Beyoncé's Ivy Park Is Receiving Backlash for Not Including Plus Sizes
Just a week ago, the internet was abuzz when Beyoncé dropped her very own line of activewear. The leotard! The sweatpants! The headbands! On practically every site on which the line was sold (Nordstrom, Topshop, Net-a-Porter), snagging an Ivy Park article was akin to The Hunger Games.
But despite this collective glee, the line now has its critics.
Over the weekend, customers started speaking out on social media about the lack of options for plus-size women. Originally, the line was supposed to include pieces up to a size XXL but on all retail sites, the largest size is actually just an XL.
My feelings aren't hurt about Ivy Park not going past XL. Top Shop doesn't provide plus size I'm not in their demographic.
Damn Beyonce musta forgot she got plus size fans huh? foh #IvyPark
Funny thing about this Beyoncé #IvyPark collection is she wants people to be FIT but the only size she offers is FIT sizes already, so....
IDK what y'all are talking about - I got my plus size #IvyPark this morning!pic.twitter.com/BfmyA0piOf
What makes the sizing conundrum particularly disappointing is that Beyoncé herself has been a longtime champion of full-figured women (See: "Bootylicious"), and was even recently quoted in Elle saying of Ivy Park, "I was so specific about the things I feel I need in a garment as a curvy woman, and just as a woman in general, so you feel safe and covered but also sexy. Everything lifts and sucks in your waist and enhances the female form."
The female form up to a certain size, that is.
However, some have pointed out that although the pieces are sized only up to an XL, many of the garments themselves are quite oversized.
Additionally, Topshop doesn't technically stock anything above an XL (or a U.K. size 16), so this was just Beyoncé having to work within the retailer's own confines.
But if a woman like Beyoncé can't break the rules and create items above an XL on Topshop, who can?