Big, Beautiful And Burgeoning -- A New Acceptance Leads To A Boom In High Fashion For Larger Women

People who know Lisa Sidor think of her as a fashion plate with a flair for the outrageous.

She favors such outfits as knit legging and tunic ensembles in bold purple tie-dye prints and big, bright floral prints made into flowing skirts and tops. She also likes white outfits accented with large, fruit-colored earrings, bracelets and belts.

Sidor would make a fashion statement no matter what dress size she wore. But at size 22, she's not only a fancy dresser but a rebel, too. It wasn't long ago that women of her queenly proportions were advised to hide them underneath voluminous black dresses. And most did, since the only clothes available in their sizes were dowdy, cheaply made, dark cover-ups generally shaped like choir robes.

"When I was in junior high and high school, I'd buy size 38 jeans in the men's department," said Sidor, 35. "Fortunately it was the hippie era, so it sort of worked.

"But for anything else, it was impossible. I'd just shop till I dropped but I couldn't find anything nice. I remember buying some horrible brown polyester old-lady thing with a scarf attached to the neck to have something dressy," Sidor said. "It was all wrong for me and just horrible, but there wasn't anything else."

These days Sidor has to watch out that she doesn't blow her budget on clothes. After years of buying outfits that she only half liked, she now often walks into large-size boutiques to discover clothes more fashionable than the ones she bought on her last visit.

"Even the cheap chain places are getting the idea that just because you're big doesn't mean you don't want something fun and fashionable," said Sidor. "It doesn't mean you don't want finished seams."

The recent boom in large-size women's fashion, usually meaning sizes 16 and up, perhaps is not so surprising. Feminism, working women and America's relatively new interest in "diversity," a term that essentially boils down to acceptance of ideas and people formerly barred from the mainstream, have melded into a new era for large women. Instead of depriving themselves of attractive clothes because they believe they will someday diet to a smaller size, a growing number are deciding that being large is no handicap to being well-dressed. And they're spending big bucks on big, beautiful clothes.

Department stores including The Bon Marche, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's, Macy's and Saks Fifth Avenue all have departments for women who wear sizes larger than 14, the largest size normally carried in so-called missy departments. Though some stores, such as The Bon, have long had large-size departments, others, such as swank Saks Fifth Avenue, have only recently introduced them.

Speciality shops for large women are also burgeoning. The Seattle phone book lists more than a dozen, not including long-established chains such as Lane Bryant.

Manufacturers and designers are getting the message. Liz Claiborne introduced a large line called Elisabeth in 1989, and it is now a mainstay in many boutiques. Other well-known women's wear manufacturers such as Jones New York, Saville and Paul Stanley also make large sizes. And now that such prestigious retailers as Saks are admitting that not all their customers are svelte 10s, some big-name trend-setters such as Albert Nipon, Gianni Versace and Givenchy are making elegant designer ready-to-wear in sizes 14 to 24.

High-fashion designers have traditionally not made their apparel in sizes larger than 12, which would fit women whose proportions are approximately 38-28-40 - probably about what Sophia Loren measured at the height of her career. A much reviled and oft-mentioned anecdote among fashionable large women is that a top Paris designer, asked why his line stopped at size 12, said he designed clothes, not upholstery. The remark has been a rallying cry for women such as Carole Shaw, editor of BBW: Big Beautiful Women, a 13-year-old publication that is the Vogue magazine for large women.

"In real life there are fat people, thin people, short people and tall people," said Shaw, a former Hollywood actress who wears a size 22.

"It's only in the movies that everyone looks like Kim Basinger," Shaw said. "I think women of all sizes have to reclaim the right to have the size of their body."

Shaw's monthly magazine mixes fashion layouts featuring models wearing size 16s or 18s with articles on self-esteem. Like the owners of specialty shops for large women, Shaw says that large women who try to hide under shapeless sacks should change their self-image, even though she acknowledges that the task can be difficult in a society where being slim is a measurement of beauty.

Shaw finds it particularly galling that large women have been ignored by the fashion industry for so long, since she says statistics show that 30 percent of all American adult women wear a size 16 or larger.

In Seattle, apparently there are plenty of large women, and many of them have an eye for fashion. The Bon at Northgate Mall is one of the nation's top sellers of Elisabeth apparel, and Trudi Schlaifer, owner of Trudi's Queen Size Boutiques in Bellevue and downtown Seattle, says her 18-year-old Bellevue location is the largest specialty store for big women on the West Coast.

Like many of her competitors, Schlaifer does the bulk of her business in sizes 16 through 26, but also carries sizes 28 though 52, known in the industry as super sizes. A customer who wears a size 20 or 22 measures about 45-37-48.

"Fashion for women of size is now a matter of self-esteem," said Kathleen Doemland, owner of Kathleen's Full Size Fashion in Ballard. "If you can give yourself permission to look really great, the clothes are there. They didn't used to be, but they are now. The days of bulletproof polyester clothes as the only choice for large women are over."

Though Doemland leaves more conservative career looks to competitors, her inventory includes just about anything else a customer might want, from wedding dresses to lacy lingerie to bathing suits and form-fitting evening wear. Whenever she can, she tries to persuade customers to ignore traditional rules about how they should dress.

As a result, Doemland sells plenty of clothes made of big, wild prints and lots of belts and large jewelry. Ironically, she says, large women often look good in such ensembles exactly because they are big enough to wear eye-catching combinations of clothes and accessories that would overpower smaller women.

Still, even those who say fashion for large women has improved immeasurably acknowledge the apparel still needs some fine-tuning. Most agree that there are not good junior lines in large sizes, meaning that large teenage girls and young women still may have to buy styles that look too old for them. Shaw at BBW says there are also not many makers of fashionable, high-quality dresses. There are also few maternity lines for large women.

"Fat is not a form of birth control," said Shaw, who says she uses the term "fat" because she doesn't consider the word pejorative. "Just try getting a maternity dress over size 16. I can tell you there are plenty of women who need them." ----------------------------

FASHION SHOWS FOR LARGER WOMEN

Fashion shows featuring clothes and models size 16 and up are now an important part of the marketing program at many department stores. Specialty shops for large women have long sponsored fashion shows. Here are some upcoming events:

-- The Bon Marche: Fashion shows on April 2, 5:30 p.m., and April 4, 9 a.m., at the downtown store. For tickets and information, call 344-8709. -- Kathleen's Full Size Fashions: Trunk show by Parsinen Design, a local company, from 1 to 9 p.m. Saturday at the store, 5447 Ballard Ave. N.W. Fashion show and champagne lunch April 11 at 11:30 a.m. For information, call 784-5996. -- Nordstrom: At Bellevue Square, a trunk show of spring dresses and suits in the Encore Department on April 11, noon to 3 p.m. Summer fashion show and fall preview on May 16. For information, call 455-5800, Ext. 454. Also, a trunk show of suits by Saville II at these locations: Downtown, April 3, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Northgate Mall, April 3, 6 to 8 p.m.; Southcenter Mall, April 4, noon to 2 p.m.