Wow. I haven’t touched my blog in almost 5 days. It seems my brain has already boarded the plane to Chicago.
Mentally, I’m SO ready to leave right now. I need the break. I need to be away from my husband for a while. He needs to miss me. No, really. 😉
But the reality is that I’m NOT ready whatsoever. I have clothes strewn across all the furniture in my living room, but no outfits put together and nothing packed.
I haven’t bought new clothes in years, hoping to lose 50 a few pounds. That’s obviously not going to happen by Wednesday, so I finally decided this weekend I had to go shopping.
I found a couple of pieces at Marshalls and Old Navy on Saturday that I can pair with items I already have in my closet. But nothing party-worthy.
So I hit the mall yesterday to see what else I could add to my conference wardrobe. I’ve never been able to fit into the clothes at Forever 21, but heard that they have a new plus size line, Faith 21, at their store in Pentagon City. My family says I tend to dress too old or always in dark colors, so I wanted to buy something colorful and maybe even a little trendy.
Boy, was I disappointed.
All the dresses hit me mid-thigh, lengthwise. If that. At first I thought maybe, like a fool, I made a mistake and was trying on tunics… but no, they were definitely dresses. Everything in the bust area was way too snug. I wish I had looked at their size chart beforehand so I wouldn’t have wasted my time. Faith 21 goes up to a junior size 2x, which translates into a 15/16. VERY different from normal misses and women’s sizes.
Okay, I’ll say it. I’m a size 16/18. GAH. I can usually fit into XL at most places, sometimes 1X. I think it’s misleading for Forever 21 to call the Faith line plus size. I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole concept is a big failure and out of stores by the end of the year.
I also dropped by Lane Bryant and J. Jill. Nada.
Why does 90% of plus-size clothing have to be floral? It drives me crazy. And most of the dresses I found were sleeveless. There’s nothing I hate more than my flabby arms.
But enough of my whining.
Macy’s and Nordstrom have wonderful plus size sections in their stores. I had no idea that Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, and Michael Kors now make clothes that actually fit me! The only problem there is the price. I found a couple of pieces that were nice, but wasn’t blown away enough to pay $150+ for them. That’s just not in my budget.
I did come home with 3 more shirts and a dress. I’m going to try to make some sense of it all and put a few outfits together today.
This is the dress I bought: Tiana B Flower Print Matte Jersey Dress. If I only looked like the model, I’d have no complaints. I’m not crazy about the print or how it fits, but that’s okay. Not having the perfect cocktail dress doesn’t mean I can’t have a good time, so I’m not stressing over it anymore! (The fact that I got the dress at 50% off doesn’t hurt!)
I like to use shorter dresses as tops over pants/jeans. Know what i mean?
I’m a size 6/8 and I STILL struggle to find clothes. I’m 30, would like to dress like I’m 30, maybe even in some trendy stuff, but it seems all I can find are clothes suitable for a 17 year old or a 60 year old. I finally found some cute knee length skirts at Old Navy, but have yet to find a dress that I can bend over in. It’s a huge frustration of mine.
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My sister and I went shopping last week. We found some things in J Jill and I’m going with outfits that are going to work for both day and night. I’m not staying at the Sheraton so I won’t be changing into new outfits for the parties. Hopefully, I won’t spill anything during the day:) I’m so glad I didn’t know that Ralph Lauren & Tommy Hilfiger had a plus size selections – I love their clothes! I would be broke by now – ha!
.-= Mary Beth (Cats, Books, Life is Good)´s last blog ..FACIAL SCARS – or lack thereof =-.
Oh, you’ll have so much fun………and I have to agree I HATE clothes shopping. I mean I don’t even think I’ve ever liked the shopping part ESPECIALLY when you are in need of something for an event. It seems you can never find anything then.
Wish I was going to Chicago!!
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I hate shopping for clothes too, my shape was NOT meant for the “in” fashions! Do you have a Dress Barn near you? I have bought alot of cute tops/dresses from there, and they are priced well..along with the great sales/clearance racks! If not, they are out here in Illinois, mabye you could stop at one while you’re out here!
Sometimes shopping is so hit or miss. Which tends to mean you can come home completely discouraged, frustrated, and exhausted, or really happy. (The joy of being a woman.) But I’m glad to hear you got some things you needed – that dress is so cute! I hope you have a great time in Chicago. 🙂
Sometimes if you are looking for a casual dress for summer like me,
go to Sears and look in the lingerie dept. I found a terrific red tee shirt (dress)
in my size 2-3X Incredible I thought and probably a small miracle too.
Red solid with Angelfish on the bottom.
Sweet.
It is tough to find clothes for sure and I hate shopping too,
but my son loves the mall so I took him and was pleasantly surprised!
I was going to recommend Dress Barn also — they have great plus size stuff that is NOT floral, I hate that, too. And why do they always show plus size clothes in catalogues on size 4 models????? How are we supposed to know what it’s really gonna look like on US?? Then, even if the models are larger size, they are COMPLETELY toned — not an ounce of jiggle or wobble anywhere!! Can you tell I LOVE to shop for clothes????
Sorry, I am glad you were able to find some things for the conference, the dress is really pretty, the floral is not a usual plus size floral, it is really a pretty poppy, and the color is great. I’m sure you will look terrific. Hope you have a fabulous time, bring home lots of pictures and info!!!
.-= Lorie Shewbridge ´s last blog ..Share our Strength-No Kid Hungry =-.
I really don’t like shopping either. In Australia there’s less of a customer service focus than there is in the USA, and this means that the sales assistants can be very lazy, careless or even rude. Of course there are some good ones too, but I find the whole experience very demoralizing. It seems like unless you are 20 and perfectly thin and toned, you are not good enough to be in their shop. Ugghhh, how do we women maintain our self-confidence sometimes against this barrage of false expectations?
I got some jeans from myshape.com. 37″ inseam! don’t know about the plus stuff. They had a lot of clothes. lots of brands I mean. You have to put your measurements in. It’s a pain!! But then yuo only see stuff that fits you. Jeans fit me!