Bigger & Better : Larger-Sized People Now Can Choose From Bolder, More Updated Styles

Until recently the fashion industry treated large-size customers as if they were invisible.

Those who didn’t conform to the industry’s regular sizes were fashion nobodies, relegated to polyester stretch pants and mumus and ignored by designers who created fashions with the Size 6 model in mind. Anything over a Size 14 for women or a Size 48 for men was out of date or made of cheap fabrics in dull colors.

Much has changed in the past five to 10 years. Clothing designers and specialty shops at last entered the large-size market; they could no longer ignore the demand by customers for fashion in all sizes.

Recognition that 38% of women consumers are larger than a Size 14 opened a previously untapped market, says Carole Crevar-Stockard, vice president-regional director of stores for the Forgotten Woman in Fashion Island, Newport Beach.

“There are key fashion resources well-known in regular department stores--like Jones New York--now doing large-size clothing,” she says. “I don’t think any style isn’t represented.”

Among the fashionable silhouettes at Forgotten Woman: car-wash skirts (so named for their box pleats with slits), suede bombers and leather coats, “antique” floral print chiffon dresses and tuxedo-style pantsuits.

Such a wardrobe is quite a change for a woman who might be used to “wearing her husband’s old sweat shirts.”

In their attempts to liven up large-size clothing, however, some manufacturers and designers have gone overboard. They’ll take an over-sized T-shirt and “glop on 10 pounds of glitter and rhinestones,” Crevar-Stockard says.

“Do you know how long it took us to get a plain cotton T-shirt with a patch pocket?” she says. “What we’re trying to do is get away from the glitz and go more into design and luxury fabrics. Keep the little black dress, but put in some tucks and detailing in it. Our customers want real style.”

Crevar-Stockard watches a large woman walk past her store in a floral mumu.

“That is not our customer,” she says. “Our customer likes fun and funky things.”

Some items more likely to appeal to The Forgotten Woman clientele: cruise clothes with a nautical flair, including a white jacket with navy trim and a gold embroidered crest ($202) and palazzo pants with a navy strip around the hem ($96); a sexy black crepe skirt that laces up the side ($145), and a gold wool gabardine blazer by Criscione with a sequined applique of tropical fish on the front ($725) and a long straight skirt with a deep slit up the side ($245).

“It shows off the leg. Customers love it,” says Crevar-Stockard.

Audrey Jones in Brea Mall and MainPlace/Santa Ana also caters to fashion-savvy large women.

“People in large sizes want desperately to get away from horrible basics,” says Stella Cowley, store manager of Audrey Jones in Brea.

“Oprah Winfrey was one of the forerunners. She’s so much in the public eye. Her weight has gone up and down, yet she always dresses flamboyant. She’s given a lot of ladies courage.”

Five years ago a large woman couldn’t find many of these clothes at Audrey Jones: Vibrantly-colored sweaters, shorter skirts (“those were a no-no in larger sizes”), contemporary suits and bejeweled evening wear in sizes 14 to 26. There’s a sheer chiffon leopard print blouse ($95) with leopard leggings ($65) or a coral-colored suit with scalloped edges and gold buttons on the jacket ($175).

“Whatever you see in a regular store, you’ll see the same version here,” Cowley says.

Men, too, are finding more selection on the racks of big and tall clothing stores.

Style-conscious clothes in lighter, brighter colors and natural fabrics are far more plentiful than they were even a few years ago, says Otto Vojdani, manager of V & V Big and Tall in El Toro.

“Before, everything was dark and polyester. Now we carry mostly cotton and natural fibers,” Vojdani says.

One example of the kind of trendy garment not formerly seen in most big-and-tall shops: a textured cotton sweater with hand-woven waves of taupe, black and tan ($150).

“We do take chances. It can be harder to sell the higher fashion items, but there are those willing to buy the better clothes,” Vojdani says.

Large men can now find well-known labels such as Ralph Lauren, Gant and Pierre Cardin.

Suits--in sizes 48 to 60 regular, 46 to 58 long and 42 to 56 extra long--are available at V & V in the same styles and fabrications as their regular size counterparts. Le Baron makes a single-breasted suit out of charcoal wool with fine chalk stripes ($785) that is typical of the improved quality in large suits.

Xtra-Xtra in Santa Ana carries contemporary large-size sportswear such as silk shirts, colorful vests, leather bomber jackets and sweaters with bold graphics.

“Most big and tall stores carry conservative goods. We’re trying to establish a more fashion look,” says Jack Syke, spokesman for Xtra-Xtra.

“The clothes are splashier, brighter and bolder.”

Xtra-Xtra’s offerings include cotton shirts in bold abstract patterns ($34), vests with wild stripes and spirals ($42) and a two-toned bomber in olive and camel-colored leather ($245). There are even novelty items such as a white cotton shirt with embroidered pens sticking out of its pocket and an ink blot on the front ($40).

“A lot of guys didn’t know this was available to them,” Syke says. “Although we appeal to the young 18- to 24-year-old market, we have guys in their 40s and 50s pick this stuff out. They’ve never seen it (in their sizes) before.”

Getting a large-size person to try on stylish clothes often requires some coaxing.

“For many women the problem is how they feel about themselves. They’re so shame-faced about being large, especially in Southern California,” says Carol Baier, who sells women’s large-size clothing through her Carann showroom in Tustin and private appointments and fashion shows.

“They tell me to put them in something that will make them disappear. But I think we make powerful statements as large women, and those statements should be positive.”

She puts many clients in colorful knit suits.

“Their first response is always negative. They think they’ll look lumpy and bumpy, but when the knits fit well and hang off the body, they always love them.”