can you do high fashion if you're not slim/slender?

[katebug]

I know that its perfectly possible for non-model shaped people to dress well and look fashionable

But high fashion...do you think its only really suited to very slender people? Can we all find a way to pull off the runway looks?

 

[SpookyGirl]

Well, I think one has to be slim. Not skinny, but fit. I am against the whole skinny model look, but I have to agree that clothes sit better on a fit body...

 

[dandylions]

^^ agreed if you're skinny enough with the long enough limbs etc then you look good/ eg nicole richie pre and post losing weight!

 

[Luti21]

if the cut fits you don't have to be skinny. i'm pretty skinny and small person and i barely even find any clothes that fit me. even the smallest nr. in store is a bit big in some point so you don't have to be model to look greate just find a right cut and material.

 

[litchickuk]

i do think that you have to be slight to get into designer togs. Im slim and yet sometimes i feel like im squeezing into some clothes!

 

[Luti21]

is the designer really that important?

 

[leyla m.]

realistically?

yes you can but wont look good.

when i started my job as a buyer for brands such as derek lam, peter som, david szeto, etc i decided (no matter how much i have a bigger size clientele) to stop at a certain size. then again, high end/exclusive designers usually never go above a size UK 14 and that is super rare or it is cute tiny anyway.
i am big; well big enough not to look good in certain clothes as much as i would want to wear them and have them at my disposal all the time...
designers such as temperley for example go up to a size UK 16 in certain styles but she is not considered that exclusive anymore either..


i really think the best size is a UK 10 or UK 12 if you are tall enough to pull it off for such designers (i am a UK 12 and short so nothing ultra sleek for me until i slim down to my normal size )

 

[fashionista-ta]

I say yes, of course, but that was predictable

 

[CHEAPandCHIC]

I think as long as you're tall (5 ft 9 upwards), it will look good. Some girls I know are a UK size 12-14 (ie not 'thin') and tall, and because they have height, they can pull off the look just as well as a medium height thin person, because thier bodies are in good proportion.

 

[laika]

i think there are certain designers whose clothes actually look better on fuller figured and/or petite people.

Marni, for example, looks a lot better when you have some womanly curves to fill it out, imo. The size of the accesories also suits a larger frame.

And everytime I see a Miu Miu show, I always think the clothes would look great (even better maybe) on someone petite. The girlish, younger-sisterishness of it just suggests someone shorter, smaller to me.

I do think that super-structured and exaggerated volumes can be hard to pull off if you're not tall. But with the right balance and proportion, I think it can work for plenty of people....I absolutely love the unexpectedness of a non-model body in these types of clothes.

I guess that sums it up--it's easy to wear runway looks if you're built like a coat hanger.

But i love the surprise that emerges when you see different types of bodies interacting with designer clothes.

 

[justlooking]

not really. even someone larger like Liv Tyler, who although tall...cannot pull it off imho.

 

[VICTIM]

yes you can but very few can pull it off. look at marianne faithful she looks amaizing!

 

[Lonewalker]

She wasn't always big, she used to be quite skinny or am I confusing her with someone?

 

[xarly]

honestly.....NO.

 

[VICTIM]

She wasn't always big, she used to be quite skinny or am I confusing her with someone?

yeah i think she used to be but i'm talking about her now

 

[Foxie-Pooh]

Can you even imagine what a size 10 would look like in this outfit ??

cred-style.com

 

[VICTIM]

surely thats a showpiece?

 

[ELLE_ME]

Can you even imagine what a size 10 would look like in this outfit ??


cred-style.com

Nobody looks good in that outfit, not even mrs. Kurkova

 

[fashionista-ta]

i think there are certain designers whose clothes actually look better on fuller figured and/or petite people.

Marni, for example, looks a lot better when you have some womanly curves to fill it out, imo. The size of the accesories also suits a larger frame.

And everytime I see a Miu Miu show, I always think the clothes would look great (even better maybe) on someone petite. The girlish, younger-sisterishness of it just suggests someone shorter, smaller to me.

I do think that super-structured and exaggerated volumes can be hard to pull off if you're not tall. But with the right balance and proportion, I think it can work for plenty of people....I absolutely love the unexpectedness of a non-model body in these types of clothes.

I guess that sums it up--it's easy to wear runway looks if you're built like a coat hanger.

But i love the surprise that emerges when you see different types of bodies interacting with designer clothes.

Love what you said, and couldn't agree more

 

[laika]

thanks fashionista-ta

I don't think "pulling it off" has much to do with what things look like on the runway.

A model's job is not to look good--it's to make the clothes look good.

So, by necessity, on the runway, the model is relatively absent, compared to the clothes. She's basically an animated hanger.

The rest of us dress ourselves for a host of other reasons--to invoke a mood, fulfill an inspiration, express our personalities, look attractive, whatever.
Most people don't wear clothes for the sake of showing them off.....
And they certainly don't want to disappear into their clothes (i.e., display the clothes at the expense of themselves)

Pulling it off has a lot more to do with comfort and confidence. And that comes from knowing your body and knowing what you want to say with the way you dress.

but no one can "pull off" a straight-off-the -runway, duplicate look (including models!)....because there is nothing there to pull off.