Designing clothing for women of all sizes is good business.
So says Melissa McCarthy.
"I just don't quite see the cut off," the Spy star told me recently during a visit to a Lane Bryant in L.A. to promote the holiday collection of her fashion line Melissa McCarthy Seven7. "I don't believe in kind of sectioning and segregating people in anything. I think most women in the U.S. are a 14. I think like 72 percent of women are a 14. So I think it's a little insane if you're in this business to tell your biggest section of clientele that you don't want their business."
McCarthy launched her line this summer with sizes ranging from 4 to 28.
The Oscar nominee said she worries about the impact of "shaming and bullying" about appearances have on children and young people. "You're cutting down and devaluing a woman based on her looks and that's not going to put anything good in the world," McCarthy said. "It doesn't make women feel good. I have two daughters and I think, 'My, god—every time they see one of these things it's supposed to be a joke [but] it just chips away and chips away and chips away.'"
Before launching her comedy career with stand-up, McCarthy studied fashion at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City.
She now keeps a "lot of weird" notebooks next to her bed just in case inspiration happens in the middle of the night.
Her hubby Ben Falcone has adjusted to his wife's second career. "He's very patient because we can be in the middle of a conversation and if I trail off, I'm like, 'Should be a raglan sleeve!' He's like, 'It's not what we're talking about. We weren't talking about a sleeve. Just go draw it and then come back and we'll finish talking about our children's education,'" McCarthy said with a laugh.
She joked Seven7 is just another step in her quest for "world domination."
"I just want to keep trying and improving," McCarthy said before going to chat with some Lane Bryant customers. "It's really fun getting to talk to a bunch of customers and actually find out what [they] like and what doesn't work. I'm up for the good and the bad to improve it."
For more of our chat, check out E! News tonight at 7 p.m. and 11 p.m.