Nightlife / Stephanie Depasquale

Fashion and a size 2

By Stephanie De Pasquale | Friday, July 18, 2008 | () comments

As I’ve been out recently, I’ve seen a lot of women wearing dresses with banded bottoms.

The dresses, which are usually sleeveless or a tube top, are tight around the bust, loose around the waist and then have about nine inches of fabric that hug every curve of the bottom and thighs. To see an example, click here.

The loose waist is the one forgiving aspect of the dress style. In other words, if your stomach isn’t flat as a board, it doesn’t matter because the fabric pulls away from the waistline. But you still have to be ridiculously thin to pull off the style because of the ultra-tight banded bottom.

Thanks to training for the Quad-City Times Bix 7, I’m between a size 4 and a 6, but I wouldn’t be caught dead in one of these dresses.

It doesn’t help that the dresses are often so short that you would have to wear underwear that covers every nook and cranny or risk exposing yourself with one wrong move.

But despite the dangers of exposing cellulite and lady business, I am seeing women of all shapes and sizes wearing these dresses.

I can only come up with three reasons why the banded-bottom dresses are so popular: The women wearing them are far more comfortable in their skin than I am (and I’m pretty happy with my body); they will wear anything as long as it’s in style; or they’re trying really hard to be sexy.

What do you think? Should some styles be left to the 2 percent of our population that are thin enough to wear them well or should women be able to wear whatever they want, no matter what size is on the tag?

Stephanie De Pasquale can be contacted at (563) 333-2639 or sdepasquale@qctimes.com.