Petites, of course, are supposed to fall into this category, but for some reason, we aren't included in the Facebook Event celebrating alternative models (Alternative Model Week is in August. More information will be posted here and in Prospere Magazine closer to the date). I've even posted a note on the wall, but the admins have not changed anything as of Wednesday afternoon. Perhaps we need to have a bigger voice. You see tattooed people, people with multiple piercings, goth and even the more mainstream plus being celebrated, but us shorties? Nope. Nada.
Maybe there just aren't enough designers interested in risking it, especially in Canada. Maybe we need to encourage fashion students to go an alternate route. Isn't it interesting that people are more willing to be "weird" alternative than mainstream-alternative (i.e. plus and petite)? I would think that there are more people who'd be interested in mainstream-alternative, especially in a country like Canada. We're, after all, generally less risk-taking. Even Ben Barry, the Canadian modelling agent who encourages all shapes and sizes seems to ignore the shorties.
So what can we do? Well, starting a website to talk about these issues is one. This seems to be the most common, though most petite websites don't seem to update very regularly (Serafina, Petite Fashionista and this site are the most regular). Encouraging designers to think outside of the box is another. Of course, the latter can be hard. The fashion industry, as creative as they are, seem to be very narrow-minded when it comes to what looks good. Last year, I was at an event where one of the guests was a Canadian designer who has had shows in L'Oreal Fashion Week (won't name this person, as I am afraid of getting into trouble). I told this designer about this blog, and though this person was very friendly prior to my mentioning Shorty Stories, stopped talking to me all together afterwards. And trust me, it was NOT the alcohol. Petite fashion shouldn't only be shows like Petite Fashionista Presents. Petite fashion should be everywhere.
Of course, even if we are successful in encouraging designers to go petite, there's no guarantee that the Canadian Fashion Design Council will respond well to them. I've heard that some people there have a reputation to be pretty much the Anna Wintour of the North. And we all know what that means.
