Entries Tagged 'fashion' ↓

For a while now, Target in Australia’s “Options Plus” line has been filled with not-terribly-attractive clothes that are pale imitations of current fashions. My local Target has a very limited selection, but I’ve been to some of the huge Targets and the Options Plus area is still tiny compared to the 17 acres of “normal” clothes. The sizing of the clothes is very strange: while in most other stores like Myer, Autograph, etc, I generally wear a 22 on top and 26 on bottom, in Target some tops, a size 18 will fit me, others, a size 24. I don’t have a large bust to content with either. Sometimes a size 24 skirt will fit perfectly, while I can’t get a size 26 past my thighs. Buying some trackydacks recently, one style, a size 16 fit and another style’s size 24 was a squeeze. I’m pretty sure these all come out of the same factory in Indonesia or China, how hard would it be to make the sizes at least consistent? It’s not that it’s even a difference between stretch material and woven. The inconsistency goes across all garments.

Frustrated with the range in a big Target I was in recently, I was leaving the store via the not-plus section, when I realised that some of the size 18s hanging on the racks actually looked kind of large. So I tried on some cardigans, which is what I was shopping for. They all fit just fine. And because they were “Misses” sizing rather than “Womens”, they weren’t too long for me and didn’t have armholes that went down to my waist, and so on. A 16 in some styles even fit. I’m not sure how they’d go on a woman with a larger bust than mine, though. So if you’re in Target, do have a look at the size 16/18s in the other sections. About half of the stuff there goes up to an 18 and nearly all to a 16. I’ll have to try this out at other department stores.

City Chic seems to be having a sizing problem too. Last year I bought an awesome coat from them in XL, after trying on quite a few other coats in the same size. I am a bit smaller than I was this time last year (see my numerous posts on thyroid), so the coat wasn’t a good fit anymore. I went back to City Chic to try on some L coats. Which were too small. Tried on their XLs. Still too small. WTF? I know they’re juniors sizing, but this makes little sense. Maybe they changed production factories or pattern designers. I hate when this happens.

As for Autograph, I think their clothing is getting uglier by the minute. I actually have some items from there from two years ago which still looks great, but every time I’ve been in there recently, nothing has stood out to me. Forget My Size. They are embracing the Big Boxy look. It doesn’t help that they put size 12-14 models in their catalogues and are obviously pinning the clothes back on them and they’re STILL big ‘n’ boxy. With dowdy-looking mid-calf skirts. When they have skirts.

Thankfully the Australian dollar is climbing back up against the US dollar and I can start buying a few bits from B&Lu and so on again.

I think I’m just going to have to clear a space here in my house and start sewing again. Fat fashion retailers are failing us.

You may or may not know by now that Google Images now has over a million photographs from the LIFE magazine archives available for viewing. I love photograph archives and was all over that looking for some never-before-seen Margaret Bourke-White, and then I thought to look up ‘fat’ and ‘obese’ and the like.

Well, I came across what looks like a proto-NAAFA meeting, with a roomful of fat people rockin’ their awesome 1951 outfits. Search Google Images with <“fat people” source:LIFE> and wow. I’m fairly sure it’s not a fat camp promotional seminar, there are no skinny people in white coats up the front at the speakers’ table and none of the fat people looks terribly ashamed, but I don’t know for sure. I wonder what it was?

Check out this woman’s amazing hairdo! And dress!

I want to go out swing dancing and drinking cocktails with these women!

Who says there were approximately three fat people (Alfred Hitchcock and two Coney Island performers, obviously) before the “obeeeeesity crisis”?  Obviously there were enough in one city for interested parties to fill a ballroom for some kind of meeting.

And once again proving that weight loss is never particularly new or fresh reporting, there are also pictures of joyful successful dieters and appropriately-remorseful-looking chubby people at fat camps.

If you search for <obese source:LIFE> you get two pictures of singers at the Bower Follies, both of whom look kickass. A search for <obesity source:LIFE> gets you a lot of before-and-after pics on an “Obesity Sotry”, a few others of fat people going about their business, and some fat camp pics. Like this 1938 gorgeous babe, Jewel Mauclaire:

If  you click on the Related Images with that one, you get pictures of other women at the camp exercising in high heels, and “low calorie vegetable plates”.

