Is It Time to Reimagine the Term ‘Plus-Size Fashion’?

“I find it to be a little suggestive and a little bit mean-spirited,” White says. “In my opinion, fashion is fashion and should be available in all sizes, so there shouldn’t be plus-size, straight-size, and in-between size. It should just be fashion.” She personally prefers the term curvy.

Model Marquita Pring says she used to reject plus-size too. But she admits that her perspective has shifted, largely because of the community that has formed around it. Still, “I do think we should start stepping into a place of getting rid of these labels,” she says.

Is a label even necessary? Can we retire the term plus-size—or any clothing size identifiers, for that matter—once and for all? Or is the conversation surrounding this eight-letter term missing the point entirely?

Some brands have shied away from labeling their products as "plus size," instead calling their collections that go above a size 14 “curvy,” “extended,” and even simply “14+.” But again, there's no standard across the industry, so it can make for a confusing experience for the shopper. And it presents another issue with having an umbrella term to begin with: It covers too many varying sizes, which means some brands say “plus” goes up to an 18, while others will up to a 40. Again, confusing.

Nicolette Mason, a fashion writer and consultant who cofounded Premme with Gabi Gregg, says it’s important that, no matter what term you use, it should come with “some kind of distinction” for exactly what sizes it encompasses: “If someone is going to refer to a size range as being plus-size, there’s an expectation that they’re going to carry from at least a 12 or 14 up through at least a 24, if not higher.”

That's why it helps to be more explicit—for example, 11 Honoré, the online luxury retailer, advertises that it sells clothing in sizes 12 to 24. “Whether you’re straight size or plus size, you’re busy and you don’t want to spend time shopping on a site that doesn't have your potential sizing,” says Patrick Herning, its founder and CEO. “So for us, it’s pretty explicit, and it shows if you fit into this specific size run, we’re here for you.”

Kaelen Haworth of Second Sight, a size-inclusive womenswear brand that has started publicly using the term extended sizing, thinks her approach may be a good alternative. “I don't see the need to designate a certain group of people as plus-size,” she says. “I think extended sizing is a better way to talk about it because it's just descriptive. It gives women a heads-up that there are more sizing options for a variety of bodies.”

Part of the reason there's a debate about this in the first place is that it's such a personal thing: It's your body, and everyone's in a different place on their journey to acceptance or feeling comfortable with where they fit. The fact that it affects literally where you get clothes and how you find them makes it more complicated.