Plus-size wedding dresses are sounding off in the fashion world

Plus-size wedding dresses are sounding off in the fashion world

According to a BusinessWeek report, Crystal Parsons doesn’t try on clothes when she shops. She hasn’t worn a dress in 20 years. But one day this spring, she found herself in the unavoidable position of having to try on dresses because she needs a wedding gown. “I’ve had nightmares that I’m going to get stuck in a very expensive dress,” Parsons says in the fitting room at Kleinfeld bridal salon in New York. She’s filming an episode of TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress: Big Bliss, which documents plus-size women in the once-demoralizing hunt for the perfect wedding gown. “I tend to think negatively about myself,” she says. “My weight has always been my problem.”
While the average clothing size of women in the U.S. is 14, most high-end bridal designers have long refused to cater to clients beyond size 16. Yet with the economy pressuring the industry to find new revenue streams, a growing number of designers are now trying to fill a gaping hole in the country’s $2.1 billion wedding dress market. “These are underserved consumers who have money to spend,” says Catherine Moellering, executive vice-president of retail trend consultant Tobe. “There’s an immense opportunity here to develop brand loyalty because these are marginalized consumers.”

Kleinfeld, the wedding dress mecca, has already quadrupled its plus-size selection since first appearing on Big Bliss two seasons ago. Now, more than 10 percent of gowns sold at the boutique—where the average wedding dress runs about $4,500—are size 12 or larger. J. Crew (JCG), whose wedding dresses cost as much as $3,000, will unveil plus-size bridal gowns (up to size 20) in its fall 2011 collection. The phenomenon has even reached the rarefied realm of high fashion. Over the past year designer Reem Acra has doubled her made-to-order wedding dress business by going where few couturiers had before—size 16 and beyond. “Today I got an order of 18 [custom] wedding dresses,” Acra says. “They were all size 16.” Her made-to-order dresses begin at $30,000.....Read More