Nordstrom Catalog Quietly Includes "Plus Sized" Models, Separately

By Irin Carmon  |  March 16, 2010 | 6:20pm
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A reader points out the latest Nordstrom catalog, terming it “Plus-sized done right: No ‘clothes for curvy women’ headings, no congratulating themselves for using full figured ladies, just two pretty ladies wearing beautiful clothes.” True. And yet…

We decided to take a closer look at the catalog, online in a convenient flipbook format.

Indeed, there’s a lot to like here — two women in the classic plus-sized model range (12? 14?) modeling clothes that fit them, without much fanfare. It’s presumably linked to the plus-sized section Nordstrom has long had, both in the stores and online.

Look! Here’s two pretty people from different racial backgrounds getting married in the springtime!

Bridesmaids! Flower girls! Carefree, yet elegant fun — oh, wait. Weren’t the bigger girls invited to the wedding? Looks like they’ll have to have their own party on pages 46-53 — and stay there.

Ditto on the swimwear, which Nordstrom declined to demonstrate in anything but the standard model sizing.

Same thing for lingerie too, despite the headline, “Nordstrom Fits America.”

It’s hard to imagine that there is a real logistical or business reason not to present models of different sizes together — unless it’s the implicit belief that the fatties will screw up the “regular” shots, or else an unthinking embrace of the idea that being above a size 8 is akin to living on another planet. Or that no shopper wants to see how the swimsuits and lingerie might look on a different shape or size.

Well, there’s always next season.

March 2010 Catalog [Nordstrom]

 
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