Argentine law targets clothing sizes

By JUDIE SCHWARTZ And EVELINDA URMAN
Scripps Howard News Service
Judie: Time for a year-end Style Matters fashion news roundup.
Evelinda: With serious issues facing Argentina today -- a nose-diving economy and sky-rocketing unemployment -- it's nice to know the government is taking time out to make sure that plus-size women have a large enough selection of clothing. Unstable government? Pish, tush. The real issue facing this nation is that many Argentine women can't fit into a size 6.
Judie: Argentina is known for its thin, gorgeous women, whether by nature or the knife. But recently leaders noticed that many suburban girls were packing on the weight and couldn't fit into the tiny sizes carried by most boutiques. The government is sending out a host of provincial inspectors to scour clothing stores in search of offenders. If a store doesn't carry the prescribed sizes (equivalent to 6-16 in the U.S,), the owners may face fines of up to $170,000. Talk about government pork!
Evelinda: Says Argentine model Ines Pujol, quoted in the Wall Street Journal: retailers "are not going to sell all of that large-sized clothing." Argentines have a svelte look, and no piece of legislation is going to interfere with that.
Judie: Apparently those empanadas-chomping suburban women will get no sympathy from size 00 supermodels.
Evelinda: American college girls don't get our sympathies when it comes to the way they dress. Part of the problem is the bad advice they get from their peers. Check out the recent advice from fashion columnist Lauren Kushner, who writes for The Bucknellian, Bucknell University's student newspaper: "I recommend black skirts. They are always appropriate and sexy, the shorter the better. I still prefer tank tops, especially sparkly ones that are tight-fitting and that expose some midriff. When it gets too cold for this attire, I suggest wearing a tight sweater with extra-fitted dark jeans.
Judie: So if you're wondering why some coeds look like stuffed sausages, now you know why.
Evelinda: University of Southern California is known for its film school; Stanford for its computer department and now Hong Kong's Polytechnic University is making a name for itself as the place for bra studies. Why? Because nearby China is the new bra capital of the world.
Judie: According to a Wall Street Journal article, in the past few years, China's biggest bra manufacturers have invested in bra-research centers, bra laboratories, even bra towns where most businesses are exclusively devoted to bras. The largest manufacturer, appropriately called Top Form, produces 61 million bras a year. The Wall Street Journal goes on to say: "Thanks to several years of double-digit growth, China's bra makers had plenty in the war chest to lavish on research and innovation." What size is that war chest? Double D?
XJudie Schwartz and Evelinda Urman write on corporate office wear and the art of personal style. E-mail them at stylematters(at)comcast.net.