Marie Claire, a women’s magazine, published a new book titled “Dress Skinny,” with the goal of informing women on how to perfect their style, flatter their body and

look fabulous. 

According to the Marie Claire website, the book authored by Joyce Corrigan boasts style tips from celebrities such as Katy Perry, Jennifer Hudson and Zooey Deschanel, as well as influential designers like Michael Kors. 

Marie Claire Editor-in-Chief Anne Fulenwider introduces the book with a story that everyone  can relate to: “You wake up, pull something on, pull another something on and curse your entire wardrobe because nothing works.”

Wow, this book is for me! I go through this situation every morning and during the three outfit changes I make every day. However, upon noticing the rather “skinny” title of the book, I wondered if this meant that this book would not apply to plus-size women. 

Does that mean that curvy women do not share the same struggles of getting dressed every day? 

Come on, do skinny girls really go through their whole closet and struggle to find something to wear? My bad, I thought that was just a fat girl thing. 

I was intrigued when I first saw the book’s title on the website. Who doesn’t want to know how to dress skinny? This must be a book for plus-size women who want to flatter their shape instead of mask it, right? Wrong—so wrong.

I eventually scrolled down to see the cover of the book, which exalted an extremely thin model. It is safe to say that I was confused and upset that this book was telling my curvy body that it wouldn’t be useful to me, but it will show skinny women how to dress like skinny women. It all makes sense now. 

The book was built on the premise that any woman can dress like the best version of herself, with expert celebrity advice and collages of must-have garments that can work wonders on anyone’s personal style, according to the website. But the book fails to do just that.

If this book was made without curvy and plus-size figures in mind, then it does not help every woman or fashionista. Instead, it becomes an addition to yet another form of oppression of a specific body type.   

Every body type, gender, culture and race has their prideful moments, but creating things that blatantly exclude or alienate a different group will not help anyone. At the end of the day, more brands, writers, song makers and role models need to recognize that bodies do not come in one color, shape or size. With that being said, we should all embrace each other’s unique bodies just the way they are so that as a whole, we can step out of these unrealistic identity standards. Fashion should not be about looking skinny—it should be about looking fabulous.

Whether I really am ripping apart my closet and wardrobe every morning, I am going to forgo dressing skinny. I’m going to dress like me.