By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
September 4, 2003
Women hate trying on clothes. Women hate unrealistic sizes. But women love shopping.
Comic Margaret Cho found that the only comfortable, fun clothes she could wear were ones she designed herself or had specially made for her.
So the comic got serious and started High Class Cho (www.highclasscho.com) — a Web-based line of women’s clothes.
“I walk into some of these stores in Los Angeles and wonder who they consider to be large, because there are some very thin women I know who would be considered large according to their sizes,” says Cho. “I’m not mistaken for Calista Flockhart. I’ve got hips and breasts. It’s not easy to find clothes for girls like me.”
|With designer Ava Stander, Cho set out to make funky, fashionable and fun clothes that fit a real woman’s body, but with a screen siren’s flair. Hence the sizes: Audrey (small), Marilyn (medium) and Anita–as in Ekberg–(large).
The pair will be adding smaller and larger sizes down the line, but for now they’re concentrating on the majority of women who’re tired of being told they’re fat because their hip bones don’t jut out.
“We are not a plus-size clothing line,” says Cho. “What we are trying to do right now is move the weight standards for women up a bit to at least the 1950s where sexy was Marilyn Monroe and Lana Turner, and Miss Americas averaged 150 pounds.”
Aside from a couple of dresses that tip over the $100 scale, most of the pieces range from $45 to $85.
