Invasion of the sausage-casing girls

Girls who wear tight clothing regardless of how it looks on them.

The whole issue of overweight and appropriate fit is ticklish, which quickly became apparent one recent Saturday at the Lakewood Center. The mall was full of shoppers, and it was easy to spot Sausage Casing Girls, though difficult to engage a conversation. No young woman wanted to admit — to a reporter, anyway — that she was chubby and her clothes simply didn't fit. Two 14-year-olds from Compton strolled along, one of whom, a plump girl named Veronica, looked uncomfortable in her sprayed-on jeans and body-hugging yellow T-shirt. She denied that she was uncomfortable and denied her clothes were too small: "We still shop in juniors. We'll go to bigger sizes when we're not juniors anymore." Other people, she said, "probably pick smaller clothes to look skinnier."