At the peak of her daytime TV reign, Oprah Winfrey revealed she often paid twice the price for designer suits because her size wasn’t available off the rack. To make them work, her wardrobe team had to purchase two larger garments and combine them into one.
In a behind-the-scenes clip that has recently resurfaced on social media, likely filmed in the late 1990s or early 2000s, Oprah is seen eating a salad while chatting with her longtime hairstylist, Andre Walker, about the hidden cost of fashion as a plus-sized woman in the spotlight.
“I used to get these incredible bills for the clothes, and I couldn’t figure out what on earth, ‘Why does a suit cost so much?’” the former daytime host said. “I later find out – this was after I lost weight — what they would do, Andre would buy two suits; he would buy a size 14 and then a size 8; then he would send them to the tailor, and then she would make a size 22 out of the 14 and eight.”
“I was getting double billed for designer clothes,” Oprah said. “They did that for years. I can’t believe designers charge this kind of money.”
When Oprah found out, she demanded an explanation. Walker confessed he hadn’t told her sooner because he feared she’d be embarrassed.
Oprah’s problems persist today as plus-size women often pay more for designer clothes, that is, if they’re available, to begin with.
Many of the factors associated with plus-sized pricing include the increased cost of materials and production, the limited availability of the clothes, the shorter production run, and manufacturers charging more because of the industry stigma that bigger people wear them.
As Finurah previously reported, the richest Black woman in the world, estimated by Forbes at $3 billion, lives much of the time in Maui, Hawaii. She owns nearly 2,000 acres of land there, spending $60 million on her properties.
According to Chain Storeage, a study conducted by social-commerce platform Mys Tyler and published on Aug., 8, 2024, shows that more than 50 percent of women, 54.4 percent, are plus-sized, women who wear more than a size 14 dress.
Another study by the National Library of Medicine and the International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, reported by Northwest University also supports that more than two-thirds of women are plus-sized, saying, “average woman is a size 16-18 or XL-XXL.”
