Fuck if I know That's what I've given up on wearing pants.

sammij said:

sammij said:

Every woman knows this scenario. Attempts at clothes shopping that fail miserably because no matter how many stores you duck into, no matter what you try on, nothing fits. It's too loose, it's too big, the sleeves drag past your hands to your hips, your tits won't squish into the blouse, the shoes are impossibly narrow, trousers produce disturbing displays of camel-toe.

The average woman in North America is a size 14, meaning that, though they are the norm and not the exception, their clothing options are ghettoized into Plus Size stores that often either carry nothing but sized-up, unflattering versions of the "normal" designs, or they carry matronly, mother-of-the-bride type outfits.

With that stupidity in mind, it's tempting to say clothing is only designed for women with smaller frames.

But that's not true, either.

After conversing with a few of my smaller-framed sisters it's obvious that I'm not the only small girl with problems finding clothes that fit. Which, on the one hand is reassuring after hearing bigger women bitch about how clothes only fit women my size to know that I wasn't just some freak who somehow couldn't find pants. But on the other hand, it is discouraging and puzzling.

If standard clothing retail sizes don't fit big women OR small women properly, just who is supposed to be wearing these things?
[Edited 1/23/10 14:40pm]

Lemonduck said:

Fitted for who?

No one I know.

Big women don't fit into clothes properly. Small women don't fit into clothes properly. In-betweens don't either.


Maybe we should just say Fuck It to the entire clothing consumer culture and all learn how to design and sew our own garments....

really fat chicks (think Lane Bryant), really skinny chicks (think Old Navy), the broke (think WalMart) and the colorblind (rainbow sweaters for boys are not really cute).

I'm not a woman, so I don't have to worry about varying dress, pants, and blouse sizes, but it appears to me that even if the average American woman wears a size 8 to 10, the stores only sell sizes up to 4. God forbid if you have a normal fit body type, because it seems the designers think you are a fat hog.

Fuck if I know That's what I've given up on wearing pants. I'll just wear tights until I get tired of'em.
Seriously.

This reminds me of something I read on one of my favorite sites, Go Fug Yourself, the other day. And here it is:


"Christina Hendricks has the kind of fabulous bod that most designers wouldn't know how to handle. Any time Project Runway throws the contestants a challenge to make clothes for mothers, or divorcees, or generally people who aren't 5'10"and 100 lbs, they all start wailing and moaning that it's not what their designs are about and it's so haaaard, and blah blah blah. I always want Tim Gunn to come in and yell at them that if they can't handle actual people's bodies, then they have no business making clothes at all, because guess what? Sometimes people who eat carbs also want to shop and wear things on their bodies."

meow85 said:

No matter how thin and small you are, trousers are not cut for a round butt.
Round butts are not fat, and designers consider a round butt a symptom of obesity. That's why some people think a round butt that's high is "gross". They have been conditioned to think that a high round butt = excessive fat.

meow85 said:

ok so when you see models wear clothing it is pulled most of the time taped so it "fits them correct"

I am not 100% sure who they think wears this stuff...being the average is a size 14 they sure do not make clothing to fit women in general. Then again I do not ever seem to find things that fit me well. When I do find perfect jeans I usually buy like 3 pairs right off the snap then it is the problem of finding BOOTS could be I just know the designers that fit me very well?


edit
[Edited 1/23/10 17:23pm]

Pshh... I can't find ANYTHING that looks right on me. Nothing.

Jean shopping is my worst nightmare, everything is either too small or too big or too long. I'm 4'11" but I'm not a fucking size 3, so pants are ridiculous.

But I'm a 34DD. Shirts are therefore a nightmare too.

I give up. I'm moving to a nudist colony.

I remember when I was pregnant with my second child @ six months. Mt belly was huge! I am 5'5" and was about 180lbs at that time. The girl in the Speedo store immediately told me to just leave because there was nothing that would fit, not to even waste her time trying to ask to fit any suits.

I asked for the manager, waited 20 minutes for her. The manager looked at me and said, "You can fit a size 40." I looked at the suit, tried it on and it fit! I even had "room to grow". I bought it and grinned huge in that cashiers face, and told the manager exactly what her employee told me.

That employee didn't realize that I myself was a manager at a clothing store, for men's custom suiting.

It's not the size, its the measurements. I wish they made it more clear in women's clothing.

5'3" is petite in the inseam- 30"
5'6" is regular in the inseam-32"
I forgot the measurement for tall

Trousers are NOT cut for women who have high asses the inseam is too short... you know who you are, so the camel toe is an issue.

Cut AND size both matter in fit. Many women don't know how to shop for body type and end up wearing the right size but it's not at all flattering on the body.

You would think designers would learn to cut to form properly where the clothing would allow for a nice drape on a REAL woman.... but for this anything off the rack just won't work for everyone.

You must shop for the cut of a garmet, its just as important as looking as the size label.


OK... I'm done.

K I'm gonna be kinda rude here, how do you make a dress that looks good on someone like Gabourey Sidibe? Do you try to cintch the middle up to bring attention to the breast? thus creating some sort of hourglass illusion? Like last night? Which i didn't think worked.

I'm just curious.

lazycrockett said:

Depends on her figure. Just like skinny women, not all big women are shaped the same. My sister has some size to her, but she's very round around the middle and has huge boobs. A dress cinched around the middle would look terrible on her. But a big girl who had an hourglass shape could still wear that as a flattering style.

Pshh... I can't find ANYTHING that looks right on me. Nothing.

Jean shopping is my worst nightmare, everything is either too small or too big or too long. I'm 4'11" but I'm not a fucking size 3, so pants are ridiculous.

But I'm a 34DD. Shirts are therefore a nightmare too.

I give up. I'm moving to a nudist colony.

K I'm gonna be kinda rude here, how do you make a dress that looks good on someone like Gabourey Sidibe? Do you try to cintch the middle up to bring attention to the breast? thus creating some sort of hourglass illusion? Like last night? Which i didn't think worked.

I'm just curious.

minneapolisgenius said:

I love it! That site is so funny, & telling the damn truth right here

paintedlady said:

Thats EXACTLY the same thing happend to my best friend when we went to this store in Bloomingdale.

Mind you she wasn't pergnant, she was overweight(she's not anymore) this snotty bitch took one look at her and said FLAT OUT while we're on the entrance that there's nothing that fits her *pointing finger*.

It took me ALL of the strength I could muster to stop myself from making that humanized popsicle pick her teeth from the floor.

K I'm gonna be kinda rude here, how do you make a dress that looks good on someone like Gabourey Sidibe? Do you try to cintch the middle up to bring attention to the breast? thus creating some sort of hourglass illusion? Like last night? Which i didn't think worked.

I'm just curious.

I have a huge belly, so proper under garmets are a must. The super thick teflon coated, Spiderman webbing reinforced stuff to smooth out all the lumps and bumps. No shiny fabrics, but bold color/patterns I can do. This way I don't look sloppy, just "pregnant".

I read in Men's fashion book or something to that affect that no matter what your size or how well you think the item fits you, you should always take it to a seamstress to have your cloths tailored to fit you better. The cost is very low compared to what you pay for the clothes and they make your cloths look much nicer (and more expensive).