Whats "in style"?

[sweetviolet 0]

at my first support meeting when asked about myself and my goals--i wanted to be able to buy and fit into clothes from the thrift store!! I have make it and the kids are getting a good laugh out of my new uniform--blue jeans and a cashmere sweater! SOOOOOO HAPPPPY!!!! my advice--save for the better smaller stuff and visit goodwill often--you will find quality materials and some have tags--never worn..you know...that item you were going to get into after your new diet regime!!

[~Jules~ 0]

Sweetviolet,

The Salvation Army store in Dallas, near my work has the clothing 1/2 price on Wednesdays. I went when I was getting bigger and bigger. Now I have a closet full of different sizes. When I run out of them and still not at goal, I will be heading there on Wednesdays to get me by until I hit goal. Which I will. I won't stop until I get there.

[green 6]

All of us lapbanders want to lose weight and to be able to wear what the normos wear. Indeed, we want to look like normos. My point is that I feel that women of size should not be punished for being outsized by only having ugly clothes available as their one shopping option.

As a case in point: it is much harder to find a plain cashmere sweater with a three-quarter length sleeve in size 3X than it is to find this garment in size 4. I was at my local department store the other day. They had 'em in regular sizes but not in our sizes. And as we all know, a plain cashmere sweater with a pair of jeans, chinos or a funky skirt looks good and feels great.

Another case in point: I do a lot of shopping at Winner's which is what TJ Maxx is called up here in Canada. They recently had their cashmere event - for those who fit normo sizes. They generally have some good pickings within the normo size range but the clothes begin to get kinda ugly once we begin to drift in the plus zone. All of a sudden it becomes synthetic city, the natural fibres begin to disappear and so do the subtle and elegant colours; these are replaced by weird and garrish colours which means that you can walk out of the store looking like Jaba the Hut dressed in synthetic orange or, if you don't like orange, then there is the same garment in exactly the same colour of blue of that plastic Water bowl which you bought for your dog. Of course such colours are good colours to wear if you are planning to go duck hunting. There ain't nobody other than Dick Cheney who is likely to shoot you by accident.

So we are presented with these excessively garrish clothes or we are given the other choice, those damn cute clothes with their sequins, appliquees, Walt Dismal's characters, flowers, hearts, care bears or kittens printed on them. This second choice makes us look like giant, ageing pre-teens. And of course these clothes, too, are rich in synthetic fabrics.

There is nothing more comfortable than clothes which are made from natural fibres. They age better, have better drape, and you will sweat less. The only syntho-fibre that I personally like is micro-fibre which drapes beautifully.

As you can see from the posts which I have contributed to this thread, I have very strong feelings on this topic. I never really did pay any attention at all to this issue of clothing until I became fat. And I always assumed that I would be able to dress the way I wanted to since I am kinda lucky in that I am not on a tight budget. But I learned that I no longer had the choice. As a fat grrl I had dropped out of sight.

This was how I discovered that there is a huge element of discrimination which is being perpertrated by clothing manufacturers against a segment of society which is no longer a minority. Many of the folks who live in North American are overweight and are battling obesity. I believe that we are in the majority at this point. And yet clothing manufacturers do not cater to us.

Nor for that matter does the airline industry. As we grow taller and wider the airlines have been demanding that the aircraft companies configure the seating room in order to cram more and more passengers into each flight. But this is a different, though related, complaint of mine.

Thanks for letting me blow off steam, folks. I've been brooding over this for a long, long time now.

[jahair 0]

:mad: I hate appliques, cutesy sayings, and sweatshirts with Tweetie Bird and Winnie the Pooh. (OK, I'll admit the last couple were Walmart, and well, what can ya expect??)

But, my question is why, oh why, do they expect that all plus-sized women have arms like an orangutan? I'm 5'7", and have average-length arms, yet I almost always have to roll long sleeves. Uggh!

Tami

Tami, I have the answer to your question. It is not that the sleeves are too long, it's that your bust is not large enough! (not attempting to cast aspersions on your endowment here) I was feeling put out one day about how long plus sized sleeves were and I got the idea to see what would happen if my bust were bigger. I'm a 46 C and I stuffed a bunch of stuff in there and voila! the sleeves shortened appropriately.

Now this observation does not come with any suggestions....you are free to take any action you desire!! :) :)

Jo Ann

[lisah25 3]

I remember in High School when I tried to find stuff that fit, it was all black polyester stuff with no shape. Hated it. Then I started working, still in big sizes, and everything seemed to be stuff I would have liked in High School. Bright colors, young-looking casual clothes. Oh, and a few black poly sacks still hanging around.

I think it's better now. I can find stuff pretty easily. I like Macy's, Avenue, Target(although it's really hit and miss) and even Wal-Mart now that I'm looking for cheaper stuff for my transition.

Another place I like is Ross. They have a decent selection of plus sizes, and are inexpensive.

[jahair 0]

I went shopping yesterday and WAHOO everything at Catherine's was too big. I actually had to ask if they carried a "0X" because this really cute coat in 1x was way too big. And even better than that? Before I asked that, one of the clerks had brought me the 1x and said, "This will probably be way too big for you." (Whatever, I'm still a 24 on bottom and 22 on top, 2X if I just walk into any old store)

I had a love/hate relationship with Catherine's. Occasionally you could find cute, age appropriate things there. I never found anything with what I would consider a flattering cut, they seemed to very much follow potato sack mentatlity. And it cost $75, no matter what it was, unless it's on sale, and then you have to rummage through knit house dresses and denim jumpers to find it. Occasionally they had cute business stuff. Most of the time they (our store, anyway) was full of purple & fuschia tiger print, or old woman beaded cruise gowns... you know, the Flapper meets the ankles. .

