Archive for the 'Big & Tall News' category
Plus-Size Modeling trend extending into Men’s fashion
June 16, 2010 10:26 amKeeping a sharp eye out in the news for all things Big & Tall, I ran across this Huffington Post article reporting about a recent editorial in Fantastic Man.
With the recent, if not now-forgotten, fury over a few Plus-Size female models gracing the pages of Glamour and other magazines, this is a development that I wasn’t sure that I’d see happen. There’s much to like here, but I’d like to know the height and weight stats on these “Plus-Size Male Models” to see just how “Plus Size” they are.
Nonetheless, some of the models and the examples they are modeling are pretty good. I see an example here for most walks of life, but only really one “size”, which happens to be the “over-thirty everyman”.
Reading the article and seeing that big & tall men are now being portrayed in a more fashionable and positive light is nice, however the reality is that the men portrayed here are most likely barely XXL at best. They probably have a sub-40″ waistline and are most likely able to find clothes in the average store… and maybe the occasional trip to the JC Penney’s big and tall section.
And before jumping to conclusions, not all big and tall men are grossly overweight, either. Sometimes we are little more than the average man plus 30 or 40% in overall weight, height, shoulder measurement, inseam and just about everything else.
If you ever pick up a catalog for a big & tall retailer, they tend to go with men that are most definitely larger than the normal guy, but they are almost always athletic or at least have a somewhat defined upper-body. Perhaps the “aging college football player look” best defines their appearance, which isn’t necessarily representative of the entire segment, just like the male models linked above.
It seems that the effort is forward progress, which is a good thing, but we’ve got a bit further to go with this to make it a little more useful. A more realistic approach of how a big & tall man can dress would be helpful, and models who are a bit more average would probably sell the “look”, and the clothing to go with it, a lot more convincingly. Frequently I’ll be scanning the catalog pages or big & tall retailer websites and see a look that I think would be great… but can I pull it off? Show us someone who looks like us. Show us we can, and we will buy.
NFL tackle Ryan Sims on shopping Big & Tall
December 11, 2008 10:46 amTampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle Ryan Sims was interviewed in a recent article in The Saint Petersburg Times where he briefly discussed being Big & Tall and shopping for clothes that fit. After reading the article, I felt it necessary to share a few excerpts.
Ryan Sims
He starts out by saying something that I’ve always believed, but “sloppy” is a pretty broad term.
This is a weekly question: What Web site do you think you visit most?
Anything that has to do with movies and shopping. That’s my thing. I like to see what movies are new and about to come out. And with shopping, I like to say I’m the fliest guy over 300 (pounds) in the league. I have to represent for the big guys. We’re not all big and sloppy.
One person’s “sloppy” is another person’s “acceptable”. A guy in a suit might think a guy in a hoodie and jeans is “sloppy”, even if he was a clean cut and well groomed man. Every man’s dress and style are different, and differentiating big and sloppy from clean cut is completely a matter of perspective. A perfect example of this is Comedian Drew Hastings. Hastings is not a big guy, but at six foot five he certainly fits the tall category and would be damn hard to find a suit for in a normal shop.
Drew Hastings
This guy dresses in very classic, well cut suits and does a great job of accessorizing with classic British and American menswear styling. Occasionally he goes overboard with the ascot or some other piece of flair, but more or less he’s a style icon and should be respected as so. Except guess what… he’s sloppy. He’s tall, probably slouches a lot (as I always do) and is generally sloppy looking. His hair makes him sloppy, but he still looks good. Big and sloppy? In the eye of the beholder. Back to the interview.
Okay, as for your stylish side, how would you describe your style?
Well, I think my swagger level is up there on the same level as Diddy or James Bond. I try to keep it fresh. I see what the little guys are wearing and see if I can get it in my size.
I don’t know about the swagger comment, so I’m just going to leave that alone. It’s a word I’ve been hearing a lot lately, and it’s the branding used on a new line of pimp-daddy wannabe Old Spice deodorant products. The commercials are amusing for a half-second, after which they become annoying and redundant.
