It’s a struggle to find clothes for plus size women

PRESENTER and broadcaster Louise McSharry has said it is a struggle dressing as a plus size woman – and “fashion should be for everyone”.

Louise warns “most shops don’t carry plus sizes” and is urging designers to make collections more inclusive for plus size people.

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She told the Irish Sun: “I think it’s interesting when I talk about sustainable fashion a lot because it’s a very different kind of prospect when you’re plus size.

“Vintage clothing and pre-loved clothing just basically don’t exist or very rarely. If you go to a vintage shop, you won’t find anything in my size.”

The cancer survivor has previously campaigned for people to change their attitudes towards obesity saying obese people “are not a problem that need to be solved”.

She continued: “With a lot of sustainable brands, it’s improving but a lot of them only go up to a certain size so it’s a lot harder to dress entirely sustainably when you’re a plus sized person.”

Nominated for a Sustainable Fashion Award in the Platinum VIP Style Awards 2022, Louise feels blessed to have connections with designers who can help her – that the average plus size person would not.

She said: “I have relationships with designers and I ask them if they want to work with me, which for someone who has plus size is a big deal because a lot of things needs to be specially made for me. A lot of people’s collections just aren’t inclusive.”

But Louise feels privileged to have relationships with designers she can collaborate with for special events.

Every year we dump or incinerate around 70 billion items of clothing, that’s 250,000 tons in Ireland alone.

Louise reveals one of the key steps to living sustainably as a plus size woman wearing items “over and over again”.

The mother-of-two said: “So really what it comes down to is choosing carefully, choosing things you really love and wearing them a lot. Which is a key part of sustainability.

“Aside from spending in certain places, it’s how you use your clothes and how you love your clothes and how you wear them.”

The 40-year-old’s Instagram is full of fashion finds including swimwear made from “recycled rubbish” and old favourites she likes to re-wear.

She gives tips on buying plus size items and what it’s like shopping for a size 22-24.

Louise said: “I guess that’s what I’m all about. Trying to encourage people to do what they can, because it’s not necessarily acceptable for everyone to try to dress entirely sustainable all the time.”

While she helps others with their fashion finds, Louise warns the internet can be a “good and bad” thing.

The Dubliner said: “I think the internet is great for people who are committed to dressing sustainably, they’re able to access lots of different things.”

But it encourages people to buy “with a click of a switch”, fuelling the fast fashion industry.

The presenter revealed she buys a lot of her sustainable fashion from the States.

She explained: “I wouldn’t have been able to access those brands without access to the internet but then the internet I think is impacted really negatively in terms of fast fashion like the amount of clothing that we can access.”

The broadcaster says she wants to help others like her.

Louise said: “I suppose what it really comes down to is changing our behaviour and to try to do a little bit better.”

She added: “I’m always like if you see a bigger person and a great outfit, just know they’ve had to work really hard for it and they deserve all the kudos.”

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