always pretty small, was bigger than I was. The only tops she could find were baggy ones. The only bras were old lady, industrial strength and always white. No pretty colors or ribbons or trim. She was 13 and huge (she had a reduction a few years ago and went *down* to a 38DD!!)

Girls want to wear the cute clothes other girls wear.

[mom4melody]

I can relate - 5’1”, weighed 112, with Double D’s. I HATED IT. Nothing fit right and everyone teased me...called me Dolly Parton.

I just turned 50 and the stupid things still get in the way...I just love trying to play golf and DH keeps saying “straighten out your arms”.....right......

[glasseye]

“5’1”, weighed 112, with Double D’s. I HATED IT. Nothing fit right and everyone teased me”

Bet not everyone teased you....heheheh

Just say’n.

*evil grin

[SuziQ]

Even chubby girls have the right to dress slutty.

Not all clothes for teenagers are 'slutty'. Some are quite cute, and could look good on some of the heavier teenage girls, but they have not been available. I'm glad the clothing manufacturers are changing this.

I was quite heavy when I was in high school, 40 years ago, and found it almost impossible to get clothing that was appropriate for my age. I had to shop in the 'old ladies' departments, because the sizes were almost never over a 13, and I was larger than that. I solved the problem by learning to sew, and made cute clothes for myself.

[Don Corleone]

The Sisterhood of the Oversize Pants!

[Graybeard58]

So true. If you have 4 kid and are an 8 you are still svelte.

Words that start with the letters "sv" shouldn't be allowed.

It's unnatural.

[dfwgator]

Hi there. Are you a large person? Pleasantly plump? A little on the hefty side, perhaps? Well, let's face it: Are you FAT? When you go jogging, do you leave pot-holes? When you make love, do you have to give directions? At the zoo, do the elephants throw YOU peanuts? Do you look at a menu and say 'OK'? Well, now, you can eat all you want, because at Thornton Melon's "Tall & Fat" stores, we've got you covered. That's right. Fine woolen, and woolen-blend suits and sport coats, in all the larger sizes - husky, stout, extra-stout, and the new Hindenburg line. And for you ladies we have caftans, muumuus, and our own exclusive A-frame in all colors and patterns. Yes, we have miles and miles of fabric. So take it from me, Thornton Melon, if you want to look thin, you hang out with fat people.

[Clioman]

Bloatware?

[JohnBovenmyer]

And we're giving such food stamps and all they want to eat of whatever at school.

At least the latter could easily be changed for GOVERNMENT school kids (leave it optional for private schools.) If the government is acting in loco parentis then it needs to provide the corresponding parental oversight. Measure weight and height on every kid qualifying for free or reduced price school food. If they exceed healthy standards (which liberal medical groups will be quick to provide) their free food is restricted to diets supplied by the liberal food police. Monitor their weight regularly and permit appeals with exclusions for REAL medical issues, not hunger. They NEED to be hungry. Allow them to consume as much as they want AT THEIR OWN EXPENSE. They can get fat on their own dime, but not mine. (I, alas, am permitted to be fat on my own dime.) Then maybe they'll respect their freedom better. If they stay too fat in spite of sticking with the lib diet then let the lib fat police hijack their PE period as well for some real exercise.

Either fat kids get healthy, they get mad at libs (or both) or they take over responsibility for their own diet. The libs would be psychologically unable to turn down such an altruistic chance for control. Once the fat kids are reasonably thin again they can go back on the regular government food.

The schools already have nurses and food staffs. The administrative costs could probably be paid for by savings in food costs. No one could complain about the diets because they would be lib certified as healthy; well, you could complain, but no one in the liberal school bureacracy or liberal local media would support you. Conservative/libertarian parents could just opt their kids out of the government food in general. Absent family disasters they shouldn't be taking such handouts anyway.

I'd love to do something similar with food stamps, but I don't know how to work that when one empowered fatty could steal from more calorically needy members of their family when their total caloric budget was cut. Maybe my imagination doesn't go far enough and some lib could figure out a way to police their free food too. And thin the lib ranks in more ways than one.

[exist]

Not all clothes for teenagers are 'slutty'.

I meant the ones they buy.

[SuziQ]

Not even all of those.

[central_va]

Girls want to wear the cute clothes the other cute girls wear.

There, fixed it.