# Seriously, why is attractive clothing for overweight women so hard to find? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 7, 2008, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-why-is-attractive-clothing-for-overweight-women-so-hard-to-find/455616 "2008-07-07T21:26:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sticks_and_scones/32/16951_2.png) [@Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sticks_and_Scones)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-why-is-attractive-clothing-for-overweight-women-so-hard-to-find/455616/21 "2008-07-08T00:51:14Z")
[QUOTE=pbbth] _Slightly off-topic rant_ Today I went to the Avenue to get some new bras and I was told that I was not allowed to try anything on unless it was black in color. None of the employees could tell me why, just that I couldn’t try on any item in the store unless it was black. I walked out and went next door to Lane Bryant and spent my money there instead. I would say that requiring me to buy clothes that I don’t have any way of knowing whether or not they fit and then not letting me return them because they are all on sale is a good way to condemn a lot of women to being dressed awkwardly or spending more at another place. Stupid Avenue! [/QUOTE] That’s just bizarre. I’ve never had a problem at Avenue. Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-why-is-attractive-clothing-for-overweight-women-so-hard-to-find/455616/22 "2008-07-08T00:51:25Z")
That’s quite possibly the weirdest, most nonsensical thing I’ve ever heard. Well, that’s probably not true, but it’s definitely the weirdest, most nonsensical thing I’ve heard so far this week. If anything, you’d think they’d want people to only try on the white bras… the better to disguise the inevitable evidence of them having been tried on by people who’ve somehow failed to discover clear antiperspirant. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-why-is-attractive-clothing-for-overweight-women-so-hard-to-find/455616/23 "2008-07-08T00:59:48Z")
[QUOTE=DianaG] I’m not sure this is true. “Thin” women also come in “busty” and “big-assed” and “tomato-shaped”. Fit and figure concerns don’t disappear just because you get below some magical number on a scale or a size tag. [/QUOTE] Yep - doesn’t matter what size I am, I have a hard time finding crap that fits. Fitted shirts will either fit around the waist but pop around the girls, or fit around the girls and hang from there, giving me the effect of a giant cylinder. It doesn’t matter if I’m a 6 or a 16, and I’ve been both in the last three years. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-why-is-attractive-clothing-for-overweight-women-so-hard-to-find/455616/24 "2008-07-08T01:28:25Z")
Exactly. I’m a pear-shaped 16, and I’m a pear-shaped 6. I’ll concede that \*some \* of my concerns went away (yay sleeveless!!!), but fundamental body shape doesn’t change that much, and just being “thin” doesn’t mean that you have a perfect body and can wear _anything_. ---
**Author:** ![gravitycrash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@gravitycrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gravitycrash)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-why-is-attractive-clothing-for-overweight-women-so-hard-to-find/455616/25 "2008-07-08T01:37:39Z")
Plus size? What does that even mean? Past size 8? I tried google and there is no consensus. Jeez ladies, even on a bad day you would look better than most of the men who post on this message board. Sorry guys. This includes me as well. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-why-is-attractive-clothing-for-overweight-women-so-hard-to-find/455616/26 "2008-07-08T01:46:37Z")
[QUOTE=gravitycrash] Plus size? What does that even mean? Past size 8? I tried google and there is no consensus. Jeez ladies, even on a bad day you would look better than most of the men who post on this message board. Sorry guys. This includes me as well. [/QUOTE] Usually size 18 and up, sometimes size 16 and up. When I was a 16, I actually had a harder time finding clothes then now at a 20 - you never knew whether to look in “regular” clothes or “Plus” ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-why-is-attractive-clothing-for-overweight-women-so-hard-to-find/455616/27 "2008-07-08T01:50:07Z")
Pennington’s? I got [this dress](http://www.1-plus.com/penningtons-Dresses-Square-neck-short-sleeve-dress_stcVVproductId45410739VVcatId491746VVviewprod.htm) for a wedding this past weekend, and I felt right purdy in it. (I got one in shades of purple; it has a different, much nicer print, in my opinion.) In fact, I found five (oops) outfits I liked there; 4 dresses and one skirt/top combo. I will be going back. I’m not thin now, I may never be thin, and I’m tired of waiting for _“some day”_ to look nice. ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-why-is-attractive-clothing-for-overweight-women-so-hard-to-find/455616/28 "2008-07-08T02:18:07Z")
Once you figure out what size you are in a particular brand, check out some of the offerings on eBay. I’ve purchased bunches of cute tops lately because I know what size I wear in this brand or that brand, so I know that if I buy it, it will fit. Some of the things I’ve bought didn’t look good, but not many, and I can always turn around and resell them. So go try on some stuff in brick and mortar stores and then see what you can find a great deal on online! ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-why-is-attractive-clothing-for-overweight-women-so-hard-to-find/455616/29 "2008-07-08T02:33:09Z")