Anyhow, the second part of his comment is key. He takes a look at what the “little guys” are wearing and goes on the hunt to see if he can find an equivalent in his size. I’m not the most fashionable person in the world, but if I see a style or look that I like in a magazine, I’ve been known to attempt to duplicate it using what I can find in my own wardrobe or at the big and tall store. This is something a lot of big and tall guys tend to forget… there are options. Perhaps they’re not always easy (or cheap), but you can and will find good clothes in your size if you try. Sometimes jeans and a sweatshirt is just fine. Sometimes you need to dress better than that, and you can if you just look around a little.
Speaking of looking around a little…
So, how hard is it for big guys to shop?
It’s real tough. The big-and-tall store is really for like the 45-year-old white guy. You just have to search. A lot of stuff I wear, other big guys will ask me, “Yo, where did you get that?” It’s just from doing a lot of work searching on the Internet. Luckily, my feet are kind of small. I can wear a 13. So, I can get me a pair of Guccis or Louis (Vuittons).
The image that the big and tall store is really for the “45-year-old white guy” is an image that Casual Male XL (and other stores that cater to our size) has noticeably been trying to break for a number of years. Although there are days when I’d like to slap the person making marketing and purchasing decisions over there sometimes, they appear to be trying.
The latest collection of printed t shirts on Casual Male XL site are pretty decent. They’ve been offering limited run shirts of decent bands, beers and other pop culture type things for some time now.
There are a lot of new places that are expanding their maximum sizes and knowing where to look is where most people get lost. Recently I’ve discovered a few new places to buy big & tall clothing which we’ll discuss in the next week or so in an upcoming article. My plan is to bring each new discovery of sources of big & tall clothes to you on this site, so stay tuned.
As a twenty-something big and tall guy looking for decent clothes, shoes, etc. I can see where Sims is coming from… but the big and tall stores aren’t all bad (or good for that matter). He might be a little off base on the whole Gucci and Louis Vuitton shoes thing for the average guy, but he is right on one thing: You’ve got to work a lot harder to find what you want as a big guy, no matter what you are buying. Making that just a little bit easier is why I created this site.
Comments, questions and suggestions are always welcome… send us an email at tim@sizeoflife.com or drop us a line in the comments section.
In a few news articles released today, Jack Black expanded on some comments regarding difficulty finding a tux due to his size made at a black tie affair in honor of his friend and “Tropic Thunder” co-star Ben Stiller.
Jack Black (Image from Wikipedia)
During an opening for the ceremony, which honored Stiller for the Museum of the Moving Image, Black stated that he had been shopping for a Tuxedo and was snubbed by Bergdorf Goodman and walked to a nearby Rochester Big & Tall where he was apparently very well taken care of. From Fox News Article:
After a weirdly stiff video greeting from Tom Cruise, Jack Black kicked off the show by announcing that he’d been rejected by Bergdorf Goodman while tuxedo shopping when they measured his neck. “Eighteen a half inches! It’s too big for this store. You might want to go down the block. I walked three blocks to the big and tall store where I was welcomed with loving arms by my people!”
(In fact, Jack went to Rochester’s.)
In an article just posted to People.com a few hours ago, Black expanded on the subject a bit:
“The lady there was like, ‘Your neck … it’s too big. It’s too big for this store! I’m sorry Jack Black, but you might want to go to Big and Tall.’ “
“My face became flushed with humiliation and shame,” he continued, his speech taking on all the makings of a comedy routine.
The truth hurts, and when being dealt this blow at a later age it can be a bit rougher on people. Depending on your mentality, experiencing this “humiliation and shame” can be a real bummer when shopping for anything as a big and tall guy. You tend to get the “try the Big & Tall store” line a lot when shopping for clothes and shoes.
After a while, it can become downright insulting to hear from the average height / weight person working retail hell that “they can’t help you” when in fact, in most cases, they just don’t want to. I’m sure I’ve experienced my fair share of thinly veiled discrimination and failed to recognize it… however most of the time, they are being honest.
It’s very good to see an actor/musician talk openly and publicly about the challenges and struggles that many of us share. To do so in such a favorable light with the media is rare, and I felt it was important to highlight this as it may go largely unseen by the Big & Tall guys who don’t happen to follow entertainment news.
