‘Style Has No Size,’ ‘Plus Is Equal,’ And ‘This Is Plus’ Hashtags Grow On Social Media
There’s a new kind of hashtag growing on social media called “style has no size.” On Instagram, the #stylehasnosize has already garnered 26,017 posts as of this writing. In plenty of the photos seen using the “style has no size” label, lots of curvy women can be seen showing off their wares, proving that just because they aren’t a size zero doesn’t mean they can’t dress fashionably as well. The goal of the campaign is to offer a positive spin against fat-shamers and the like.
On Twitter, a search for “style has no size” turns up a plethora of news reports and photos, along with another hashtag that celebrates all sizes, known as “this is plus,” reports BuzzFeed. Apparently, the “style has no size” hashtag is a lot more popular than the “this is plus” hashtag — at least on Instagram — because the “this is plus” hashtag has slightly more than 3,000 Instagram posts.
Join in the conversation – #ThisIsPlus – Style has no size! http://t.co/Gf87Cif0UJ pic.twitter.com/Zf7Mq2iz1j
— JustCurvy.com (@JustCurvy) October 6, 2015
Either way, the whole goal of both the #ThisIsPlus and #StyleHasNoSize hashtags are to make retailers realize that women come in all shapes and sizes, and their clothing should represent that fact. It’s a fact that designers like Marc Jacobs recognized when Beth Ditto walked the catwalk, a size not often seen during fashion shows. Ditto is a singer whose voluptuous frame was spotted walking the Marc Jacobs Spring 2016 fashion show runway on September 17. That was during the famous New York Fashion Week in New York City.
These shows are sometimes highlighted and criticized for featuring too-thin models. However, when anorexia and bulimia aren’t an issue and a woman is naturally thin, the opposite charge of “skinny shaming” is equated as being just as bad as “fat shaming.”
The overall message of any campaign dealing with size is to love the skin you’re in and celebrate it by wrapping up the package that is your body in pretty stuff, the viral hashtags seem to say. But that doesn’t mean they are not without controversy as well. As reported by Plus Model Mag, a writer named Stephanie from Nerd About Town took issue with a photo of plus-size models that still appeared too homogenous for the blogger.
“Now I don’t know about anyone else, but as a plus-size lady who loves fashion, I certainly do NOT feel represented. The whole point of the campaign is to celebrate diversity, yet absolutely nothing in this photo embodies it.
“The photo essentially says to me, ‘style has no size, but you have to be tall, no bigger than a size 16, white and slender in the face’. Don’t get me wrong, these models are absolutely stunning, however if you’re going to be gung-ho about a subject that is close to a lot of people’s hearts, it would well be worth using people who actually REPRESENTED your hashtag.”
According to Fox 25, the blogger named Stephanie isn’t the only one complaining about the dearth of “real” plus-size models in certain retailers campaigns. Although the hashtags like “Style Has No Size” and “Plus is Equal” — the latter of which enjoys more than 46,000 posts — are used by Lane Bryant and Evans, blogger Katt Cupcake wants more.
Plus sizes such as size 24 and size 32 are being left out of the “plus-size” revolution, Katt says, along with women of color and petite plus-size models. That’s how the #ThisIsPlus hashtag began, with calls to feature real-life plus-size women.
“Plus bodies are so so varied and we need the clothing industry to realize that. To represent and inspire ALL. OF. US.”
It’s not just Instagram that features the #ThisIsPlus photos — but Twitter and Facebook as well. Visiting any of them will display photos of “real” plus-size women along with the viral campaigns. According to Buzzfeed, a Lane Bryant rep said that the #PlusIsEqual campaign was meant to inspire all women and that Lane Bryant seeks to empower all plus sizes.
[Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for Marc Jacobs]