As others have said, I don’t think there’s really a lack of cute clothes for plus-sized women anymore. There’s just a lot of mental play that goes along with dressing a large body that keep large women from looking “good.” I didn’t buy clothes for a year or two, until just recently, because I didn’t feel like I “deserved” to spend $20 or $50 on a shirt. Why spend that amount of money to make me look just as fat as I would look in a $5 shirt? As someone else noted, it’s also hard to admit that you have to buy new stuff right now because you’re going to “lose weight any day now.” Or, you can spend big bucks and there will always be jackasses telling you you’re a disgusting fat slob (men and women alike). Truth be told, all sizes and shapes of women have body issues and clothing issues. Check out _What Not To Wear_ - I’d say only about 1/10 of the guests on that show are plus-sized, yet they all apparently dress like slobs. And what about women who gain 5 pounds and no longer fit in any of their clothes? Once you’re a size 18 or so, 5 pounds isn’t going to change your waist size (especially if you have stretch material). And I’ve seen plenty of threads on here started by women who are frustrated with the lack of clothing for very small women with curves, who have to shop in the boys’ department. Anyway, it’s really hard to dress well if you’re fat, or broke, or not interested in shopping, or don’t have time to try stuff on (or can’t - like in **pbbth** ’s case!)…and I think that just gets amplified if you don’t have the positive mental image of yourself to feel like your body is worth dressing nicely. Oh, and I’d also like to add that some of the plus-sized stores have the world’s worst “plus-sized” models. I don’t want to see the shirt in red, green and white - I want to see it on 18, 22 and 28-sized models! ---
**Author:** ![Monstera\_deliciosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monstera_deliciosa/32/109_2.png) [@Monstera\_deliciosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstera_deliciosa)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-why-is-attractive-clothing-for-overweight-women-so-hard-to-find/455616/30 "2008-07-08T03:19:41Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Usually size 18 and up, sometimes size 16 and up. When I was a 16, I actually had a harder time finding clothes then now at a 20 - you never knew whether to look in “regular” clothes or “Plus” [/QUOTE] Oh god, tell me about it! When I was a size 16, I was frustrated with the cut of misses-sized clothing, so I decided to try Avenue and Lane Bryant. Even their smallest sizes were too big for me. That is when I discovered that 14W, 16W, etc. are not the same as misses sizes 14 and 16 and so forth. What I probably needed was a 12W, but while that size exists in theory, just try to find it in a brick and mortar store. I’ve recently regained 12 of the 30 pounds I’ve lost over the past year and a half and I don’t know what the hell size I am. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-why-is-attractive-clothing-for-overweight-women-so-hard-to-find/455616/31 "2008-07-08T03:40:34Z")
Most overweight women (including myself) are or have been at some point somewhat poorly dressed because they wanted to lose weight and didn’t want to encourage themselves to stay at the same size in order to use all their new clothes. It’s especially challenging when you actually are losing significant amounts of weight - plus size clothing is more limited in options, so you do tend to pay at least a small premium, and when you’re dropping a lot of sizes, it’s not possible to maintain really stunning wardrobes all the way through! However, it is far, far easier today than 5 or 10 years ago. In my area, I now have a Torrid, Cato’s, and CJ Banks, and the megamarts and department stores carry more plus sizes than they used to. It was not all that long ago where my choices were pretty much Lane Bryant or nothing, and Lane Bryant is often not cheap ($50 - $60 for a single pair of jeans). ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-why-is-attractive-clothing-for-overweight-women-so-hard-to-find/455616/32 "2008-07-08T09:40:10Z")
The explanation I’ve heard is that once your store gets a reputation as the store where fat people shop, normal sized people will start avoiding it. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-why-is-attractive-clothing-for-overweight-women-so-hard-to-find/455616/33 "2008-07-08T10:39:27Z")
Thanks for those links, I shall, eh, um, ahem, use them. ---
**Author:** ![Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sticks_and_scones/32/16951_2.png) [@Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sticks_and_Scones)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-why-is-attractive-clothing-for-overweight-women-so-hard-to-find/455616/34 "2008-07-08T11:40:55Z")
[QUOTE=An Gadaí] Thanks for those links, I shall, eh, um, ahem, use them. [/QUOTE] Thanks for the laugh. I needed it this morning. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-why-is-attractive-clothing-for-overweight-women-so-hard-to-find/455616/35 "2008-07-08T13:15:35Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] 4. Yeah, making clothes for overweight women is more expensive. (Spare the “more material” jokes, please.) Most designers at the Target price level have about a half dozen designs in about 8 colors. With thin women, this works, because the only measurements you really need to take into account are bust and hip and length. [/QUOTE] Not really, said the duckbutt who’s had to return to the store seamstresses the last three trousers she store-bought because said seamstresses had “corrected” the markings, leaving the legs so long I step on them and the bloody waist two cm too wide, which with my shape means a hole in my back large enough to put my hand in - sideways! Only once in my life have I bought a pair of trousers in my size (the legs needed shortening, that’s all); a big-brand one from a store which sold modeled clothes. It doesn’t matter what size I happen to be at the time, the Daisy Duck genes mean trousers my hips get in will always, always be too wide at the waist, so I need stores with seamstresses. But at least in my case it’s a matter of finding something pretty where the extra cloth has to be cut off… Many stores in my home town have signs saying “clothing in sizes (34 to 58);” the manager who started the trend says it’s because a friend told her she wasn’t buying at her store because she didn’t think they’d have her size, as everything on the window is small. Usually it’s the exact same clothes, no extra frills on bigger blouses 😛 But go to the “big size stores” and a lot of them look like their clothesbuyer is legally blind. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-why-is-attractive-clothing-for-overweight-women-so-hard-to-find/455616/36 "2008-07-08T14:34:55Z")
