H&M Plus Size range, when did it get good again? The answer is… this week? Last month maybe? I don’t know, but visiting the site, there have been some very promising additions.
Okay, so, I’m going to bore you now with one of my old lady fatty stories. Once upon a time back in the mid-90s there were very few places you could physically shop plus size (wait it’s still like that now isn’t it?) BUT we didn’t even, really have any sort of internet shopping either. It was high street or your mum’s catalogue or NOTHING FOR YOU FATTY. So, back in ’96 when I read (probably in one of those ancient newspaper type things or something) that H&M had started a plus size range, I begged my mum to take me to London for the ‘fashions’.
H&M BiB – like nothing I’d seen before
Okay, so I might sound like some backwater eejit here, but living up north and growing up fat, with a fat mum too, my experience of high street fashion was Evans, and Evans alone. With the odd random outlet shop (Hi Big Girls Don’t Cry in Hull – no seriously, this is what we contended with).
So walking into H&M Oxford Circus was like a dream. Upon entering I saw the sign that said BiB (Big is Beautiful *vom*) and my heart sang, it was all so cool and trendy. I stepped onto the escalator filled with excitement and for once that excitement wasn’t thwarted, there on the 2nd floor, was rail upon rail of fashionable plus size clothes, jeans (!) that fitted, cool dresses, funky tops, all the fashion my little chubby heart could desire.
The start (and end) of a trend
Slowly but surely other brands started taking notice, Evans introduced ‘Seven’ a young edgy brand packed full of purple lycra (yes really) and bold prints. Soon came Simple Be, JD Williams’ younger sister. It felt like things were changing. But it was short lived. The brands started to fizzle out, or like Etam (oh Amelia May), go out of business altogether. And for a while there, things were just, well, crap.
Thank Blog for Bloggers
Around 2010 I became aware of plus size fashion bloggers. Again this is a very boring old lady story, but I was 30, I’d never read a blog, let alone heard of one. I was only just getting to grips with twitter and facebook. But there low and behold was a bevy of babes, who all looked like me, chubbily delicious, rocking plus size fashion. I felt like I’d discovered nirvana. Here were my people, and I wanted to get tit deep into this fabulous fatty world. And as some would say, the rest is history. But I truly believe it was because of bloggers that the plus size fashion industry started to pull its socks up again.
Nothing is ever perfect…
Now don’t get me wrong, it’s far from perfect, we still don’t have access to the sheer breadth of fashion our slimmer sisters do, and there is a whole world of work that needs to be done. We often see straight size brands dip their toes in the the chubby ocean, before recoiling and using excuses such as “it’s just not selling” “it didn’t really take off” – when we know that they didn’t even bother promoting it in the first place and refused to put it on the high street, relegating us to online only. But there is so much good stuff out there at the moment that needs celebrating.
Are H&M Plus Size any better than other brands?
The newest incarnation of H&M plus size is looking good, and the latest offerings show a lot of promise. The models are actually plus size, the styles are varied, fashionable and reflect the main range. From the few pieces I ordered last week, the sizing seems to be a lot better too – heads up, if you’re a 22/24 the 2XL should be just right.
I’ve always been impressed with H&M’s quality and price point, especially for those on a budget. And right now, I could spend an absolute fortune with them.
So what I’d like to know is, who’s ringing your plus size bell at the moment? Who are you spending your round pound with?