Anyone who is, and probably always was a regular dress size (I'm talking 8-14 since anything smaller than a size 8 should only be available in Mothercare anyway) will not understand the fat girl shop phenomenon.
It exists as follows . . .
Rather than extend the range in all clothing retailers to include larger sizes, most have opted for one of the two other options available.
The first is the option often referred to as 'fat girl corner' this is a designated area of the store set aside specifically for larger sizes. It is often located at the back of the shop away from the front windows and skinny mannikins. This is to safeguard the reputation of the shop so possible skinny consumers don't see big girls brousing and flee in fear, and so the fat girls have to walk through the fashionable clothes first before ending up in the frumpy corner which stands as an incentive for them to shed five stone. This area of the store is always the furthest away from the air-conditioning, changing rooms and lights. Can't have fat girls getting to comfortable, trying anything on or seeing anything in good light, they might . . . dress better, and that would be horrible, wouldn't it?
The second option is to branch out into a new chain specially designed, tailored and aimed at larger sized women. These are known as 'fat girl shops' and boast larger sizes, larger collections and larger changing rooms (let's face it, there are single wardrobes that are easier to get dressed in than most high street changing rooms - never been in one yet where the girl in the next cubicle didn't think I was rapping out an SOS with my elbows, or where I didn't end up sticking my arse out of the ribbon of fabric they laughably call a curtain) Fat girl shops suffer from the opposite malady to the fat girl corner, rather than frump designed to make you go unnoticed at any function by blending into the beige carpet, fat girl shops are designed to dress you up like something from a Lilt commercial.
So fat girl corner makes the assumption that anyone 16+ has no taste, likes everything tent-like and black and will never take anything back because it was such an ordeal buying it in the first place. The fat girl shop assumes anyone 16+ has short arms, is under 5 foot 2 and likes their friends and family to be able to find them from accross a crowded Indian restaurant, in the dark.
They say the average for British woman is now a size 16. Let's hope she knows how to sew, because she won't be buying much off the peg this season.
