Fashion Before Plus-Size: Bodies, Bias, and the Birth of an Industry

Shortlisted for the Association of Dress Historians Book of the Year Award, 2024

In 2022, it was reported that plus-sizes accounted for nearly twenty percent of all women's apparel sales in the United States and was one of the industry's few growth sectors. For many, this news seemed to herald a remarkably inclusive turn for an industry that long bartered in exclusivity. Yet the recent success of plus-size fashion obscures a rather complicated history–one that can be traced back over a centu...