Saturday, January 07, 2006

It's very sad...

... to see L.L.Bean giving into the ultra-thin model phase. I sat down this morning with coffee and a catalog, needing something to browse, but with no money to buy, and found myself staring at the models instead. What had happened? A skinny lady or two, sure, but these women are so slim that in a few of the pants ads, it looks like L.L. Bean doesn't even make anything small enough to fit them! I went online to try and find some of the photos, but the online catalog seems to picture the clothes rather than the people.

I've been increasingly disappointed some makers of "sensible" clothing, for featuring colors that would make me look like a fruitbowl in an upscale restaurant, but I realized that was a matter of taste (not ethics). There are people who look good in melon colors, and if I prefer earth tones, well, too bad for me. What goes around comes around, and in five years, "earthy" will be in again.

These skinny models, now. They aren't precisely anorexic, but they are getting there. Their swimsuit models look okay (far thinner than me for certain) so perhaps it's just my perception, having put on a few pounds and being ultra-sensitive.

By the way, how is it that I have put on 27 pounds over the past 25 years...but have gone up only one pant size? How can an American woman weigh 145 and be a size 10? They shouldn't sue McDonalds for selling fattening food. They should sue clothing manufacturers for trying to convince women they are still thin. If I gain weight, fine, but I want to know what my actual size is. The thing that drives me to the gym is when my clothes don't fit. As long as I can convince myself I'm still a size 10..hey, must be okay right?

Not.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

LL Bean has gone down the tubes in the last five years. They're ads are geared toward the ruralite/nature lover, they're geared toward the sub/urbanite who owns a $5 million country home.

I don't remember LL Bean selling so many home oriented products (rugs, candy, tricycles), but now they seem too, and their prices are well above my afforbablity level. Maybe I have less money, or maybe the money I have is worth less, but for whatever the reason, LL Bean is not someone I buy from any more.

georg said...

Marilyn Monroe was a size 16.

I take a lot of comfort from that.

Of course, the way the manufacturers have changed sizes, she'd be a 5 or a 6 these days, and nothing at all like my 200-pound size 18.