Popular fashion designers are stylistically limited to draping only the ideal female body - thin, gaunt, mannequins. Only until the breakthrough of third wave feminism have body shape ideals expanded narrow parameters to a more realistic view. But popular fashion has been sluggish to catch on, and following these mentors stunts more independent designers. But local designer, Paula Fletcher, has been busy styling an antidote with her company dumbclothing.

Fletcher is young, well traveled, and experienced in the fashion industry. As she considers herself a practical designer rather than a pointed activist, she definitely understands that insight into her own, as well as to the experiences of her clientele, has shaped her business and design focus. "Nearly every woman that walks through the door", reveals Fletcher, "has some issue with self image - beautiful, well-proportioned women doubting themselves. My average customer is size 10-14… and I rarely make clothing under a size 5 or 6 - not to eliminate smaller sizes, but because the demand isn't there for me." Filling a void with her brand of style has sharpened her vision. Fletcher uses real sized women, her actual customers, as models for her fashion shows, as well as making ready to wear that is available in many sizes, as well as custom sizes. And she does not only break fashion stereotypes for women, she has extended her design eye to male clients offering them an education on the design process.

For either gender, her designs offer a stylishly charming and decisive hipness that is alarming without being pretentious. In her Capitol Hill studio racks are filled with her modern cocktail dresses cut with triangular lines and mixes of fabric, while others are crammed with Fletcher's many daring explorations on the A-line skirt or unisex jacket. Individual, expressive freedom is the important component for Fletcher, "The only thing I want to say with my designs," she says, "is that they feel good, look good, and have a uniqueness in simplicity. But most of all, a sense of humor."

Visit www.dumbcothing.com , or her showroom at 413 E. Pine St. Also find dumbclothing at Vain, Hello Georgeous, Le Frock, and many other local fashion houses.