In an article by Buzzfeed News, "Rebel Wilson Responded to Criticism Of Her Clothing Line As Fans Claimed She'd 'Forgotten' About Larger Sizes After ;Building' A Career On 'Mocking Her Own Plus Sized Body.'"
We all know Rebel Wilson. Her most famous movie, imo, has got to be Pitch Perfect, but she's definitely also got Isn't It Romantic with Chris Hemsworth, Ice Age, Kung Fu Panda 3, and a lot more.
But Buzzfeed News is writing about her for another reason - she recently launched a clothing brand, R&R Club, with designer Ramona Agruma in the name of creating clothing to help "royally relax."
I looked at the two products currently for sale - they're cute! White sweatpants and a white hoodie; people are gonna look like snow angels. Buzzfeed isn't criticizing the styles; they're criticizing the sizes. People noticed pretty quickly that the sizes offered by the brand ran from a XS to a combined L/XL. A lot of customers were left disappointed, because Rebel Wilson became famous partly based on her role as a "prominent, plus-sized figure" as Buzzfeed writes.
Arguably, the role that led Rebel Wilson to success was Fat Amy in Pitch Perfect, which came out in 2012. When she collaborated with Torrid in 2015 (a plus-size speciality clothing store) to create a more inclusive clothing collection, she received a lot of praise.
Then, fast forward to 2020. Rebel Wilson went on a highly documented "public-health journey," which can be viewed on Instagram, and she lost a lot of weight. Now, fans are disappointed that Wilson's new clothing brand is so size-exclusive. Keeping in mind, also, that the sweatpants and sweatshirt set combined sell for over $300, this new clothing brand is also catering to a specific socioeconomic class.
Here are some tweets referenced in the article, and I think they speak for themselves:
“Rebel Wilson came out with a clothing line that’s biggest size is ‘L/XL’ after building her whole career on being fat this is so f****** funny."
“I think it’s so interesting how rebel wilson started off as a plus size individual and decided to make her clothing brand very size exclusive like fat people don’t deserve to wear clothes? like being a bigger person didn’t give you a point of view that small people don’t have…?”
“This whole Rebel Wilson situation is deep under my skin. She honestly put out a clothing line that doesn’t include any plus sizes, even combining L and XL. Her entire career was built around her mocking her own plus sized body. The f****** audacity.”
Clearly, the lack of sizing in Rebel Wilson's new clothing brand is a problem that needs to be changed. But let's tie this in full circle; Wilson's brand's sizing doesn't just need to be changed because she monetized being a plus-sized figure, and her brand excluding plus-sized people is hypocritical. Wilson's brand needs to be changed because American society excludes plus-sized bodies, and a clear lack of accessible clothing is one of the most prominent reasons why. This problem is bigger than Rebel Wilson. This is a problem with American society. Science shows us that people are born with all different sized bodies, and some of those bodies are plus-sized bodies. People can't control what size they're born. But the industry can control what consumers they cater to and design for. Rebel Wilson's R&R Club happens to be one example of the industry falling short.
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