AnnaFesta: Breaking the mold in fashion

When you hear the words "sample size", you think small. Small, skinny and petite. For me a picture of a model will almost instantly pop in my head. Logically this makes sense because models are the first to wear styles at fashion week. However, for the actual sizes of women in society this makes no sense at all. Women are all kinds of shapes and sizes, but the fashion world has uniformed the idea that skinnier is better. So what happens? Plus size women are left with limited choices.

AnnaFesta is starting to change this. This is a clothing company solely devoted to offering fashion to plus size women. Like the picture below, these outfits are flattering and on trend.



Anne Fanganello, the designer behind Annafesta, started the company when she gained weight from breast cancer treatments and could no longer wear her designer clothes. She found that her fashion choices had become very limited because not many stores catered to the plus size figure.

Other plus size women have felt this way for some time. According to NPD, 62% of plus size women report having trouble finding women's plus-sized clothing in styles they want. Over half of the women also said their clothing was not as good of quality as regular sized clothing.

One of the main lessons my fashion classes have taught me is to look for niche. A niche market that has been craving fashion will bring in customers, loyalty and a large profit. Having said that, I am very surprised this area of the population has gone so unnoticed by the fashion world. I am interested to see what this changes!