Plus size boutique takes a stand for the Canadian plus size market.

A higher consciousness was evident this year in fashion. Key professionals such as Ben Barry, Michael Kors, and Coco Rocha speaking out against the dangerous image standards leading to eating disorders and health issues in the industry.

Top model, Rocha dealt first hand with industry professionals influencing Canada’s wonder girl to shed pounds even when she had reached an unhealthy weight at a size zero.

While it is heartening to see that the fashion world is beginning to recognize the folly of their ways, the fact remains true, the elite members of the fashion world continue to set ridiculous standards for female beauty while simultaneously shaping trends.

It is no surprise that the average woman has trouble finding clothes that makes them feel attractive and fashionable. In true fashion of course, if the everyday woman has such troubles, plus sized women face a bigger battle. Torontonian fashionista Laura Caravaggio is no stranger to the trials and tribulations facing plus size women when shopping.

When it became apparent that she and many of her plus sized friends were having very little luck finding stores catering to the needs of curvier women with an eye for fashion, Caravaggio took matters into her own hands.

Caravaggio’s mission has been to find fashionable clothing that flatter the bodies of shapelier women stemmed from a healthy realization. “ I would be trying things on and think, just because this dress doesn’t fit me, doesn’t mean I should feel bad.”

Caravaggio saw her friends struggling to shop for their body types and becoming endlessly discouraged by the lack of fashionable options for women in the plus sized range.

With that, the plus sized clothing store, Lola & Gigi was born. Launched as a web boutique, Lola & Gigi has grown, now making a more permanent home in her Toronto show room.

Here, Caravaggio receives clients for personal fitting consultations and clientele are anywhere between size 12 and 24. It is very important that women “…know their body shape, it will help you identify your style,” these are the challenges tackled at the home base for Lola and Gigi.

The store is home to a wide selection of designer brands, including Anna Scholz, MonifC, Svoboda, Igigi and many more. Caravaggio has an eye for fashion, and an innate sense of shape and fit. “I’m drawn to things you’re not going to find just anywhere,” she states. When describing the designs of popular brand MonifC by designer Monif Clarke, the Lola & Gigi philosophy is brazenly obvious: “She’s (Monif Clarke) completely unapologetic, not designing for any size, just for her own aesthetic.”

Perhaps it is time for designers to realize that plus sized women are no longer content to shell out cash for the bland, uninspired plus size clothing endlessly churned out by big-box stores. Like any woman, the plus size woman has specific ideas for the look she wants to achieve, and Caravaggio thinks of her customers as she thinks of her store’s fashion ‘mascots’, Lola and Gigi. The Lola and Gigi woman is “ sexy, classy…she’s youthful, fresh and fun.”

Caravaggio knows that like every other woman, the plus sized woman wants to put on a new outfit, look in the mirror, and feel irresistibly beautiful.