‘Plus size’ fashion advances breaking prejudices in Brazil

The Brazilian Amanda Momente poses with ease in front of the camera, dressed in a tight black jumpsuit from the brand plus size that he created in the absence of options to dress and today is part of a growing business in his country.

“Society judged me for something that I turned into intelligence to create a company,” the 34-year-old entrepreneur, who founded the Wondersize brand in 2017, told AFP.

The idea came to her when she felt uncomfortable in the gym: the clothes she bought to exercise in stores were too tight for her, they were see-through when stretched, or they rolled up on her thighs.

The solution was to create her own outfit with a dressmaker, and the result motivated her to quit her job as a real estate agent and start a career in fashion, says the businesswoman, who sports a pink mohawk and shaved hair on the sides.

Modern and colorful fashion for people with voluminous bodies is part of an international trend that challenges unrealistic beauty standards, especially for women.

In Brazil, small businessmen, influencers and models with unconventional bodies consolidate this movement ‘body positive’, driving the expansion of the fashion market ‘plus size’.

“Producing fashion for fat people is not advocating obesity, but giving options (…) It is the industry that has to dress the body and not the other way around”says Momente, whose garments are sold online and at specialized fairs.

In the most populous country in Latin America, with 203 million inhabitants, a 57.25% of those over the age of 18 are overweight, and 22.5% among them are obese, according to the latest official records.

“Identity and dignity”

While the big brands reserve at most a small part of their offer for large sizes, small companies are betting on responding to a demand “repressed”says Marcela Liz, president of the Brazil Plus Size Association (ABPS), of entrepreneurs and SMEs.

This sector expanded more than 75% in a decade until 2021, when it reached a turnover of about 9.6 billion reais (about US$ 1.94 billion at current exchange rates), according to ABPS estimates.

“Supply has improved, but we are still below demand and with expectations of growing to 15 billion reais by 2027” (about $3 billion), says Liz.

Despite this, the industry faces a challenge of “high costs for producing on a small scale and with a greater amount of raw material”add.

At this month’s Pop Plus plus-size fair in Sao Paulo, dozens of women and men rummage through racks of second-hand items and independent designers.

There are tops with transparencies, shirts with inscriptions, shiny skirts and other models in sizes up to 70 (hip 164 cm).

“The market saw fat people as people with no taste for fashion and with the sole intention of hiding their bodies”tells Flávia Durante, activist and founder of the fair that organizes several editions a year.

Since the first in 2012, “There was an evolution: before we only found clothes and not fashion. Fashion is not just consumption, it is also identity and dignity”says During.

definitive inclusion

Letticia Munniz, television presenter and model plus size 33 years old, participated in several editions of Sao Paulo Fashion Week, was on the cover of fashion magazines and did numerous advertising campaigns.

But he demands a definitive inclusion from the fashion industry, without setbacks.

“Our work has been strengthened, but it still enters a place of quotas. We are not considered equal”says the Brazilian influencer and activist.

According to Munniz, who usually wears tailor-made garments, the occasional presence of plus sizes on the catwalks does not guarantee their availability in stores. With brown hair and eyes, she shines on social networks, encouraging her more than a million followers to value themselves.

“Everything changes when you find something that was designed to enhance a body like yours, and not to hide it”, he says in a post next to his photo on the cover of a magazine.

Source: AFP