This makes me want to go to Spain

[merchimerch]

Seen on rednikki's twitter, Spain is mandating standardized clothing sized for women based on 3-D laser imagine of -GASP- real women. This of course comes after they banned super thin women from the runways and mannequins smaller than size 8 from shop windows.

http://www.sunherald.com/311/story/355567.html

On the one hand, maybe this is an example of the government meddling to much in the lives and business of its citizenry. On the other hand, I'd love to imagine what a world would be like where the images I saw in shop windows and magazines and television actually looked like the people that I see in my everyday life. Not to mention the joy I would experience at being able to enter a clothing store, rattle off my personal string of numbers/measurements, and actually get clothing that fits.

What would it be like if the simulacra we were encouraged to consume and emulate actually reflected humanity?

So -- spring break in Majorca -- any takers? Maybe Basque country?

Comments

[bubblesutonium.livejournal.com]

I definitely need to go shopping in Spain. Do a little shopping, take in some of the wine country -- that could be an amazing trip. Just let me get out of law school first.

[bellebonnesage.livejournal.com]

Count me in! I've never been to Spain (but I've been to Oklahoma...)

[aelfscine.livejournal.com]

Couldn't this just lead to the same problem directed at different people?
Some girls are indeed tiny, even without eating disorders or low self esteem, etc. etc. If they're no longer allowed to see themselves as mannequins, it's just discriminating against a different group.

Trust me, I know Barbie is super-bad for people's view of women, but if we're talking about 'real' women, we need to cover the full gamut. While Barbie IS impossible, size 1 isn't; for some small percentage of women, that's their natural, healthy size. (Maybe they're 4'6", but they're still women)

[(Anonymous)]

I think we have a LONG way to go until that becomes a problem for tiny women. Most of the body acceptance movement is about health at every size, and it's a view that I certainly ascribe to. And to be fair, the sizing regulations aren't eliminating sizes 0-8, they are just using real women (and over 1000 of them) and 3-d imagery to make sure that sizes actually reflect the population.

People on the extremes of either spectrum are always going to have trouble seeing themselves represented in the media and finding clothes, but hopefully Spain's steps will chip away a little at the thin hegemony and the huge profit seeking industry behind it (or at least provide an alternative viewpoint).

[merchimerch.livejournal.com]

ooops - that was me up there

[sps.livejournal.com]

But you aren't Chinese. Asians do have a lot of trouble finding clothing in the West (ok, so as I have recently found out, California is an exception here), and I can imagine this having one of two effects on them: first, it might shift the inferiority issues onto them; or second, it might serve to increase the already substantial cultural divide, at a time when that is really not helpful.

Perhaps the requirement ought to be that the sizes of the mannequins are justified by the statistics of the store's sales. Then I can run my large sizes store and my small sizes store and my asian styles store and indeed my fashion for amputees store if I have one, and the only restrictions being placed on me are ones consistent with existing European doctrines of truth in advertising....

[merchimerch.livejournal.com]

I don't think that Spain is limiting the range or scope of sizes, or even telling store owners which sizes to stock. My read is that they are just mandating making clothing sizing standardized and more representative of actual human beings. (And with the mannequin issue, I'm not sure which size 8 they were referring to, which the main problem anyway.)

And I can't buy clothes in Asia. I understand this, and don't expect to find oodles of shops (or even 1 shop) with clothing for substantial American bodies when I go there.

I am a flippin BEHEMOTH by Uzbek standards, which is the place in Asia I tend to try to buy clothes. I have to buy granny dresses, and then they are still too short. If I need something new in UZ I have to have it made. And I assume China would be the same for me. When I went to Chinatown in LA to find a jacket appropriate to wear for the Music of China ensemble concert, I had to buy a 5X. I was just lucky that one little stall had one giant jacket in 5X.

The problem isn't just that stores don't carry sizes for certain demographics (Old Navy's move to only sell plus sizes online is an example), it is also that the size means absolutely nothing. I wear anywhere from a XL to a 3X, or an 18-24. That's a huge range, which is annoying in itself, but becomes a loaded issue, since size is also used as a measure of worth for many women in the West.

And now that you're in Cali, when do we get to meet IRL? I'd love to show you Santa Cruz if you want to see my paradise.

[sps.livejournal.com]

Right right. I just mean that the scanned sizes idea is a better one, on the face of it, than the mandated mannequins, because demographics do matter.

And as to real life - all is yet chaos: moving for both of us, new jobs for both of us, and coming to the US is a pain because they don't believe anything about your life in the civilised world - your ID is useless, you can't get credit (which you need to breathe, here), etc., etc., etc.. I've been here two weeks and I haven't yet found out where the groceries are going to come from!

But "aaaarrrggggghhhh" isn't "no" :).

[merchimerch.livejournal.com]

Silly, around here groceries come from Trader Joe's and from the farmers' market (if you're me at least). Here's the locater for both of them:

http://www.pcfma.com/marketlistc.php

http://www.traderjoes.com/locations.asp

And please, feel free to ask me practical questions like this. I may be new to the Bay Area, but not to CA. I am happy to act as a friendly native guide.

[sps.livejournal.com]

So the nearest Trader Joe's is a 2.5 hour walk from here, and I don't think the light rail goes that direction. I fear it's Safeway for me—or the Chinese supermarket in Milpitas if Wei is driving....

There seems to be a farmers' market in SJ, but only in the summer. (That's like the coffee shops and restaurants that close in the evening—what's with California? :-} )

[merchimerch.livejournal.com]

Oh dear, no car? No bicycle?

Good luck.

I lasted 1 year in CA without a car, and I'm proud that I held out that long. CA is truly in a sad state when it comes to public transport.

Are you living in the business district? That's the only place in American cities where I've seen restaurants or coffee shops close in the early evening.