The new member of the Ghostbusters team, Melissa McCarthy, is not a fan of labeling clothes as plus size and is not afraid to voice her opinion about it. McCarthy believes that the plus size label gives the majority of women in America the feeling of not being good enough. “Women come in all sizes. Seventy percent of women in the United States are a size 14 or above, and that’s technically ‘plus-size,'” she said. “ So you’re taking your biggest category of people and telling them, ‘You’re not really worthy.’ I find that very strange,” McCarthy noted.
Why are women being segregated into different categories? The 44-year-old mother of two believes fashion designers should create apparel for all women and do away with labels. “I just think, if you’re going to make women’s clothing, make women’s clothing.” She also feels that female designers are making the process of creating clothing unnecessarily complex. “Designers that put everyone in categories are overcomplicating something that should be easy,” said McCarthy.
Inspired by the issue of plus size labeling, McCarthy is launching her own clothing line, Melissa McCarthy Seven7. Her new line consist of leggings, tees, and loungewear, and includes sizes four to 28. On what motivated her to start a clothing line, McCarthy said it was the fact that she continued to leave stores disappointed when shopping. She was even denied by well-known designers when she asked them to create a dress for her. “Two Oscars ago, I couldn’t find anybody to do a dress for me. I asked five or six designers, very high level ones who make lots of dresses for people, and they all said no.”
McCarthy isn’t the only person making it known that people are not shaped the same and should not be judged for it. In 2014, after her Golden Globe appearance, Gabourey Sidibe let all of her internet haters know that she is accomplishing her dreams and that her weight has nothing to do with her talent. “To people making mean comments about my pics, I mos def cried about it on that private jet on my way to my dream job last night. #JK,” Sidibe tweeted. And let’s not forget about Tyra Banks’ gif-able moment where she told beauty magazines to “kiss my fat ass” after they criticized her weight.
McCarthy is adding fashion designer and anti-body shaming advocate to her resume, and I can’t wait to see what her clothing line looks like. Where do you stand with the issue?