How Do Clothes Fit Different Body Shapes?

[bagsnthings]

How Do Clothes Fit Different Body Shapes?

Not taking anything away from the curvy girls, but I found that when I was heavier than my recommended BMI, my clothing did not "fit" me correctly and I was limited in what styles I could buy. I gained weight in all the "wrong places", arms, back and stomach. I had to go to skirts and blouses and just walk away from the dresses for a while because my stomach would stick out or my arms were too "thick" for short sleeve or sleeveless dresses. I also could not do the "layering" thing which I love, because I could not add an ounce of "bulk" to my already "fluffy" frame.

I wore alot of my tops long to cover my ever growing stomach and my face was too full -- I was losing my high cheek bones and cut jaw line.

Now, that I'm back within my BMI range, my warerobe has expanded and I can wear dresses again and other things I would have shy away from at a higher weight.

Has everybody else experienced this?

 

[PrinceOfCats]

Not wearing women's clothes myself (not even at the weekend) I can't comment. However, finding men's clothing for anything approaching a youthful or vaguely athletic build is the devil's own work.

 

[Curious]

Yes, bagsnthings, definitely!

I think it's pretty typical. I've been lucky that I haven't been outside of my suggested BMI, but I have been all over the range And, yes, I have more options clothing-wise when I'm at the lower end. No curves to hang up the drape of things I suppose. But, honestly, I love the womanly curves at the higher end, too.

 

[bagsnthings]

Yes, bagsnthings, definitely!

curves to hang up the drape of things I suppose. But, honestly, I love the womanly curves at the higher end, too.

yeah, me either. I kinda shaped like a boy from the waist down, no hips, small butt and skinny legs.

 

[rainbowpops]

yeh i find this too and also, the time choosing what to wear to stepping out the door is much quicker as you dont have to spend extra time making sure the lumps and bumps are covered and the clothes just fit better.

 

[bagsnthings]

Exactly, I would have to go up a size in blazers and tops so that the "spare tires" around my waist would not show. Many times I would wear a waist cincher to keep my waist and stomach under "control", it was just that bad.

Felt like I was wrestling with my clothes all the time, because of the excess weight.

 

[softgrey]

why not just buy bigger clothes...?

 

[G86]

yeah i agree i've experienced this .. right now i'm ok but when i gained weight 2 years ago i hated the way clothes looked on me.. even thought i wasn't 'over weight'..

honestly i find that when i'm under weight clothes look better and i can wear whatever i want
this is just me .. some women look better heavier i think

 

[Dulcisima]

I kinda have the opposite problem, I am overall small frame...but my lower body is a different size than the upper body...I tend to wear 0-2 tops and bottoms 4-6..
Its frustrating

 

[Elegance.Is.Refusal.]

i've never experienced this problem but in industry they just make the patterns bigger to create the size range which results in the shape ending up very poorly fitting the bigger the size gets. because different fitting should go into garments that are bigger because of the size difference to achieve the same look as the smaller garment, but in industry this doesnt happen there for the futher up the size scale you go the more ill fitting the garment will be.

if that makes sense!? or atleast thats what i learnt in textiles

so its not because your body has changed to a bigger size its because the way the clothes are produced and made.

 

[aquamarine]

for sure. I'm very short (5") and already looked stumpy before I gained a lot of weight... now everything is worse.

Im definately not overweight, butI think I looked better before... ack.

 

[Erin]

I can say one thing - I FEEL better when I'm at a smaller weight, wearing clothing. I have much more confidence in what I wear.

 

[fashionista-ta]

Hmmm ... in a way perhaps yes, although when I was a 2/4 (not petite) it was really hard to find 2s. You were all but forced to go to cheesy juniors departments, so that wasn't good ... and if I lost any weight at all, my clothes would hang on me.

I have a tummy, and it's there at just about every size--I always have to think about it when buying clothes or getting dressed. When I lost a significant amount of weight a few years ago, my bustline was basically unchanged, and as noted elsewhere, that's a significant obstacle to work around.

The major reason I wish I were a size smaller is because it would be so much easier to get my hands on clothes in my size (currently 10, 8 is often the largest size stocked as I'm sure you all know). But I kind of feel philosophically opposed to losing weight for a reason like that. There is discipline to how I eat, but if I want dessert, I have dessert. I am unwilling to eliminate entire categories of food from my life forever in order to have my body be a certain smaller size. I feel that one of the major points to life is to enjoy its pleasures, one of which is freshly-baked bread. So I feel that people who eliminate bread, pasta, etc. from their lives forever are really cutting themselves off from part of the joy of life.

Am I making sense?

 

[hotpinky]

YES! I'm 5'4 and about 115, but my frame is small and I have no room for the extra weight I'm packing. When I'm about 105- size 2- things hang better; tops skim over my belly, nothing squeezes out over my waistbands. That's one of the main reasons I'm trying to get my weight back there: dressing is SO MUCH easier! Rather than thinking about what I'm going to wear to hide this or that or worrying about pairing together a shorter top with low-rise jeans... I just put on whatever. It's less about how it makes me look and more about the particular garmet, because, at a lower weight, everything looks good on!

 

[DressageChick]

Yeah I gained like 15 pounds last year and it got SO much harder to find clothes that fit. Just going up a size didn't make the clothes fit the same.

 

[Sunkist]

Not necessarily. How clothes look on me and more importantly, how confident I feel in my clothes, actually depends more on how fit, toned and healthy I am than my actual weight.

 

[juzuxel]

Well after I lost a total of 36 kilos I think that clothes fit me better...

 

[bagsnthings]

YES! I'm 5'4 and about 115, but my frame is small and I have no room for the extra weight I'm packing. When I'm about 105- size 2- things hang better; tops skim over my belly, nothing squeezes out over my waistbands. That's one of the main reasons I'm trying to get my weight back there: dressing is SO MUCH easier! Rather than thinking about what I'm going to wear to hide this or that or worrying about pairing together a shorter top with low-rise jeans... I just put on whatever. It's less about how it makes me look and more about the particular garmet, because, at a lower weight, everything looks good on!

Same here, I'm shorter than you 5'1 and I also do not have any room on my body for extra weight. I'm very small boned and short, so 2 pounds looks like 5 pounds on me. I'm not blessed with height so any extra weight goes wide not long. I'm also larger in my upper body than my lower body. So with that said, if I get beyond 120 pounds, clothes start to look ill-fitting. I'm currently 109, much better for me and my warerobe.

 

[DarkChyld]

I feel that clothes fit me better at a smaller weight. I mean, I'm curvy but I feel i have too many curves such as the ones that stick out and I can barely hide them. I was once a size 6/8 when I started college but now I'm a 12. From middle of BMI cuz I'm tall at 5'9" to the higher end of BMI...I'm like a point away from being overweight, I feel that clothes fit me better at the middle part. I'm losing weight because I'm young and my confidence needs a superboost (almost non existent). Those are not the only reasons, I'm losing weight but fitting into a larger amount of clothing is important to me. I can now go into Bebe only to buy tops, no more skirts...the highest size does not fit my behind.

 

[Rachelle]

Clothes definetly fit me better when at a smaller size. I'm not overweight or anything, in fact I'm underweight, but I have literally no self-confidence what-so-ever, that I feel more confident when I'm lighter. I fit into sizes 1,2 and 3, but I like things loose on me. But if I buy a size four, I'll feel disgusting.