• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.830-843
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• 2016

The world wide increase of obesity and demands for various plus-size fashion are expanding the global plus-size fashion market. This study is to understand the market status of the US (the biggest plus-size fashion market) as well as analyze women's fashion shown in power blogs on the plus-size fashion trend. For research methods, photos from the top 10 globally ranked plus-size power blogs on Alexa.com were collected and divided into 5 plus-size body types based on: design factors, style, color, item, and texture. Pants with tops or completed outfits including pants, tops, and outer were the most common for casual styles; in addition, a tendency to pursue comfortable and naturally fitted clothes was also indicated. As for colors, the most common were blue colors and white or pastel toned colors; in addition, soft, hard, and transparent were all evenly used for materials. One-piece items were the most popular formal style that were mostly a one-tone color made with hard materials indicated by the pursuit of the fanciness and formality of a dress for a formal occasion. Black was the most common color, and the color variation was less diverse compared to that of casual styles. The most common for semi-formal styles were outfits with movability and more fanciness such as wearing a casual outer on top of a formal one-piece. When examining the fashion in plus-size blogs, there are differences in the frequency of design factors due to the diversity of body-types; in addition, different items were shown to be preferred in accordance with styles. The results of this study will help fashion companies who want to enter the global plus-size women's fashion market (including the US market); in addition, research on plus-size fashion that is changing the fashion and aesthetic paradigm is expected to contribute to academia.