The Sum of My Parts...

I appreciate the valiant efforts of fashion editors who try to dress me in a way that emphasizes the good and hides the not-so-good, really. I think it's a great step forward that the fashion glossies are catering to women of different shapes and sizes instead of making us all try to conform to the standard of willowy models - (whose waists are the diameter of my neck and whose legs are taller than my entire body).

But I have a bit of a bone to pick with those "dress for your body type" features that are frequently splashed across the pages of the mags. You know what I'm talking about - those "if you have a small chest, wear a halter top! If you have a prominent butt, wear straight-leg, flat-front pants! If you have broad shoulders, do this! If you have a tiny head, well..you're just plain out of luck!"

Hey, thanks. Really. I'm all for a little direction when it comes to camouflaging the various peaks and valleys of my body. But there's one little thing - I'm not one-dimensional - I'm a sum of my many, many parts. And let's face it - I have many great parts; but also many not-so-great parts! Seems to me, the editors of Cosmo and Glamour are so used to an airbrushed ideal that they can't quite wrap their heads around a woman who may, say, have a big butt AND a small chest! They focus their fashion fix-it skills on one feature - for example, my not-so-ample bosom - and throw out some great wardrobe ideas to amplify my assets. BUT; and this is a big "but", the skinny halter-tunic they suggest would amplify MY big butt to epic proportions!

Yeah, and in the swimwear section, thanks for the suggestions! So...I should add volume to my chest with ruching and ruffles on a teenie string bikini. I should flatter my not-so-flat belly with a streamlined one-piece. AND, you recommend that I hide my hips with a swingy skirted style. Yup, newsflash! I have all these issues! Being small-chested and short doesn't mean I'm going to be a size 0. If I'm to follow all your directions, my swimsuit would have a serious identity crisis.

So here's my point. It's great that the fashion powers-that-be have started to cater to the reality of women's bodies and women's lives in the pages of their magazines. But they've still got a long way to go. Women of all shapes and sizes are the reality - not women who've got a solitary trait that sets them apart from the unrealistic ideal of supermodels. How about more case studies about real women and how they can dress in style and comfort, instead of addressing one body part at a time; often at the expense of the others? Thank you. My in-need-of-amplifying chest and my in-need-of-hiding butt thank you.