Pants & sizing help!
Hey folks,
I'm pretty new to...well, I guess what I would call clothes consciousness? Like understanding the mechanics/terminology/design of clothing, in particular sizing. I'm also not super fa(t)shion-aware...I generally tend to buy things that are a) comfortable, b) cheap and c) aesthetically pleasing to me (and in that order of importance). I realize none of these things are incompatible with being a fatshionista (many of you seem to roll this way as well), it's just I haven't put a whole lot of thought into it before, so bear with me. :)
Here's my deal: I really just wear pants. Jeans, specifically, and there's really just one brand I know of right now that I feel comfortable in (Levi's 580s). They're loose but still have a nice shape to them. I won't wear anything tight on the bottom---no leggings/jeggings, skinny jeans, what have you. I don't feel comfortable in skirts (yet...it's something I might want to work on someday). I used to wear cargo pants all the time when I was in a slightly more masculine phase of my gender presentation (I shift around---right now I'm leaning sort of femme) but they weren't really made to fit my fabulously wide hips, so once I felt more comfortable showing off those hips I ditched the cargos for my current curvy jeans. And really, mostly, they work for me...except I'm not entirely sure if they fit right.
I am what I would call a pearglass---something like 43"37"50", around 210lbs, 5'4". I have a bit of an "apron tummy" so I wear my pants higher up, pretty much across my bellybutton. I wear a 22, though Old Navy's 20s do fit me sometimes, and 24s in any brand are usually a bit big for me. Now, I know jeans are tight when they come out of the wash (or are brand new) and you stretch them out as you wear them, but when my jeans are in their tight phase, they fit really well when I'm standing up but totally cut my stomach in half when I sit down. When they're stretched out, they feel comfortable sitting in, but I have to keep tugging them back up throughout the day because they slide over my hips as I walk (this despite being the tapered "defined waist" top). My body seems to drastically change shape when I sit---it feels like I'm one size when I'm standing and a full size up when I'm sitting, so how do I navigate that in one pair of pants? Is this why so many folks here wear skirts all the time? For those that wear jeans, how do you determine what feels/wears like a good fit? I also obviously cannot go through my life only wearing jeans---I currently have one pair of ON black slacks (in a 20) that are my work/dressy pants, but they recently feel really super tight when I sit down (even though they, like my jeans, still fit well when I stand up). Gahhh.
Am I wearing the wrong size? Am I doing pants wrong? How do you, dear fatshionistas, do pants?
I'm pretty new to...well, I guess what I would call clothes consciousness? Like understanding the mechanics/terminology/design of clothing, in particular sizing. I'm also not super fa(t)shion-aware...I generally tend to buy things that are a) comfortable, b) cheap and c) aesthetically pleasing to me (and in that order of importance). I realize none of these things are incompatible with being a fatshionista (many of you seem to roll this way as well), it's just I haven't put a whole lot of thought into it before, so bear with me. :)
Here's my deal: I really just wear pants. Jeans, specifically, and there's really just one brand I know of right now that I feel comfortable in (Levi's 580s). They're loose but still have a nice shape to them. I won't wear anything tight on the bottom---no leggings/jeggings, skinny jeans, what have you. I don't feel comfortable in skirts (yet...it's something I might want to work on someday). I used to wear cargo pants all the time when I was in a slightly more masculine phase of my gender presentation (I shift around---right now I'm leaning sort of femme) but they weren't really made to fit my fabulously wide hips, so once I felt more comfortable showing off those hips I ditched the cargos for my current curvy jeans. And really, mostly, they work for me...except I'm not entirely sure if they fit right.
I am what I would call a pearglass---something like 43"37"50", around 210lbs, 5'4". I have a bit of an "apron tummy" so I wear my pants higher up, pretty much across my bellybutton. I wear a 22, though Old Navy's 20s do fit me sometimes, and 24s in any brand are usually a bit big for me. Now, I know jeans are tight when they come out of the wash (or are brand new) and you stretch them out as you wear them, but when my jeans are in their tight phase, they fit really well when I'm standing up but totally cut my stomach in half when I sit down. When they're stretched out, they feel comfortable sitting in, but I have to keep tugging them back up throughout the day because they slide over my hips as I walk (this despite being the tapered "defined waist" top). My body seems to drastically change shape when I sit---it feels like I'm one size when I'm standing and a full size up when I'm sitting, so how do I navigate that in one pair of pants? Is this why so many folks here wear skirts all the time? For those that wear jeans, how do you determine what feels/wears like a good fit? I also obviously cannot go through my life only wearing jeans---I currently have one pair of ON black slacks (in a 20) that are my work/dressy pants, but they recently feel really super tight when I sit down (even though they, like my jeans, still fit well when I stand up). Gahhh.
Am I wearing the wrong size? Am I doing pants wrong? How do you, dear fatshionistas, do pants?