Brandy Melville, a clothing store targeted to young women ages 15 to 25, wants us to believe “one size fits most.” While not the only store to do this, Brandy Melville emphasizes this more than other brands. The approach more often than not promotes unhealthy beauty standards and unrealistic expectations for teens.
I recently bought a shirt from Brandy Melville. I’m a size small with an athletic body shape. The shirt hardly fit over my broad shoulders. When I finally squeezed it over my arms, I found that the entire front sagged down. I was flabbergasted by the fact that it was way too big for my chest but too small for my arms.
Many teenage girls I’ve seen do not have extremely slim arms and large chests. Brandy Melville and other brands seem to be caught up in this generation’s contradictory beauty standards for girls. You have to be curvy enough for the clothes to fit correctly, but not so curvy that the shirt doesn’t fit at all.
From what I see on the racks, Brandy Melville’s clothes are non-inclusive to any body type other than petite smalls/extra smalls. Mid-size and non-petite small teens struggle to properly fit into Brandy Melville’s clothes.
You may be asking, “Girl, why can’t you just try on the clothes before buying?” Well, Brandy Melville not only has no accurate sizing, they also do not have accessible changing rooms, making it almost impossible to find clothes that fully fit.
In a generation that promotes body positivity, Brandy Melville flies under the radar with its eye-catching branding and misleading sizes. Brandy Melville should implement multiple sizes or versatile fabric that would fit anyone’s body shape.
Sienna Feliciano is a member of the class of 2027 at Santa Teresa High School in San Jose.
Editor’s note: This story is part of the annual Mosaic Journalism Program for Bay Area high school students, an intensive course in journalism. Students in the program report and photograph stories under the guidance of professional journalists.