A little bit more serious, now...

[attack_laurel]

Oops, lost a couple of people off my friends' list with that last post. :)

On the other hand, I love how polite everyone is in the discussions, and I do appreciate it. Yesterday's post was pretty much off the cuff, based on some reading I've been doing lately, which in turn was triggered by my experience with the Lyrica.

Comments

Don't get ME started about clothing!

[fitchwitch]

I grew up in the fifties, and was in high school in the sixties. Those of my age know that at that time the fashion industry dictated what you could wear. They made one version of clothing available, and God help you if you didn't look good in it. What was available was miniskirts, NOTHING else. I don't have to tell you that at 5'4" and 195 pounds, I looked HORRIBLE in a miniskirt.

The only good thing about it was it made me learn to sew. I had to, or I would have had NOTHING to wear. And I still sew, although now it's period clothing. But as a large woman who's working on losing weight, I practically live in pants and t shirts. Not the prettiest things, but at least I have another choice than miniskirts.

Re: Don't get ME started about clothing!

[janinas_nest]

WORD!!! I had to make all of my clothes in high school. I don't really remember how much I weighed, but there were no clothes to be had in my size. Very depressing, but I have soldiered on. Now Gosling#1 is my fashion adviser and with effort we are finding better looking clothes.

Re: Don't get ME started about clothing!

[redsquirrel]

At 5'3" and one hundred and THIRTY-FIVE pounds I looked horrible in a mini-skirt and was convinced I was fat (obviously I wasn't), that's how sick the fashion industry was/is! I'm curvy & short-waisted and they built them for sticks with no hips or thighs. They either fell off me or I bulged out of them. Happiest day of my teen years was when school relented and finally let us wear girls wear pants.

[perilousknits]

There are some great shopping hints and tips at this blog: http://www.mywardrobetoday.com/ and the companion blog http://www.wardrobeoxygen.com/ She frequently discusses clothing companies that specialize in plus-size clothing. She also lets her blog-readers know when one of these companies has a sale or runs a special.

And she dresses very well, and looks gorgeous!

[pinkpelican1]

Or if not shapeless bags, the designers take size 6 clothes and just expand them up to the bigger sizes, completely ignoring the fact that the silhouette that looks good on a size 6 does absolutely nothing for a size 26. Last summer all of the large ladies tops featured cap sleeves -- who wants to see jiggly upper arms?!

An ongoing problem in plus size is also that petites and talls are hit or miss. Many of the tops are only 26 - 28 inches long. Too long for petites, way too short for talls, and often if you have longer arms you might as well give up on long sleeves.

Don't even get me started on bras.

I've hit the point in my life where I would pay good money for clothes made from decent fabrics, in attractive styles, that would just FIT, if only I could find them.

[grumpycarrie]

I found the best bra at Lane Bryant. It was slightly padded which made me at first say "No away" because I didn't think I needed any extra padding but the girl made me try it on. It has the best fit and because "the girls" are staying where they need to be actually makes me look better.

As to clothes, I wish they would use better fabrics too. Clingy fabric + Plus size = bad idea.

[dragonlady7]

The community fatshionista has helped me change the way I think about plus-size fashion, and is a great place to find new resources. As another benefit, the fact that something like ten thousand people read and contribute gives it some modicum of bargaining power; members of the community have organized petitions and taken them straight to clothing companies. It's a great resource, if you haven't found it.

[snobahr]

I hadn't seen that comm... I've joined it, now :) Thank you!

[lifeofglamour]

Part of the problem with manufacturing plus-size clothing on a large scale is that people get fat in so many different ways that it's hard to make one-size-fits-all clothes for them. For example, when I am large I carry it in my hips, butt and thighs, primarily - but I keep a relatively smaller waist. My friend A carries it in her belly, chest and torso, and has relatively thin legs even at her highest weight. Some people carry it in their belly and hips and have small shoulders

[kass_rants]

Part of the problem with manufacturing plus-size clothing on a large scale is that people get fat in so many different ways that it's hard to make one-size-fits-all clothes for them. This

[mariedeblois]

I'd like to think that I don't have a walmart mentality (since I abhor them), but my reality is that, to do what I want to do with my life, my clothes (barring panties, bras, and socks) come from thrift stores. The cost of getting those taken in to fit me is ... not reasonable. While I'm a tolerable seamstress, I'm a very slow seamstress with not much experience in modern clothing, so ... at least thrift store clothes are cheap, so I can walk away from anything that doesn't fit and say "oh well" without qualms.

[lilybeee]

And then they do things like not making the things that are actually popular sellers in reasonable numbers

[lifeofglamour]

Heh

[deboraaurifex]

There is some hope. The past few times I've hit Fashion Bug and Lane Bryant stores (same parent company these days, I believe) I got the usual line about, "no, I'm sorry, we sell out of the jeans in 26T really quickly" (or whatever the clothing article in question was) but they followed it up with, "but we can order it for you through the website and have it shipped to you free from our warehouse." OK, so I don't get to try it on then and there, but they're giving me free shipping because they were sold out. I'm pretty OK with that.

[peteyfrogboy]

The problem, I think, is that people gain weight in all different ways, and it's impossible to match that variety in off-the-rack clothing without creating an enormous inventory nightmare. A stick is a stick is a stick; they're much easier to clothe.