Tim Gunn’s Lesson For Retail Data Analytics

In a recent Washington post op-ed, Tim Gunn, a professor of design and mentor for the would-be Armanis of Project Runway, called designers’ refusal to make clothing to fit American women “a disgrace.” In case you’re completely unfamiliar with the subject, women’s clothing designers concentrate on offerings for thin women. They consistently display their wares, on runways and in ads, on extremely thin models. Even the mannequins in window displays are really thin. Yet few women have the type of figure that Gunn describes as “a seven-foot-tall glamazon.” I’m inclined to feel that the real industry power lies with retailers, but they have long seemed to share the same lack of interest in curvy women. My late mother, who was a big lady, wore nothing but black dresses for decades. When her third grade students asked why, Mom, who had a rather wicked sense of humor, told them it was for her lover who was lost in the war. But the real reason was that she bought the only flattering clothes she could find, a closet full of plain black dresses. Yes, some retailers intentionally cater only to the young and thin. Yet, plenty of others are surely happy to sell to anyone with money to pay. Read more at Forbes.