11 Honoré Is Giving Plus-Size Fashion a Luxury Makeover
When the online retailer 11 Honoré launched last year, its co-founders Kathryn Retzer and Patrick Herning had to convince many of the world's top fashion brands to do something they’d shied away from for years—creating clothing for sizes 14 and up. “This wasn’t an easy road,” Retzer said on the phone from Los Angeles. “[In the beginning,] there were definitely brands who said, 'No, absolutely not.' But I’m not one to take no for an answer.” Retzer’s persistence has paid off, six months in and the thriving site which relaunched this morning with a sleek redesign courtesy of Ro and Co, now boasts the biggest assortment of plus-size luxury-wear online. “It was just our friends when we started — 16 designers — and now we have 34 for Spring and we’ll be close to 50 for fall—it’s been phenomenal.”
With in-demand labels like Baja East, Brandon Maxwell, Prabal Gurung and TOME all creating pieces exclusively for 11 Honoré, the site is providing direct-from-the-runway fashion in expanded sizes for an underserved demographic — while also creating a conversation around an issue that has plagued fashion for years. With 67 percent of American women wearing a size 14 or larger, plenty of customers exist, yet the most elite segment of the industry has historically been reluctant to engage with them. With body positivity and women's empowerment now global talking points, Retzer believes the time has come for fashion to evolve. “I think life is about timing and this has been the year of the woman,” says Retzer who credits the consumers themselves with being the driving force behind this change. “This is a movement — there’s no turning back.”
In recent years, the fashion industry has taken steps to show a greater range of body types in advertising campaigns, editorials, and on the runways. But, for most brands, the range of sizes in production hasn’t changed all that much. For Retzer, a former Vogue editor, who has seen the changes unfold firsthand, fashion's embrace of plus sizes is a no-brainer. “What's so amazing to me are the designers who I've known for 20 years that look at me and just go, 'I cannot believe no one has ever done this,'” says Retzer.
The biggest challenge is undoing old assumptions brands make about plus-size shoppers — that they're more interested in mass-market or discounted wares than in investment pieces. Sharing the luxury space with e-tailers like Net-A-Porter and Moda Operandi, 11 Honoré aims to bring something new to the table. “We've found that [our customer] wants the same thing as everyone else, not the watered-down version, which is all she's ever been offered before,” says Retzer. “She just wants the exact same thing as the size 4 customer — a beautifully well-made blazer, the perfect pant, a gorgeous evening dress.”
Providing those options means working hand-in-hand with designers to change the way they manufacture their collections. “We're asking people basically to double what they are currently doing,” says Retzer who understands that the intricacies of creating new samples and patterns. “These designers are so committed to quality and the perfect fit. It isn't easy getting things right, but it's working.”
Tapping fashion legends like former Barneys fashion director Julie Gilhart to help get brands on board, enlisting superstar (and early investor) Candice Huffine to star in latest advertising, and cultivating a kind of aspirational vibe, the site’s 2.0 version is an elegant addition to the list of must-visit web shopping destinations. But if you think the current lineup is impressive, Retzer still has plenty in store for the future. “Once I've secured Gucci and Valentino, I'm going to feel like I've really made it,” she says, listing off her wishlist of covetable labels. “Rag & Bone, Veronica Beard — I truly want to offer her a wide range of price points. I want to provide our girl with the coolest, hottest, designers in the world and I want to push [those designers] and help them to be able to produce in this size run.”
