"I've always felt it was my mission to expand the narrow perceptions of beauty," she told Us. "Through America's Next Top Model, True Beauty and The Tyra Show, I challenge industry and universal standards by featuring and celebrating non-traditional beauty, and stressing that true beauty is both inside and out."

Banks said she was unhappy that the term "plus-sized" has such a "negative connotation" in today's society.

A report in The Daily Mail newspaper alleged that the department store was neglecting larger women seeking fashion clothing.

Anita Barr, director of womenswear at Selfridges, said that the decision to drop the collection was a direct reflection of the "constant updating" that the retailer undertakes to ensure that it has the right mix for its customers.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has started selling an extended line of Just My Size women's clothes, including dress pants, sweaters and other merchandise beyond the underwear and jeans it already stocked, Maria Teza, the brand's director, said in an Oct. 13 telephone interview.

"So many of the women who shop at Walmart today fall into the plus-size category," Teza, 41, said. "She's already there, whether she's buying groceries, toys, clothes for her kids. So we really wanted to create a plus-size destination for apparel for her."

Two New York fashion shows today will introduce the spring collection, ranging in size from 16 to 28, and in price from $6 to $22, she said.

Miller, along with fellow full-figured femmes Kate Dillon, Jennie Runk, Amy Lemons, Crystal Renn, Ashley Graham and Anansa Sims, were photographed-- in the buff -- by Matthias Vriens Friday at Industria Superstudio on Washington Street.

The designer, who admitted at Wednesday night's launch party for her Macy's line that her staff had to give her a 10-minute tutorial in the microblogging service, answered queries fans had posted online. While the questions weren’t the most hard-hitting ("Rachel, you absolutely glow! How do you stay confident through tough times?"), she did touch on everything from social media to her inspirations (graffiti, travel, the smell of libraries and "my gay husbands"). She also hinted at expansion: When an acolyte asked, "Are you going to extend your fabulous frocks to us Curvy Fashionistas size 14+?" she replied, "I would love to do a plus-size line."

Evans-owner the Arcadia Group confirmed the collaboration at it's press day in London this week but did not show any of the range.

Instead Evans teased visitors by showcasing a replica doll of Beth Ditto and promotional postcards featuring the doll dressed in a dice-printed black and white dress and a sequin disco inspired dress.

Faith 21 will offer tops, jeans, tanks, leggings and skirts in a junior plus size as well as XL, 1X and 2X. The design aesthetic follows Forever 21's trendy take on everything from runway knockoffs to jersey basics.

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Prices range from $3.50 to $34.80. Faith 21 will be available in L.A. on May 1 at Lakewood Center Mall, Montebello Town Center, Los Cerritos Mall, Anaheim Plaza and online at www.forever21.com.

It's true that the development phase of a plus-size collection is costly, because fitting bigger bodies is more complicated than simply making smaller sizes larger. When bodies get larger (especially over a size 18), they take on a different proportion -- there's generally more girth in the middle -- and the ratio between hip and waist changes.

But the payoff for sustaining a successful collection is worth the investment, said Rachel Pally, perhaps the only designer who sells a contemporary collection in trendy boutiques and a plus-size line -- Rachel Pally White Label -- in department stores. Pally's full-figured collection is one of the top-selling vendors for Nordstrom. "Fashion-forward plus-size women have no options," she said. "They're so thirsty for the product." Why others don't jump on the bandwagon, she added, is a mystery. "It's like, 'Hello? Don't you guys want to make money?' "

Many retailers aren't even game to discuss "plus." When contacted for this story, nearly every major retailer -- including Nordstrom, Macy's, H&M, even Wal-Mart -- declined to give interviews on the subject or didn't respond to requests. It's an odd silence, considering how ripe the market is. With hardly any high-end resources at their disposal, full-figured women still spent $18.6 billion on apparel in stores and online from December 2007 to November 2008, according to NPD Group.

That's only around 20% of the $109.7 billion spent in the regular-size ranges, but bricks-and-mortar plus-size retailers comprise far less than 20% of the total women's apparel retail industry -- and high-end options in the category are extremely rare, so purchase prices are substantially lower. At the crux of the inequity, according to some plus-size designers, models and retailers, is prejudice toward women the industry doesn't find particularly glamorous or sexy. Like fifth-grade girls who secretly live in fear of being ostracized from the cool clique, they don't want to be caught talking to the fat girl.

Full-figured supermodel Emme sells her own plus-size collection, me by Emme, on QVC, and will be debuting Emme Style, an online clearinghouse for plus-size fashion resources, this year under the same name. Top fashion magazine editors and designers, she said, are guilty of perpetuating the idea that full-figured women and fashion don't mix. "It really does come from very few edicts from a few people," she said. "You have to ask yourself why they are [defending] against this. Seriously, there are issues there."

That was before Torrid came to town. Torrid is the curvy kid-sister company to California-based Hot Topic, a popular punk clothing chain (insofar as a "chain" can be "punk") that netted $39.7 million last year. Now four years old, Torrid offers only plus-size clothing -- that is, only cool plus-size clothing -- to fashion-starved Junior XLs like Kathryn. "We believe that plus-size young women should have just as much opportunity to feel feminine, beautiful and sexy as their thinner counterparts," says Regina Woodhouse, director of marketing for Torrid. Translation: Anyone looking for stretch pants or muumuus will be disappointed.

Torrid is working lace camis, cute hoodies, saucy tees, flouncy minis....The combined effect is as if Gwen Stefani, Anna Nicole Smith, Queen Latifah, Pink and Carmen Miranda teamed up for a trunk show. Shiny, sparkly, often revealing -- with roomier-than-usual shoes, boots and even expanded necklaces and bracelets to match -- the clothes seem to say, "What fat?" rather than "I'll just be hiding over here in this caftan." (Torrid does, by the way, also stock more conservative clothes.)

Health and business experts follow Andrea's logic, agreeing that Torrid represents a welcome, even overdue, tap into a surprisingly underserved market. "It's about time," says Judith S. Stern, professor of nutrition and internal medicine at the University of California at Davis and vice president and co-founder of the American Obesity Association. "Overweight and obese kids are actively discriminated against. The fact that they couldn't have cool clothing just made things worse. We've made a lot of progress."