advice · Body image · confidence · Fashion · Perspectives ·Jul 29, 2017

The Perception of Large Breasts Within the Fashion Industry

Larger breasts in the fashion industry is a rarity. I’m not talking B cups or C’s, ed and the fact that these are considered ‘abnormally large’ for a model is utterly ridiculous. I’m talking real life women, what is ed with breasts, dosage and hips, and how they are too ‘difficult’ to dress.

I have been struggling with the size of my breasts for a while, but recently it’s become an issue that I can feel myself obsessing over. I have always been ‘too tall’ for things, or ‘too skinny’ making me feel an outsider in every day life; you would have thought turning to modelling would be perfect for me. But what do you do when you’re tall, skinny, but a 28 E?

Not being accepted by the fashion industry because of your chest, and not fitting in with the people in your everyday life is a dangerous combination, and can cause you to unintentionally neglect yourself. There is such a desperate push away from a real female form when it comes to fashion. It is due to the sexualising of female bodies which may take concentration away from the clothes; but why must we, natural women, have to suffer these consequences?

Source: http://victoriasecretsfriends.altervista.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Emily-Ratajkowski-Instagram-Pictures.jpg

Recently, Emily Ratajkowski has spoken out on how she loses work because of her breasts. Reporting that photographers don’t know how to dress her, don’t like how they look on film, and just in general attempt to avoid them. After research I found Emily is only a C cup, which is the average size for a woman, yet the ‘abnormality’ of seeing a model with breasts draws the attention immediately away from everything else. By excluding the representation of large breasted women in a non-sexual manner creates this abnormality which could easily be avoided. Another model deemed as ‘curvy’, Lara Stone, has a 24 inch waist, however, has said before that she repeatedly gets called ‘fat’ simply because she has large breasts in an industry where they aren’t accepted.

Source: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4VRnpGChSCc/maxresdefault.jpg

Lack of representation for bustier women in the fashion industry means that the only type of platform we get are in pornographic or obscure tabloids; thus promoting the objectification of women. Large breasts are portrayed as sex, and small breasts are portrayed as art.

Being represented with sexual connotations often leads to certain men believing you are there for their entertainment. Many are often very vocal on their opinion of your physical appearance. The continuous sexualisation of women’s bodies is normalising discrimination and sexual harassment and, leads to girls feeling not only unsafe but unhappy with the skin they are in. People believe they aren’t doing wrong when they ‘catcall’ women as pornographic magazines and films portray this sleazy behaviour as something women enjoy; when in reality it’s aggressive, degrading and embarrassing. The lack of representation for women with breasts in other forms of modelling is making it appear as though sex is all we’re good for.

Source: http://brentdanley.com/2008/07/05/playboy-old-and-new/

The obsession over the size of my breasts, has before, drove me to starving myself in the hope that if I shrink, so will my boobs. This is undeniably the wrong way forward. However, it’s understandable that the sleazy attention you attract when you’re wearing a crop top, the ‘slut’ comments, while also being consistently fed images of models with ‘perfect’ figure you just wished you had, is enough to drive somebody to confidence issues. Slipping into the habit of not eating is still easy to do today, and the idea of going under the knife to have them reduced is unfortunately all too tempting.

I am sure that there are a lot more girls out there that aren’t as happy with having big breasts, as a result of the wrong attention they attract. From my own personal experience, complaining about having big breasts is almost immediately criticised and labelled as fishing for attention. The complete refusal from the fashion industry to help shatter the sexual stigma that comes with large breasted women leaves us with not very many places to turn. Without a new way of thinking and acceptance towards all female forms, I fear many more girls will suffer from eating disorders and mental illness’ all due to thing that are out of their control. This is a serious issue that as a society we need to tackle and send a message to all the young girls out there that you’re perfect in the skin you’re in!

Written by Luba Kuziw

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