Disfigurement, the body and dress: A review of the literature

Wilkinson, Catherine; Carter, Bernie; Shokrollahi, Kayvan

doi:10.1111/gec3.12382

“…Drawing from the work ofWilkinson, Carter & Shokrollahi (2018) I use the terms clothing, fashion and dress somewhat interchangeably to reflect the considerable overlap in these terms and to be inclusive of terminology used by the participants of my research project.…”

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confidence: 99%

Inviting the Infinifat Voice to the Fatshion Conversation: An Exploration into Infinifat Identity Construction, Performance and Activism

Evans¹

2021

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This thesis explores how self-identified “infinifat” people, defined as those larger than a US woman’s dress size 32, access commercially available fashion and how their lack of access to clothing shapes the performance of their fat identity. Through semi-structured interviews with infinifat subjects and a secondary discourse analysis of “superfat” narratives in popular texts, this research finds that a lack of clothing options reinforces the stigma and discrimination experienced by those at the largest end of the fat spectrum. Particularly, the lack of clothing available to superfat and infinifat people restricts access to social spaces and economic opportunities. While this research draws attention to ways in which my infinifat participants are “hacking” fashion to suit their needs and using social media to advocate for inclusion, the fashion industry’s unwillingness to create clothing options for superfat and infinifat people, supports the perception that being really fat is really bad.

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“…Drawing from the work ofWilkinson, Carter & Shokrollahi (2018) I use the terms clothing, fashion and dress somewhat interchangeably to reflect the considerable overlap in these terms and to be inclusive of terminology used by the participants of my research project.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Inviting the Infinifat Voice to the Fatshion Conversation: An Exploration into Infinifat Identity Construction, Performance and Activism

Evans¹

2021

Preprint

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This thesis explores how self-identified “infinifat” people, defined as those larger than a US woman’s dress size 32, access commercially available fashion and how their lack of access to clothing shapes the performance of their fat identity. Through semi-structured interviews with infinifat subjects and a secondary discourse analysis of “superfat” narratives in popular texts, this research finds that a lack of clothing options reinforces the stigma and discrimination experienced by those at the largest end of the fat spectrum. Particularly, the lack of clothing available to superfat and infinifat people restricts access to social spaces and economic opportunities. While this research draws attention to ways in which my infinifat participants are “hacking” fashion to suit their needs and using social media to advocate for inclusion, the fashion industry’s unwillingness to create clothing options for superfat and infinifat people, supports the perception that being really fat is really bad.

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You Aren’t What You Wear: An Exploration into Infinifat Identity Construction and Performance through Fashion

Evans

¹

2020

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Through remote wardrobe interviews with five self-identified infinifat participants, this paper explores how those existing in a body larger than a US dress-size 32 access fashion. The majority of research that has occurred at the intersection of fat studies and fashion studies has focused on the fashion and dressing experiences of women who fit the conventional definition of “plus-size.” Commercially available, mass-produced fashion options drop off dramatically for women larger than a US dress-size 28 and become almost non-existent for those who are a size 32 or larger. By focusing on infinifat or superfat people who exist beyond a size 32 I draw attention to the impact that the lack of access to fashion has on the subjectivities infinifat people can perform. The findings in this paper build from existing literature on plus-size dressing that focuses on limitations in identity construction and performance experienced by those who are able to access commercially available plus-size fashion. Without readily available, situationally-appropriate clothing, infinifat and superfat people are limited in the subjectivities they can perform and are excluded from specific social spaces. This exclusion serves to remarginalize an already marginalized group and is felt most acutely by those who embody additional marginalized identity markers, such as those who are racialized or living in poverty. In this way, the findings presented in this paper further address the infinifat-sized gain existing literature on plus-size dressing and lay the foundation for future work that engages with the infinifatshion community.

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Disfigurement, the body and dress: A review of the literature

Cited by 3 publications

References 92 publications

Inviting the Infinifat Voice to the Fatshion Conversation: An Exploration into Infinifat Identity Construction, Performance and Activism

Inviting the Infinifat Voice to the Fatshion Conversation: An Exploration into Infinifat Identity Construction, Performance and Activism

Inviting the Infinifat Voice to the Fatshion Conversation: An Exploration into Infinifat Identity Construction, Performance and Activism

You Aren’t What You Wear: An Exploration into Infinifat Identity Construction and Performance through Fashion

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