Size 14

Evans have started stocking a size 14. I’m not sure whether this is a good thing or not. On the one hand, I wear a size 14 in some trousers and jeans and so this increases my range of shops on the high street (or it would, if the Tall range came in a 14). From what I can see on the website, it is only selected items that come in a 14: a search for ‘size 14’ produces 257 results but a search for ‘size 14 tall’ produces 0 results.
On the flipside, Evans has traditionally been a ‘plus size’ retailer. So what message does them stocking a size 14 broadcast to the woman on the street? Is size 14 now a ‘plus size’? No, it most certainly is not. The average UK woman is a size 16 and so surely ‘plus sizing’ should not start until at least a size 18 or 20. And yet a 14, one size BELOW the national average, is now being touted as a ‘plus size’. Surely, in an age where eating disorders are rife – particularly amongst young girls, this is just plain irresponsible. To be told that size 14 is so big it needs a specialist store to stock it is just nonsense. And the same could be said for Miss Selfridge. 10 years ago they stocked a size 16. Then one day the size 16s were withdrawn and replaced with a size 6 (though the size 16 has since been reinstated). Yet the national average size over that 10 years has got larger, not smaller. Interestingly, both these stores are owned by the Arcadia group. It is time that the fashion industry in general realised that it is perfectly acceptable to be larger than a size 10 (so long as you are a healthy weight for your height of course) and started catering to the masses, the majority of whom are a larger size.