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Guardian Writer Tanya Gold Hates Fashion Because She’s Fat
By Lauren Sherman
Newspaper columnist Tanya Gold writes in today’s Guardian that she used to love fashion. Now she think it’s the devil’s work.
Why? Well, for one, a girl in England died because she fell onto a train track while wearing really high heels in the middle of winter. Gold also hates fashion because it encourages conspicuous consumption.
She lists several other reasons, but the main one, it seems, is because she’s gained quite a bit of weight over the last couple of years. “I got so fat that even fashion wouldn’t pretend it could fix me,” says Gold. “You can get so fat they don’t actually want you in their clothes. It is bad marketing; if very fat people wear their clothes, thinner ¬≠people won’t buy them.”
Gold makes an interesting point. But does Karl Lagerfeld design only for sizes 14 and under because he doesn’t want to alienate his size 0 clientele? Would they really care if they saw a size 22 in a Chanel suit? I think it probably has more to do with the fact clothes drape better on smaller-sized women.
It sounds like Gold hates herself, and thus fashion, which used to partially define who she was when she was happier. While some of her points may be valid, they’re also misdirected. Guaranteed, if Gold was to lose the weight she’s gained, we’d see her in high design styles yet again.
Tags: Fashion, Guarian UK, Tanya Gold, writer
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Self-hate is a dangerous thing.
anyone knows who is the 16-year-old Vogue cover model she is describing?
I agree, Lauren. It seems she has made fashion the scapegoat for her self-loathing.
Also, the point needs to be made that fashion is a business, as you have pointed out several times already. The cost of material does come into play, and if a company expanded its size range, it would be making considerably less profit on the garments that used more material. It’s not as though they could charge more for larger sizes; imagine the outrage!
I’m all for diversity and beauty in many forms, but I won’t accept someone who abuses their body with food the same way I won’t accept someone who is thin because they abuse their body with drugs. I’m not, by the way, insinuating that the author is guilty of either.
So does she just go naked? I hate to break it to her but her apathy towards the way she dresses is in fact a fashion statement.
Saying fashion is only for the rich and skinny is such a cop out. Unless you live on a nudist colony, everyone wears clothes, and it is amazing to be able to express yourself on a daily basis in such a personal way as wearing works of art on your body. You choose what to put on your body, why not have a reason and thought process behind it?
First of all, your headline is really misleading… she doesn’t hate fashion because she’s fat, she was already totally disillusioned by it, but she is now able to disregard it because she’s fat, and thus fashion itself has effectively stopped marketing to her.
I think she’s tapped into the actual dark side of the fashion industry…even just reading this blog, it’s clear that fashion is usually not so much about wearing “works of art” and expressing personality and beauty so much as being a source of defensiveness, a reason for class-consciousness, a signifier of socio-economic status, beauty, and a reason to criticize the taste of others. For every post about how cool or quirkily beautiful something is, there is one questioning, “who would buy that?!” And truthfully, as in most advertising, fashion is about aspiring to be something you’re not, and trying to be more like the ideal, which for a lot of young women is a recipe for self-hatred.
i think this is a good post..execpt for the part about karl. i can totally see him not making clothes in bigger sizes because of his hate of bigger people.
Comment 5 rocks… sometimes I read this blog and think everyone who comments is either extremely shallow or 16. Thanks for making such intelligent points.
So what I take from this is that she was never really a happy person, always looking for acceptance or guidance from fashion. And I think, if it wasn’t fashion, she’d find something else to try to conform herself to. Using it to fill that void.
And now that she’s fat, she’s even unhappier.
Kinda pathetic.
Sorry but you can’t hate the industry because you never developed self appreciation.
And to guest 5, a part of fashion is used for class-consciousness, a signifier of socio-economic status, beauty, and a reason to criticize the taste of others.
Such as just about everything else. Its human nature to compare and judge.
C’est la vie.
I hated this post. She’s not saying she hates herself at all and the fact that that’s what Lauren got from this shows you how delusional fashion can be. It’s not about art and self expression it’s about money and exclusion.
Fat “fashion” makes this clear. There’s no bullshit fiction about art. Fat people are not supposed to express themselves just cover up; the fashion world is very clear on this point. That’s what Tanya Gold says in this article. Hell yes she’d be in high fashion again if she could. There’s no shame in wanting beautiful clothes. What’s shameful is that you aren’t allowed to have those clothes if you’re fat.
I love clothes, I really do. I work hard to ignore the large amounts of asshats that are necessary to generate the clothes I love but it’s hard, man. Sometimes, it’s really hard.