Then there’s this awful one tagged “weight loss”. A woman is in hospital on a weight loss program, presumably a liquid diet where she gets to suck a disgusting-looking concotion out of a jug in her bedside fridge. But we don’t do that these days! All our modern weight loss diets are sensible lifestyle changes! Yeah, right. [OK, I was going to link there to one of those "medically-supervised very low calorie diets" which is all meal replacement shakes all the time, but decided against it. They don't need any more clicks and you don't need to see any more vile shakes.]

There’s thousands of other topics to look up the archives, and it’s a great internet timewaster research tool.

No posts from me for a while! I have been flat out with work and school, leaving no time for posts, just half-baked comments on other peoples’ blogs.

And this week I have some kind of horrible bronchitis. The lurgy!

I ordered some clothes from B & Lu,  in anticipation of it being as deadly hot as usual, and my package arrived today. So here’s my review of the items I got. I’m an Australian 22-24 on top and a 26-28 on bottom (which is around the same as US sizes these days in my experience) and 5’1″ tall.

The ‘Cora’ top, $38

Made of a light but not too lightweight cotton knit with lace trim. I got this in ‘burgundy’, and it’s a brownish burgundy rather than maroon. It’s about hip length on me and the fit is great – I got this in 3X. I will make two alterations, though.  First, sew a little bit of fabric behind the rather deep cleavage line as it is quite low indeed on me. Possibly it’s meant to be layered but like hell I’m layering in 40 C/110F weather. Second, get some matching lace and fabric and make the sleeves a little longer. I’m not concerned about displaying my arm chub to the world, but I am concerned about my extremely pale skin that gets burnt and crispy  – especially on upper arms and shoulders where I’ve had awful burns before.

The ‘Priscilla’ top, $32

Similar weight cotton knit to the ‘Cora’ top, and a bit of a more snug fit (but also a 3X). It will probably ‘relax’ after a couple of wearings as this kind of fabric does. Sleeves also too short for UV-protecting purposes, will add a bit more. The neckline is really nice, however if you have large breasts you’ll probably need to order a size larger or try it on and possibly return it: I’m only a B-C cup and the bodice area was threatening to ride up. It’s a pretty cute top all things considered. Also, is easily gothed-up. Heh.

The ‘Wrap’ top, $43

OK, this one took me a while to figure out how the wrapping actually worked. It seems you put the cord in one side and bring it out the other on both sides, unlike the other wrap tops I’ve had where you only do that on one side. Same fabric as the ‘Priscilla’, and, hooray, the sleeves are long enough. What’s also long enough are the wrap ties. I hate it when a plus-size top seems to have the size 4 ties sewn on, but this one has plenty of room to wrap around and make a nice bow. The overall fit is good, this is also a 3X. I’ll probably wear this one to work, and make some big faceted jet crystal beads into a necklace to match.

The ‘Freedom’ skirt, $39

Made of a heavier-weight cotton knit with a drawstring waist. The description says ‘hits below knee’, which is probably true if you are 5’8″. I am not, so this is almost ankle-length on me! I may well detach the yoke waistband from the skirt and cut a bit off the top of the skirt and re-sew, as hemming from the bottom will ruin the print, which is a ‘rock chic’ kind of thing that’s a lot more tasteful than most of those things. The fit is a little tight around my belly but the fabric will relax.

The ‘Lotus’ skirt, $48

Same medium-weight cotton knit as the ‘Freedom’. This is ankle-length on me! It looks fine at that length though so I won’t try to fix it. Also a wee bit snug around my belly but again, will relax after a few wearings. The embroidery makes it a very cute skirt, and the waist ties are a nice feature too.

The whole package, including international postage, cost me less than what it would cost to buy similar yet less cute and more matronly items from somewhere like Autograph (formerly 1626). B&Lu have a better plus-size fit than a lot of places, and much better style. I can see myself buying more, because Australia has a very long way to go to catch up to North American plus-size fashion. There are some stores and lines that make decent stuff, but it’s all “Oh, that’s nice…” rather than “Wow, that’s an awesome skirt/top/dress”. We definitely need more awesomeness.

(…aaaaaaaand there goes my brain effort for today.)