The Limited Launches eloquii as Plus-Size Fashion Takes Off

There's a growing market for plus-size fashion among sophisticated fashionistas.

In response, The Limited is launching eloquii, a new line for fans of the Limited brand who want “a clothing line that celebrates your sense of style, respects your curves and offers uncompromising fit and quality.”

Launching Oct. 19 (according to its Twitter feed) and online-only (for now), eloquii is "fashion that loves you back," as seen in the promo above. Other retailers are stepping up, too — including Lane Bryant, the plus-size fashion retailer that puts the sexy in plus-size fashion.

Lane Bryant this week kicks off its T3 (Tighter Tummy Technology) Trousers and Jeans with a "Technology Just Got Sexy" marketing campaign across multiple channels.

Its media plan includes promotions, in-store signage, direct mail, email, mobile, Lane Bryant Credit Card collateral pieces, and TV spots appearing on popular channels such as Bravo!, E!, TLC, USA, BET, Discovery, TNT, Country Network, WE, OWN, Oxygen, SOAPnet, Style, TVOne, ION, HGTV, Lifetime Movie Network, Discovery Familia, Discovery en Español, among others. Lane Bryant is leveraging social media through posts to Facebook and Twitter in addition to Inside Curve, the retailer’s online community.

The T3 collection, which uses a built-in mesh control panel of nylon and spandex to make the wearer "look a size or two smaller," will take center stage at Lane Bryant’s Downtown Brooklyn store during the third annual Fashion's Night Out event (FNO) sponsored by VOGUE, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and the City of New York.

While sipping signature “Lanetini” cocktails, shoppers are invited to Lane Bryant’s Fulton Street store in Brooklyn from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. to learn about the benefits of T3 from Lane Bryant Technical Design Director Richard Zielinski during a special presentation on the technology of fit that discusses the exclusive and innovative design behind Lane Bryant’s new line.

The FNO event offers customers a chance to mingle with the cast of TLC’s Big Sexy, a hit new reality show documenting the lives of five Manhattan women as they aim to make plus-size sexiness more mainstream (this week's episode takes the quintet to New York Fashion Week). In partnership with Plus Model magazine, Lane Bryant will give away a $500 Lane Bryant gift card to one lucky winner in honor of FNO and the T3 trouser debut. The winner will also receive a day of consultation with personal stylist, Reah Norman, and will be featured in a photo shoot for an upcoming issue of Plus Model Magazine. The Lane Bryant Fulton Street store will have exclusive FNO-branded t-shirts available in sizes 14-28 for $25.

"What we're trying to do is not build a gimmick. It's not Spanx, it's not a girdle. It's a different way of manufacturing clothes to make them as comfortable as possible. We took the idea of sweatpants with an elastic waist and then made jeans and trousers with that in mind. They are that comfortable. It's not enough to make her look smaller and smoother. It had to feel good, too," commented Zielinski to MediaPost.

And as American women pack away their summer clothes, Kellogg's Special K is inviting them “to display their inner denim diva by strutting their stuff in jeans on the virtual catwalk this fall,” by submitting photos and videos of their strut to the brand's US Facebook page. 

"As the Special K brand demonstrates with their ad campaign this fall, it's not the number on the tag of the jeans that matters, but being more confident and secure in your denim," stated stylist Robert Verdi, who hosted a special event (check it out below) for the brand in Chicago last week. "Women walk a little taller and strut a little more when they feel good about how they look in a great pair of jeans. When women support and cheer each other on, true beauty surrounds us." 

The Kellogg’s brand is reminding women how the Special K Challenge can help kick start weight-management goals and drop a jean size and lose up to six pounds in two weeks.

While the fashion ideal remains a size 0-4, the reality is that Americans are getting steadily wider and brands are now hip to the trick of making and marketing clothes in a size 14-20 that look like a 6-12. Kudos to these three brands for embracing the plus-size fashion market with flair and savvy.