Curves Ahead

Downtown clothier Evangeline looks to make plus-size fashion a plus.

by A.D. Amorosi

Michael T. Regan SLIM PICKINS: "The majority of the population is over a size 12, and women 12-plus are limited in where they can shop," says Evangeline's Amy Yates Wuelfing. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

Boys know from sight. Girls know from experience.

There are more big women than little ones, more plus-size ladies than what is considered "standard." But to paraphrase Iggy Pop, there are so many women with such differently proportioned shapes, I, too, want to live to be 98.

That's easy for me to say. I'm not a woman who wears a 12 or 14 — technically where plus-size starts as an industry measure — and has to struggle to find clothing with a designer twist or some sort of haute headiness.

Face it, you curvy, beautiful women, you fucking hate Lane Bryant.

That's where Amy Yates Wuelfing comes in.

"That was it, that's my reasoning," says Wuelfing about opening her new big-women clothier, Evangeline, with its tag line "Real Clothes for Real Women."

"The majority of the population is over a size 12, and women 12-plus are limited in where they can shop and what's available at most 'large' stores," says Wuelfing, a former saleswoman at the erstwhile Third St. Jazz and wife of music biz publicist Howard Wuelfing. "Those same shoppers often encounter clothing that's poorly made and of inferior quality material. There're stores down every street for women size 10 and below. Why not one for women 12-plus with a great selection of nicely made clothes?"

Wuelfing, a former "chunky little girl" ("Growing up, store owners called us — and I am not making this up — chubbettes"), named her store after Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem describes a girl (Evangeline), her boy toy (Gabriel) and their separation in bleak detail. It ain't pretty, as it involves Canadians and Acadians — the latter eventually becoming known as New Orleans' Cajun crowd. Evangeline settles in Philadelphia and, before too long, takes work as a nun who aids the sick and the poor. Who does she find during the big epidemic? Gabriel — who dies in her arms before the story's finale. This does not sound like a fashionable tale of the garment industry, but hey, "real women" have problems. "Evangeline ties together the cities of New Orleans and Philadelphia in a story of love that nothing can destroy," says Wuelfing.

Why designer brands and courtiers would discriminate against big-boned broads is a mystery, especially since a large lady's money is as green as a skinny gal's. "As long as we live in a capitalist society, it's important to make capitalism benevolent and beneficial. Giving women a positive experience that makes them look and feel better about themselves is important."

Still, Wuelfing contemplates several reasons for the bias. The first is that plus-size may not be perceived as glamorous or sexy. "Many designers stop at size 12 because they feel it wouldn't be good for their brand if their designs are seen on larger women." The second reason she surmises is laziness. "Designers would have to do more fittings with larger fit models to make the clothes look good. We have designers in our store that do nothing but 12-plus, and the clothes look great on women."

Though she hasn't met their owners, there is a small klatch of indie curvy clothiers — Fresh Ayer in Wayne and Phaze in Bala Cynwyd locally, Voluptuous Vixen in New Orleans, and very few others. "We hang together at trade shows and share secrets and visit each other's stores whenever possible," says Wuelfing.

It's the designers she feels a camaraderie with, but there are even fewer of those. Except for chains like Lane Bryant, there isn't a commitment to making plus-size clothes. The failure of several designers' ventures into the plus-size market — Versatile by Versace, Carisma by Valentino and Anne Klein Plus — saw to that. Wuelfing points out that Simply Vera, the line Vera Wang did for Kohl's, were just small sizes cut bigger — they didn't fit properly. "The waist is too big, the hips too small, etc."

HALF OFF DEPOT

Why live life at full price?

So Wuelfing stays close with those designers who do cut plus with great thought and care. "One of the best tony designers who specializes in plus designs is Gayla Bentley. Her clothes are gorgeous — but on the pricey side. There's Kiyonna, which is nice and more reasonable." Evangeline sells a mix of affordable and designer pieces, as well as trendy stuff that would last a season.

"We want the location to be a hot spot, not just a store," emphasizes Wuelfing, who's hosted events and parties at Evangeline. She had a trunk show with Bentley in January, and the first Sunday of every month is Mimosa Sunday, so ladies can booze up while they shop. She's had local bands like Fern Knight playing in-store.

But what's essential curvy-wear for the Evangeline gal? A Kiyonna pencil skirt, a Gayla Bentley shirt dress with an "obi sash" design (the obi creates a strong waist and a va-va-voom hourglass effect), clothes in natural fibers like beech wood-based Modal, and clothes with a vintage look for a slightly retro, more glamorous élan — this is what Evangeline does best.

"Look, I am a size 8/10, and every woman alive says she can't find enough cool clothes," laughs Wuelfing. "It's a never- ending quest. We had one woman who was a size 2 who took issue with our tagline. We're not saying thin women aren't real — but when was the last time you heard someone say something positive about curvy women? We're saying that plus women deserve a boutique shopping experience, too."

(a_amorosi@citypaper.net)

Evangeline, 520 S. Fourth St., 215-922-3536, evangelineplus.com.