Jovovich-Hawk: Meh

There's been a lot of buzz surrounding the newest of Target's guest designer collections. Generally, I don't get excited about it, because even though Proenza Schouler or Luella Bartley or whomever designed it, the clothes get wrung-through the costing machine. At the end of the day, they are going to be the same quality as all the other clothes sold at Target (kinda, meh).

But everything looked good online, at least, so I went in. As soon as I saw the size tags, I was immediately disappointed. These are Juniors' sized clothing. This stuff hasn't fit me since I was 14. But I tried it on anyway, and, like all Juniors' clothing, gives the impression that one's curvaliciousness is outsized and grotesque beneath its narrow confines. I got depressed. The cute, floaty dress of better-than-Target quality, actually, with pretty "glass" buttons would not be mine.

Which got me thinking.

+Why is the most on-trend stuff (available to a suburban consumer) cut in Juniors' sizes?

+I understand the theory behind the narrow cuts of Juniors' sizes, but as someone who has worked in a Juniors department, I can attest that maybe 5-10% of teenage girls have a figure that is flattered by this cut.

+Girls are developing earlier and earlier. Why do they not cut the clothing to reflect this? My guess is that it's cheaper to make Juniors' sizes because they do not require as many cost-inflating shaping methods (darts, ease, etc) as Missy sizes.

+I think that when girls try on clothing that's supposedly "made for them" and yet it doesn't fit right, it creates an opportunity for body dysmorphia to sprout. I know that as a teenager I felt horrible in Juniors' clothing and thought that something was probably wrong with my body if it couldn't fit the clothes that were made for it. Wouldn't it be more socially responsible for apparel makers to put a little more thought into the fit of young WOMEN'S clothing?

I feel a little self-conscious about trying to warn people away from buying Juniors'-sized clothing, because it is so cheap and trendy, but you've got to be good to yourself. Unless you're twelve, or have a boyish frame, wearing these clothes makes you feel as if your body is somehow untamed and needs to be changed in order to look right.

Clothes are about looking and feeling good. Buy wisely!

[image via target.com]