Make Room for Plus Size Clothing in Islamic Wear

With every other day, a news bulletin running a story on body-image issues of teen-age girls and sometimes pre-teens starving themselves to death to get the perfect hour-glass figure or the growing obesity in young kids of European and Asian nation makes one wonder for how long this food-paradox would continue? These extreme cases of bulimia and obesity have now taken a toll on the psyche of young and old. The internalized guilt of ‘not being too thin’ enough to fit into a certain size gets further triggered owing to the rampant commercialization in food and clothing. The size zero phenomenon does in no way help towards positive body image building

One is left to wonder, why the hour-glass ‘stick figures’ are only allowed to walk the ramp in fashion shows, even though it’s a far fetched picture of the normal body mass index recommended by doctors. As per psychologists Two in ten cases of depression are related to people who are not satisfied with their body –type and hence resort to many malpractices to satiate their conscience. It’s only lately that corporates have woken up to realize the crying needs of these people owing to the collaborated efforts of NGO’s and growing protests by self-help groups world over.

Little comes to surprise that when the general masses suffer through the problem of outfits not available in adequate sizes then there’s almost negligible solace left of plus sizers in Islamic –wear community. More often than not, this neglected lot has to come up with certain DIY tricks to satiate the fashion-bug in them. It’s either the top is too tight or the neck –line is too low for the women who are modest dressers. Moreover, not every garment in the store could be classified into the halaal category. The Islamic plus sizers also have to deal with the exorbitant prices of certain garments which are both halal and available as plus size Islamic clothing is still a small market and needs ample recognition, so the industry which recognizes the niche is cashing on the poor victims of a further marginalized lot.