The Plus Size Thread - All are welcome!

[babybluegirl]

Originally Posted by Chika

Brilliant thread - I'm a plus size lass with an obsession for bags and shoes too. I'm loving this boho trend. This is the only look that I have seen for ages that suits my shape and I can actually go into a shop and get decent things.

i'm loving the boho trend as well...actually just the boho skirt. can't find anything that'll fit me though. everything's in stick insect sizes.

[meme527]

Originally Posted by QuirkyCool

Do you know whether the Balenciaga jacket is available in a bigger size??

i haven't seen the balenciaga jacket anywhere, as of yet! i would love to feel the fabric. it looks like some sort of wool, but i can't be sure. is there a textile expert who might be able to tell us, i wonder? it looks so soft.

meme

[cammie]

I think fit makes a huge difference, and being a plus-size girl myself, I can tell you I cobble things together from the oddest parts of the stores... I've even ventured into the maternity section at times, just to find the right fit across my shoudlers in a jacket...


I actually came across an interesting essay snippet on another site's forums about designing for plus-sizes, and there were even a few sketches of fashions included.

Some excerpts from the article (emphasis already added in the forum I found it in):

There is always a difference between the ideal and the real, but in the case of larger bodies, it is quite great. As I see it, the brief given to designers to design for the 16+ woman was not merely a call for clothes for that fit the 'fuller figure'; there are outsize shops to cater for this, although many larger women bemoan the lack-lustre designs found in them. Instead, I think the challenge of this project is far greater than that: to not to merely dress the larger body, but generate a different view of beauty, a different ideal, an aesthetic which celebrates size. It is both extraordinary and exciting that the major fashion designers showing their work here have risen to this challenge: the thin body is so entrenched within the fashion industry and yet fashion has the power, if it so wishes, to make larger bodies beautiful. The designers showing their work have succeeded in producing images of the female body that are a real aesthetic alternative to the conventional one of fashion.

Some illustrations by Galliano that show that the right fashion designs look beautiful on plus-sizes:

[QuirkyCool]

That quote is too true.We don't only want clothes that are "big enough"...we'd like clothing that enhances what we have and makes us beautiful

I should think that this should be a great challenge for an enterprising designer.

[snowqueen]

it makes no sense the adverage size of a woman in the uk is a 16, but yet there arent that many plus size clothing !! it makes no sense some one posted a picture of a vintage dress which was size 18 is it just me or did that look smaller then a regular 18, amybe cos its vintage. ok ill shut up now im rambling.

[As You Like It]

Sizing has changed since the 1950s--not as drastically in the UK as the US, but sizes have been "vanity" sized.

For example, in the UK, I wear a size 10. In the US, I'm a 4. I have a number of vintage dresses and coat which read size 12, but they fit the same dimensions as a UK10/US4.

So that old 18 is probably more in the neighborhood of a 16, possibly even a 14. It definitely did look smaller. There is the general shape of the garment to consider, however. Women did wear their dresses a lot closer to the body back then. 1" ease at the waist was considered sufficient.

The bulk of my from-scratch commission sewing has been for plus-size clients who wanted clothes which fit and emphasized their physical high points, not which simply covered them in a general manner. Ready-to-wear is hit-and-miss for sizing at the smaller end, and the higher up in sizing you go, the more vague manufacturers get with the actual shape of the dresses.

I read a book recently that was a specialty topic on fitting for plus sizes, and the book theorized that plus-size garments are often made shapeless because manufacturers want to create a "one-size-fits-most" garment at each size range, since one woman at a size 22 may be pear shaped, while another might be busty, while another may have a regularly proportioned hourglass figure. Instead of making three ranges of size 22, they just make one which doesn't really fit any one body type and let the consumer just suffer an ill-fitting, shapeless garment.

I consider that there are some very real design advantages one could make in a plus-size garment that one could not do so easily with a very small garment, including some of the more complicated bias seamlines. I notice a lot of manufacturers leave off detail work at the plus-size range, whereas if they created more detailed garments with interesting stylistic flourishes and proportioned design details, it would not be at all difficult to render very sharp, stylish outfits at any size.

[snowqueen]

^^ thats what i thort

[meme527]

Originally Posted by As You Like It

...I read a book recently that was a specialty topic on fitting for plus sizes, and the book theorized that plus-size garments are often made shapeless because manufacturers want to create a "one-size-fits-most" garment at each size range, since one woman at a size 22 may be pear shaped, while another might be busty, while another may have a regularly proportioned hourglass figure. Instead of making three ranges of size 22, they just make one which doesn't really fit any one body type and let the consumer just suffer an ill-fitting, shapeless garment.

I consider that there are some very real design advantages one could make in a plus-size garment that one could not do so easily with a very small garment, including some of the more complicated bias seamlines. I notice a lot of manufacturers leave off detail work at the plus-size range, whereas if they created more detailed garments with interesting stylistic flourishes and proportioned design details, it would not be at all difficult to render very sharp, stylish outfits at any size.

as you like it, thank you for this post. you answered a lot of questions for me.

i'd love to know the name of that book - is it still available?

meme

[QuirkyCool]

Excellent post from As You Like It...thank you

It is also so hard to shop online when you're the top of the "normal" range like me....with some designers on NAP I'm US size 12,but I've just had to return 2 size 10 garments in a row because of the way-too-enormous-and-shapeless factor.The big size just didn't fit like the garment they had on that horribly skinny plastic model at all . It just...billowed or hung there.

Sorry for using this post to rant!!

As You Like It,do you have some examples of your plus size work?

[SanDiego]

I would love to see pics too As You like it.
THank you for that article it explains soo much!
So our only alternative being plus size is to learn howto sew or do alterations basically.
IF you guys have pics of clothing please post them

[P.Peach]

Originally Posted by meme527

yes, i am hourglass shaped generally and have a hard time finding clothes that don't give me a boxy, rectangular shape, especially in jackets and outerwear.

Oh my gosh, you have no idea! How I long for a decent blazer ... but alas, everything makes me look like a giant rectangle. And who wants that?!

[SanDiego]

target.com has some cute camisols however they fit horrible!!!
I've tried them on, the straps are too wide and they dont have any shape.
It even seems shapeless on their model!

[QuirkyCool]

Well here's what NOT to wear in any case...this Chloe coat makes the normally so stylish Drew Barrymore look like the back of a bus.

And she isn't even plus-size...

[dreamboatannie]

Originally Posted by FashionRoyalty

i dont think the sevens at lane bryant are real
they are only called "SEVEN" not "Seven For All Mankind".

I heard that too, the manager at Torrid said Lane Bryant isnt selling real Seven jeans. Theyre ugly too, they have crap all over them.

[Sephora_Socialite]

Originally Posted by SanDiego

^ Yes exactly.
For some reason these designers think all plus size women need the crotch of their pants to come down to their thighs and the waist to go up to their boobs!

I have big thighs and I dislike the feel of highwaisted things and looks very unflattering on me. I have difficulty in finding jeans but it seems that Miss Sixty jeans are low enough to make me happy but really flatters my curves...my friends always ask about my jeans and pants. The problem I've found though is Los Angeles boutiques usually stock them only up to size friggin 5 ...Now that a store opened on Melrose though, I've had an easier time. I just bought some wonderful grey trouser pants from there Miss Sixty goes up to about a size 34 from what I know of...