I think shopping is hard for most people because most people don’t look like mannequins. I’m in my mid-20s and wear anything between a 0 to a 4 depending on the brand, but I rarely find clothes that fit me just right. I’m 5’ 1", so most pants and skirts have to be hemmed; I have more flesh on my midsection than I should, compared to the rest of my body, or at least that’s what the clothes tell me; I also have broader shoulders and fuller breasts than most women my size.
I like empire waists where the fabric falls down rather than balloons out, as Velma pointed out. My weakness is my midsection but I have an overall small frame, so empire waists hide and emphasize the right stuff for my body type.
(It’s a heck of a lot better than Austin, but I may be basing this on an inordinate love of subways, the existence of sidewalks – sidewalks! – and the fact that Toronto is usually not hot enough to melt my shoes.)
I am currently wearing my favorite shirt, in fact. Characterized by an ex boyfriend as “Elven lounge wear”, it is an A-line blouse of slightly stretchy, marvelously drapey black velvet with big happy red flowers all over it and bell sleeves. I got it for a Christmas party a few years ago. I will wear this shirt till it falls apart, and I am damn tempted (I just mistyped that as tented, ho ho ho) to take it to a tailor and commission a hundred of them. I go from dumpy to hummina-hummina when wearing wrap-around stuff (believe it or not, I may be the one person who does) and empire-waisted stuff.
I’ve always hated capri pants as well. Then last summer I got a bike and got tired of having to roll up my jeans every time I went anywhere, so I caved in and bought a couple pairs of capris. So now, when it’s warm out, I wear them fairly often because I bike almost everywhere.
Also, they’re somewhat cooler (temperature-wise, not “cooler” in the sense of being hip, fashionable, or attractive) than most regular pants - and that’s nice in July, because I don’t like to subject the rest of the population to my thighs in shorts, but I figure my calves aren’t nearly as unsightly.
Look at Audrey Hepburn movies. She wore classics that would still be good today and she looked adorable. Don’t forget your big sunglasses.
I think that she was actually the beginning of the trend toward thinness. Even in 1960 Jackie Kennedy was described as being “the perfect size 10.” Sizes were smaller then, but she would have been the equivalent probably of a 6 or possibly an 8.
I have been in my lifetime both extremely obese and then small enough to have people concerned that I might have lost too much weight. I am at a reasonably healthy weight now. It has been my experience through the years that the people who felt free to make insulting remarks did not appear to be particularly attractive or self-confident. When I was teaching, comments didn’t come from the class clowns (who were generally very well-liked), but from the humorless also rans who pointed out the obvious. (They needed to learn better ways of getting attention.)
From the late Eighties until the late Nineties when I lost weight, I didn’t have too much trouble finding reasonably attractive clothes at Catherine’s. Eventually I did a lot of catalog shopping too. I shop at Bloomies (via catalog) now, but I miss Silhouettes!
Me three. Also, when I walk in shorts they ride up in the inner thigh area in a way that I particularly hate. Capris don’t do that. My husband says all capris make everyone look stumpy (he’s a fashionista, that guy), but I don’t care.
Actually she would be more like a retail zero or 2. Sewing patterns have remained constant because they are based on actual physical measurements. I wear a 10 in patterns, but off the rack at places like Banana, Ann Taylor, etc, I wear a zero or a 2.
Drives me INSANE how sizes have changed and are so damn inconsistent from store to store and from year to year.
My DIL just passed along some clothes she doesn’t think she will be back into after giving birth last summer. Her hand-me-downs are size 2s from about four years ago. I can barely wear some and others are much too small.
The museum I worked for used modern size 8 mannequins for the Jacqueline Kennedy clothing exhibit in 2001. They padded them slightly in certain spots to make the clothes hang just right. Even with current “vanity sizing” she was nowhere near a size 2.
Capris demand proper proportion and line–but if those are met, they can flatter almost anyone. What I can’t stand are those long-ish Capris–the ones that cut you right about the ankle (perhaps they’re called cropped?). Anyway, they flatter none but female basketball players–it cuts most people off and makes their legs seem shorter.
Capris that are wide legged need to be worn by taller, thinner women (or women who have long, slim legs). But closer fitting Capris (not spandex, but not boxy) can be worn by larger women, if they hit just below the knees. There are probably some body builds that can’t wear Capris at all. I can’t wear A line skirts–they cut my torso in half and I look like a hobbit.
I like cargo Capris in summer because I am getting of an age where I don’t feel comfortable baring all in shorts. I’m wearing Capris right now.
Perhaps board shorts (I believe they are also called Bermuda shorts as well) might be a good idea? They come right to the knee, so they are too short to be a capris. They’re wonderful!!!
I’ve been lurking on this thread since it started and was reminded of it yesterday when I went shopping yesterday afternoon. I’ve lost about 25 pounds since last year and it’s a huge pain in the ass to find anything that looks right. I’m still slightly overweight and between a size 12 and 14. I have a ginormous rack, relatively trim waist and child-birthin’ hips (hourglass figure in other words) and can’t for the life of me find decent shirts that fit.
Those babydoll shirts piss me off to no end - not only do they completely hide my waist (which is smaller and I’d like that to be obvious), they sit on my generously-sized hips and make my torso look like a tube with boobs.
Even worse, my mom was there - my mom to whom food = love. In other words, if I don’t have at least a heaping helping of whatever cream sauce-laden bomb she’s made, ideally with seconds and dessert, I must hate her and her food. She’s also brutally honest when I’m trying on clothing. Plus, we’d both had two glasses of wine, which makes her even more “honest.”
Sigh Those teenagers in the OP can take a flying leap. Or I can sit on 'em.
but I have an overall small frame, so empire waists hide and emphasize the right stuff for my body type.