I love Halloween. Hands down, it’s my favorite holiday. I love the decorations, the scary movies, the candy, the jack-o-lanterns, the costumes…
Actually, when it comes to costumes, I have a bit of a problem with Halloween. Personally, I love a clever costume. A classic costume. Even a scary costume. I don’t love that Halloween costumes, for a lot of women, are just sexy outfits. Every year, more child-themed costumes are made with low-plunging necklines and super short skirts. Practically anything can be turned into a sexy outfit for Halloween, including beloved characters from childhood:
Whatever floats your Halloween boat, I guess. I know a lot of women enjoy dressing up like this, and a lot of people appreciate it when they do. But here’s where this turns into a BFD issue: What’s a fat girl supposed to do for Halloween?
Let’s take a look at some “plus-size” costumes available for purchase online:
Ah, okay. So “plus-size” seems to mean “big chested,” and that’s about it. Also, all of these costumes are form-fitting, and not every fat person has an hour-glass figure that they wish to show off in this way (raising my own hand here).
Let’s imagine for a minute that you find a costume that you would like to wear. The next step is to check the sizing chart, to see if it will fit, right? I examined sizing charts from a handful of costume websites, and it seems that I’m so beyond “plus-size” for many of these companies, I might as well just cut eyeholes in a white sheet and call it a day. (Interesting because I am technically what a lot of people in the fat community would consider an “in-betweener.”)
One site has the nerve to feature something called “one size,” which I assumed meant “one size fits all.” According to their detailed chart, however, it means you are a size 8-10 and weigh 130-160 lbs. Somehow, they’ve managed to confuse the term “one size fits all” with “one size fits people who generally wear sizes 8-10.” (And let’s take a quick minute to reflect on the fact that the average American woman wears a size 14.)
One final note. Take a minute to read this post from Consumerist, which talks about how even characters who are fat (like Ursula from The Little Mermaid, shown below), are transformed into a costume that won’t fit or flatter a fat woman.
My costume is top-secret at the moment, but I can tell you it was not purchased from a costume shop. I don’t want to spend money on something that won’t fit or flatter. Are you dressing up for Halloween? Will you be buying a costume, or making one?