[QUOTE=Always Brings Pie] Thanks for the laugh. I needed it this morning. 😃 [/QUOTE] She thinks you’re kidding 😉 [sub]I’m thinking about asking my wife to get me an unused mannequin from the local Torrid outlet for Christmas. Yum. [/sub] ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-why-is-attractive-clothing-for-overweight-women-so-hard-to-find/455616/37 "2008-07-08T14:47:22Z")
Yes, kidding… Well, I’m beat. Off to bed. G’night all. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-why-is-attractive-clothing-for-overweight-women-so-hard-to-find/455616/38 "2008-07-08T14:51:06Z")
[QUOTE=Nava] Not really, said the duckbutt who’s had to return to the store seamstresses the last three trousers she store-bought because said seamstresses had “corrected” the markings, leaving the legs so long I step on them and the bloody waist two cm too wide, which with my shape means a hole in my back large enough to put my hand in - sideways! [/QUOTE] Right…so that’s waist and length. Isn’t that exactly what I said? Look, I’m \*not \*trying to say that thin women never have problems finding clothing, or that anyone thin can wear anything. They can’t, sure. I’m just saying there are \*fewer \*variables to consider within the allowable parameters of “looks good”. Maybe not “looks great” - there, you are certainly talking tailoring or expensive off the rack. But when I was thin, I could find far more “looks good” off the rack because I had far fewer, uh, directional changes going on when outlining my surface area. These days, even when I sew stuff myself, the pattern is just a very rough guideline - it’s a starting point so I know where I have to move all the lines to, because my shape doesn’t begin to resemble anything the designers had in mind. I’m not talking 2 cm, I’m talking 10 cm or more in \*and \* out on the same pattern. When I was thin, for example, I didn’t have to worry about bras showing if the dress I liked had a spaghetti strap - I could wear a strapless bra under it. They don’t make functional strapless bras past a DD cup. I didn’t have to worry about the little triangle of fabric winging up where the sleeve meets the torso in front because the fabric was cut straight at the bust instead of curved into the side seam or flattened with a dart. I didn’t have to worry about sidewall bra visibility and tank tops. There is another possibility, and that’s just that clothing in general is crap nowadays and/or current close-cut fashion is more prone to these foibles. I don’t know, maybe thin women are having these troubles now, too. But I didn’t 15 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-why-is-attractive-clothing-for-overweight-women-so-hard-to-find/455616/39 "2008-07-08T15:00:12Z")
I am not an obese woman, but I’m related to one. She buys the cheapest (therefore ugliest) crap, because she doesn’t want to spend money on clothes “until she loses some weight” whenever that may happen. She’s not willing to spend the money to buy attractive clothes, because in her mind, she may lose weight and have to get rid of her “fat” clothes, which would be a waste of money. The fact that she hasn’t lost this weight in a good 15 years seems irrelevant to her. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-why-is-attractive-clothing-for-overweight-women-so-hard-to-find/455616/40 "2008-07-08T15:49:54Z")
[QUOTE=Maastricht] My own pet theory is this. Big Name Designers don’t design clothes for any woman over size 12, and even refuse to make clothes for over size 12. If only slim people wear Armani, Armani will continue to breathe success, and secondly Armani will have an undeserved reputation as a brand of clothing that “flatters” the wearer. Which is, of course a devilish exampel of circular reasoning: People look slim in an Armani because only slim people get to _wear_ an Armani. If my theory is true, Big Name Designers _should_ make larger size clothes in countries where there is no taboo on being larger, and people have the money to pay for them. I wonder if any of the Dopers in the Middle East can tell us if that is the case over there. IIRC, it is. [/QUOTE] From what I’ve observed watching _Project Runway_ (my only insight into the bizzarro world of fashion), it’s kind of like this: 1. “Name” fashion designers get sales for their fashion lines based on their runway shows. 2. Clothes look really good on starving, wire-hanger looking models, since they drape and flow and do other fierce things on these lollipop women. So that is who are used for runway shows. 3. Therefore, fashion designers focus on making their runway designs look good, and then adapt those designs for the general public. 4. Unfortunately, what looks good on a lollipop-head girl looks horrible on the general public; different designs are needed, not just scaled-up ones. So, I thought that it is the fact that the public does not rush out to buy whatever fabulous dress the plus-size models are sporting, where they _do_ rush out to buy whatever the anorexic celebutants are wearing. Is this not the case, has Bravo led me astray? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-why-is-attractive-clothing-for-overweight-women-so-hard-to-find/455616.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-why-is-attractive-clothing-for-overweight-women-so-hard-to-find/455616.md?page=3)