That article is infuriating. Personally, I despise sports of all kinds. I have no desire to play sports or watch sports. Ever. And yet, I don’t feel the need to belittle people who do enjoy sports or to brag that I must somehow be intellectually superior to everyone who watches ESPN, because I’ve transcended the need to bother with such things. If Gold doesn’t like fashion, that’s fine, but she doesn’t need to go out of her way to insult everyone who feels otherwise. As far as designers not wanting to make clothes for overweight women, that’s their perogative.
This is the 3rd blog I read to talk about this woman’s piece so I think traffic just went up on the guardian site. Smart move… lol
Hmm I totally agree with 5. I have a big problem with Lauren saying that clothes just look better on thinner people. That is such a subjective opinion!! Western fashion feels women are hangers and that is what clothes look good on. I come from a culture that appreciate curvy women, not big! But they like curves, with hips and boobs. That doesn’t mean it is a fat vs. skinny thing at all. And there are some clothes we feel just don’t look good on people with no curves or no “bodies” because that clothes should become a part of the person, everything will look different on everyone because their personality will shine through. As much as I love fashion I feel that it is all about the clothes (obviously, duh) but not so much the person wearing them. I’m getting off topic but this whole fat vs. skinny and ugly vs. attractive is getting so out of hand. It is in a way teaching people to hate who they are…if you cannot fit into any of your favorite designers clothes (as I size 8, I have had this issue), you are not going to like the designer so much…so why can’t work towards a less standard image versus loving yourself or hating yourself based on the clothes one wears?
Hmm I totally agree with 5. I have a big problem with Lauren saying that clothes just look better on thinner people. That is such a subjective opinion!! Western fashion feels women are hangers and that is what clothes look good on. I come from a culture that appreciate curvy women, not big! But they like curves, with hips and boobs. That doesn’t mean it is a fat vs. skinny thing at all. And there are some clothes we feel just don’t look good on people with no curves or no “bodies” because that clothes should become a part of the person, everything will look different on everyone because their personality will shine through. As much as I love fashion I feel that it is all about the clothes (obviously, duh) but not so much the person wearing them. I’m getting off topic but this whole fat vs. skinny and ugly vs. attractive is getting so out of hand. It is in a way teaching people to hate who they are…if you cannot fit into any of your favorite designers clothes (as I size 8, I have had this issue), you are not going to like the designer so much…so why can’t work towards a less standard image versus loving yourself or hating yourself based on the clothes one wears?
1) Whether clothes drape better on thinner women is irrelevant – fashion industry is about making clothes for people, it’s not its job to make the decisions about how it looks. Yes, even thin women make bad fashion choices.
2) To whoever said that larger clothes use more fabric — clothes are not sold at cost but at substantial profit. Designers who make clothes for large sizes make a smaller profit on size 14 than 4, sure; designers who only make small sizes make NO PROFIT AT ALL from women size 12 and up, and they are the majority in the US.
3) Men have no problems finding designer clothes that fit an average sized guy; average sized women have no such luck since many designers refuse to make garments in sizes over 10. Double standard much?
So it is clear to me that this refusal of many designers to cater to larger-sized female customers is simple bigotry and hatred so strong that it goes AGAINST their financial interests. Next time they start complaining about recession killing fashion industry, let them think whether excluding the majority of their customer base was a wise choice.
(As a rejoinder to inevitable comments about my size — I’m 8, and have no trouble finding clothes. It doesn’t mean that the bigotry doesn’t piss me off.)
that 16 year old girl is NOTHING compared to what I saw with the girls I modeled with. there are some sick things going on with the modeling industry (and I am talking about top level agencies), even weight issues aside.
I agree with several commenters re: style VS fashion.
Fashion is just one aspect of style and you don’t have to spend a bunch of money or wear current trends from the mall to be stylish. Even a larger woman could wear jeans and a plain tee, add a couple of neat accessories and so something neat with the hair and be “fashionable.”
I am 34 and just getting into refined fashion and loving it. I resale/thrift, so not spending much money on it. To me, fashion/choice of outerwear is a vital form of outward expression.
I think that regardless of size, designers should keep in mind people of all sizes. I do agree with the previous comment: “Fashion is just one aspect of style”.
This article and the comments on the guardian website make me so angry. I fail to see how those who do not understand fashion can think that they have the authority to criticise it. Yes, of course there is a dark side to fashion, but there is in every industry out there. To claim that fashion is the enemy of art is ridiculous because fashion is in itself a form of art. It has just become more popular than other ways of expression.