This article by designer Simone Botte discusses the challenges that individuals with unconventional body types face in their daily lives, despite the recent trend of body positivity. Simone asserts that inclusivity is often just a marketing ploy, and that those with non-standard bodies still struggle to find fashionable clothing that fits well and expresses their personalities. He argues for greater sensitivity and understanding towards those with non-standard bodies, and urges the fashion industry to create clothing that caters to all body types, rather than just using oversized models as a superficial nod to inclusivity.
Fat Symbol has become a bit of an act of courage for all those people who feel that the 2023 body positivity is nothing more than a commercial move with no connection to reality.
It’s nice to amaze people using oversized bodies, but those who live everyday life with that unconventional body know what shit they have to deal with in situations that are normal for others. For some years it seems that everything is well accepted on paper, it seems that the word incisiveness is the key to everything, but what we have found is that being inclusive nowadays is a smart move by those who do marketing and ride a transgressive trend.
We are not a trend, we live with our body every day and we have lived with it for a lifetime. If we feel good about ourselves we owe it only to our strength. It is not easy to get used to dressing our bodies, especially if you are a chubby boy who does not want to dress in basic clothing in sad departments where clothing costs 4 times more. We pay more to dress normally and without being able to express our personality with everyone else.
Some stylists say they also dress plus sizes, the big brands have oversized models on the catwalk with dresses that make them beautiful, but then you can’t find those sizes in stores, those dresses, and not even in press offices when you have to dress plus size models 52 for magazine shoots that choose different standards of beauty than usual. This is false communication, it is a positive reflection of a reality that hasn’t changed since the 80s and that all this positivity even on extra bodies was just a tag from 2020 to 2022.
Now together with Filippo Biraghi who fights many battles with me through the messages we want to launch with our collections, let’s keep our feet firmly on this point because first of all we have always sought refuge in clothes, we like them and we communicate everything with choices we make every morning in front of the wardrobe, but this is because we have always given a damn about the judgment of others and the ancient rules of fashion and beauty. Apparently, we live in the perfect future that could only be dreamed of years ago, where everything is accepted, where Tik Tok helps explain diversity to those who have grown up in retrograde reality, Vogue puts a size 60 on the cover and many commercials on TV feature a homosexual couple.
Then only those who really live within these categories know that life outside this imaginary is horrendous, that in Italy we are regressing as regards the rights of lgbtqia+ people and we risk losing everything conquered over the years with difficulty, we still allow fascist demonstrations.
Those who belong to these categories don’t live in dreams because they bang their heads every day on the disgusting reality. What we ask for is a little more sensitivity and understanding from those from outside who use us to send strong messages without putting themselves in our shoes, we are not a showcase, we are not a strange cover or a special release from the show, we just want to get back to normal, starting with the little things.
It would be enough to have a pair of jeans that reaches a size 56, the same model that everyone has but in more sizes, without having to change departments to find the ones for our category.
It’s ok to go to the newspapers raising different bodies but everything must be accompanied by a voice, we need to raise awareness and explain things better because otherwise, everything remains as an extravagant transgression.
