--- title: Tim Gunn Says Fashion Designers Are Failing Plus Size Women description: Tim Gunn wrote a powerful op-ed in the Washington Post calling out fashion designers for ignoring plus-size women. canonical: https://time.com/4485397/tim-gunn-plus-size-women-op-ed/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-09T16:18:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:03:20.725Z og:title: Tim Gunn Calls Out Fashion Designers for Failing Plus-Size Women og:description: 'There is no reason larger women can’t look just as fabulous as all other women' og:url: https://time.com/4485397/tim-gunn-plus-size-women-op-ed/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5da04bf47ac17fa6/6988a564428a9e3fa7cd431d/tim-gunn-plus-size-women.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5760 og:image:height: 3240 og:image:alt: Mongol - Backstage - Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2015 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Tim Gunn Calls Out Fashion Designers for Failing Plus-Size Women twitter:description: 'There is no reason larger women can’t look just as fabulous as all other women' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5da04bf47ac17fa6/6988a564428a9e3fa7cd431d/tim-gunn-plus-size-women.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Tim Gunn Calls Out Fashion Designers for Failing Plus-Size Women > Sponsored content. 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It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/newsletters?i=0a210e7f-5ae7-4b1e-a58b-551f687a24ee&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Sep 9, 2016 4:18 PM UTC  NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 13: Tim Gunn poses backstage at Mongol fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2015 at The Theatre at Lincoln Center on February 13, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Thomas Concordia/WireImage for Mongol) NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 13: Tim Gunn poses backstage at Mongol fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2015 at The Theatre at Lincoln Center on February 13, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Thomas Concordia/WireImage for Mongol) Thomas Concordia—WireImage for Mongol/Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Sep 9, 2016 4:18 PM UTC _Project Runway_ co-host and fashion advice-giver extraordinaire Tim Gunn [wrote a powerful op-ed](https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/09/08/tim-gunn-designers-refuse-to-make-clothes-to-fit-american-women-its-a-disgrace) in the Washington _Post_ calling out fashion designers for ignoring [plus-size women](http://motto.time.com/4224444/sports-illustrated-swimsuit-issue-cover-model-ashley-graham-interview/). “I love the American fashion industry, but it has a lot of problems, and one of them is the baffling way it has turned its back on plus-size women,” Gunn wrote. “It’s a puzzling conundrum.” Gunn said the lack of flattering and fashionable clothing for plus-size women a “design failure and not a costumer issue.” He wrote, “There is no reason larger women can’t look just as fabulous as all other women.” [Follow Motto on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/mottoworkplaylive/). Gunn referenced a number of statistics that he said points to a massive plus-size market that designers could tap into: [research](http://www.13wmaz.com/news/health/research-reveals-plus-size-women-are-forced-to-cross-dress-to-workout/291265906) from Washington State University shows the average American woman wears between a size 16 and 18 and there are [100 million](http://www.businessinsider.com/why-isnt-plus-size-bigger-2012-12) plus-size women in the U.S. But, Gunn noted, a [Bloomberg analysis](https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2016-05-10/plus-size-could-save-retailers) found “only 8.5 percent of dresses on Nordstrom.com in May were plus-size. At J.C. Penney’s website, it was 16 percent; Nike.com had a mere five items — total.” Gunn criticized designers’ attitude toward plus-size women, referencing Karl Lagerfeld, the head designer of Chanel, who said in 2009, “No one wants to see curvy women” on the runway. Gunn also addressed _Project Runway_‘s lack of progress. “_Project Runway_…has not been a leader on this issue,” he wrote. Last season, [Ashley Nell Tipton](http://motto.time.com/4375387/jc-penney-body-positive-ad-campaign/) won the show with the first-ever plus-size collection, but Gunn wrote “her victory reeked of tokenism.” He added: “Simply making a nod toward inclusiveness is not enough.” Read the rest of his op-ed [here](//www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/09/08/tim-gunn-designers-refuse-to-make-clothes-to-fit-american-women-its-a-disgrace). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4485397/tim-gunn-plus-size-women-op-ed/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4485397/tim-gunn-plus-size-women-op-ed/"},"headline":"Tim Gunn Calls Out Fashion Designers for Failing Plus-Size Women","datePublished":"2016-09-09T16:18:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:03:20.725Z","description":"'There is no reason larger women can’t look just as fabulous as all other women'","url":"https://time.com/4485397/tim-gunn-plus-size-women-op-ed/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5da04bf47ac17fa6/6988a564428a9e3fa7cd431d/tim-gunn-plus-size-women.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5da04bf47ac17fa6/6988a564428a9e3fa7cd431d/tim-gunn-plus-size-women.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Mongol - Backstage - Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2015","caption":"Mongol - Backstage - Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2015","creditText":"Thomas Concordia—WireImage for Mongol/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4485397/tim-gunn-plus-size-women-op-ed/","name":"Tim Gunn Calls Out Fashion Designers for Failing Plus-Size Women"}}]}] ```