Wheetsin,

Congratulations on sizing out of Catherine's. That will be the day when I can do that! Catherine's does pretty well for the kind of clothes I need. I office from my home, so I don't need traditional office wear,, but I like things that have true colors, not pastel. I had an eye opener when I traveled to another location to pick up something that wasn't available at my store. The stores have some leeway in what they feature, and it really makes a difference.

In one suburban store, I was drowning in pastel, yet in another location closer to the city proper (and more Black people) I found all the color my heart desired. Believe me, it was a big eye opener.

Jo Ann

[bitteroldhag 0]

Assuming I ever get past 185 pounds, I hope I can avoid clothes with sequins and stuff. I hate that, but I go to a discount sale every year in Tulsa. The clothes are department store clothes but are very cheap. If they have sequins, I wear sequins, even though I hate sequins. Every since I got my skirt caught in my panty hose and walked down the hall at school before I felt a breeze and realized that I had a problem, I wear pants. I own a dress but it's too big now. I am a spring, so pastels look good on me. I got three pink sweaters for Christmas. I also wear a lot of red and black because those seem to be the main colors in the plus size area. But this year I branched out to purple and other colors since I was smaller and could fit into the clothes. Of course, at the moment, I don't think I'm ever going to get smaller than I am. I seem to be on a plateau. I don't understand it because I can barely eat anything. I'm old (I really am almost 60) and a teacher so I go for more professional clothes -- sweaters, jackets, etc. I wear the jackets as blouses. I got a boiled wool sweater from Land's End which is wonderful but too big. My problem is that I don't really know what size I wear so I have to try on everything. But I'd like to see some plus size clothes without sequins, embroidery and big gaudy prints.

[green 6]

Grrls, we gotta get together and blow up the fat grrl sequin, etc factories! let's take back our self-respect!:heh:

[lisah25 3]

Grrls, we gotta get together and blow up the fat grrl sequin, etc factories! let's take back our self-respect!:heh:

I love it - fat grrl activists!

[Wheetsin 714]

Bitteroldhag, let me put it in record that sizes suck monkey butts. I used to know what size it was, it was "the biggest you have, and maybe it will fit." Now I'm afraid to buy a pair of socks without going to the dressing room first. I was looking for pants last weekend had took three of each size and cut with me, because it's no longer "jeans" it's "low rise gentle flare dark" or "natural waist bootcut stretch whiskered". I think I ended up trying on - seriously - 15 pair of jeans and bought nothing.

And on the subject of size. Can I get an "argh"? I go to Kohl's, buy (wuthout trying on) a size 20 blazer, and it's too big. I go to Fashion Bug and have to buy a 3x coat, but I'm a size smaller on top. But I bought a 2x tracksuit at Kohl's that fits perfectly. But the 1x coat from Catherine's was falling off of me. The size 22 "stretch bootcut tall" jeans I'm wearing today fit very well, but the size 22 "stretch bootcut tall" jeans I tried on during the weekend were too big, but the size 22 "low rise flare" jeans I bought a while ago and just tried on last night wouldn't comfortably zip.

I pick up two of the exact same jean in the exact same size. One is too tight to zip, the other is baggy.

I'm giving my "amen" to mumus. Moomoos. Moumous. Mewmews. Whatever.

[lisah25 3]

And on the subject of size. Can I get an "argh"? I go to Kohl's, buy (wuthout trying on) a size 20 blazer, and it's too big. I go to Fashion Bug and have to buy a 3x coat, but I'm a size smaller on top. But I bought a 2x tracksuit at Kohl's that fits perfectly. But the 1x coat from Catherine's was falling off of me. The size 22 "stretch bootcut tall" jeans I'm wearing today fit very well, but the size 22 "stretch bootcut tall" jeans I tried on during the weekend were too big, but the size 22 "low rise flare" jeans I bought a while ago and just tried on last night wouldn't comfortably zip.

I'm giving my "amen" to mumus. Moomoos. Moumous. Mewmews. Whatever.

ARRGHH!!!

I'm with you on sizes. I have pants from size 20 to 24 that all currently fit me. I have a sweater that is an 18/20 that fits fine, another 22/24 that is snug. All from different manufactures.

[vinesqueen 2]

oh to have such trouble... Sorry, just feeling sorry for myself today I guess. today it id difficult to be sitting still at preband weight and size.

Must be the weather or something.

[Wheetsin 714]

Sorry VQ. Pitunia doesn't like to let you bitch about being between sizes.

Pre-band I used to read the "Woe is me, I'm neither a 2 or a 4, and they don't make 3s... I have nothing to wear!" and think - you silly little idge, come here so I can sit on you. And now I do it. Only with an additional "20" in front of that 4 still please, thank you!

[sweethot143 2]

goodwill is an awsome place to shop. I can't wait till I can fit a majority of the cute things there. I got almost all of my kids clothes there, all are childrens place, gap, arizona, old navy, osh kosh.

In the womans than always had the nicest stuff, anne taylor, bcbg, kasper, gap. but everything seemed to be a size 8!

[Northernsun 4]

Sizes has always been the top of my bitch list. I hate trying on clothes in stores- part of the problem was some of the dressing rooms were so small that I could hardly turn around. I am finally accepting that as long as it fits I will wear it no matter the size but that was hard. I like the clothes and prices at kohls but they run small.I bought 2 prs of pants at Walmart today- stretch black boot cut jeans in a 24 and cords in a 22 from different makers and they fit almost the same. ( that i could even get the 22's on was a big NSV!) I really hate buying bigger size clothes- it feels like a failure but I really hate running around with out any clothes so I buy what fits and swear that someday I won't have problems buying what I like. Just problems affording it!