Nope. I’m an 6 or an 8, and in Old Navy stuff I can often were a 4. Sets me up for total disappointment when I go to a regular store and have to go up two sizes. But I still shop there a lot because the’re [/]cheap/i]. I love paying $10-$25 bucks for an article of clothing.
I think what the posters above might be complaining about is that a lot of Old Navy’s styles are designed to be close fitting. They do carry a lot of large sizes; it seems like the one near me is always out of 6’s and 4’s and only has 0’s and 18’s left.
I’m at the small end of the bell curve, and I couldn’t find One. Fucking. Dress. in a zero or two at Field’s or Carson’s. Those bastards. All I got from the help was a condescending frown and an “I should have your problems”. I ended up ordering out of a catalog (again).
But, back to the OP. Pantsuits are perfectly OK for a wedding. They make some very elegant ones, so you should be able to find something suitable, no matter how formal or casual the wedding is.
But what if we don’t * like* pansuits for a wedding, because we like our dress hem to swirl around when we dance? Normally I’m a jeans-and-T-shirt person, but if I’m going to dress up, I’m going to have fun doing it, dammit! Anything with the word “suit” in it makes me think of work. Honestly, as much of a non-girly girl as I am most of the time, dresses are more fun than pantsuits, no matter how elegant.
And then the height issue rears its ugly head again. I’m 5’1", which is definitely in the “petite” length category. Most dresses are cut far too short for my taste - I feel self-conscious in anything above knee-length, and usually wear stuff much longer than that. So if a dress is “too long” in regular sizes, then it is just right for me, as a short person. Which is fine. But there is much less wiggle room with pants hems.
Plus the last wedding I went to was in New Meixico in June, i.e. hotter than Hell. And I’ll be damned if I’m wearing a suit jacket when it’s 95 degrees outside.
The word “pantsuit” scares me. I get pictures in my head of 60-year-old women. Not that there’s anything wrong with 60-year-old women, but as a 19-year-old, I don’t especially want to look like one. Do places make pantsuits for younger women?
You know what I would love, actually, would be a three-piece suit, but there’s no way I’d wear it during the summer.
I have two words for those of you who think you can’t pull off flirty little spaghetti strap dresses: coordinating cardigans. Not the kind your grandma would wear but something a little more fitting. You can also buy a slim-fitting (in other words, not boxy), natural fiber (cotton, linen) jacket, too. Pair that ensemble with strappy sandals or peek-a-boo toe pumps and you’re talking smart, stylish and fun!
I have nothing against cardigans; I even wear them to work on occasion. I just want to be able to take it of while dancing, and the spaghetti straps ain’t gonna cover up the (very necessary) bra straps.
I don’t care what you say about all the zillions of strapless bras out there; any bra that is going to accomplish its intended architectural function on me is going to leave welts in my torso. And I am not fond of welts in my torso, especially if I didn’t have fun acquiring them.
Also, due to a previous injury precariously somewhat repaired with some internal metal ankle hardware, I can’t wear heels of any height, and certainly not while dancing. I stick to 1” or so, and the foot issue limits the shoe options in a big way.
As Tremorviolet has already said, Old Navy runs about 2 sizes big. The Gap, however, seems to run closer to three or four sizes too big, so you’re probably better off avoiding them.
I can’t believe I managed to wander into a clothing thread without plugging resale. Resale, resale, resale. You never know what you’ll find, and often the prices are quite reasonable. Plus, vintage clothes are sized smaller than clothes today, so it’s easier for a smaller person to find well-fitting, extremely cool clothing.
Well, I went shopping tonight and I got some jeans that look fabulous on my ass, so I know it’s not my ass at fault.
I used to swear by Old Navy jeans, but then they changed the fit. They made the top part longer (even on the “ultra low rise” or whatever), decided to put a whole lot of room in the crotch (because we women need that?), and made the legs a whole lot longer. Now I’m exploring other options. I found an awesome pair of jeans at Target for $11.50. $11.50!!! Even Old Navy rarely has prices that low.
I also got a free pair of undies from Victoria’s Secret, so all is well.
Have any of you ladies ever gotten seriously involved in thrift shopping? Random shapes and sizes of all sorts (after all, someone once wore them) and in styles that are sure to turn heads. Now in both directions!
Oh yeah, that’s what they do alright. My mom has a theory, that the fashion industry really hates women, I mean Deep Down, mysogonistic “nice guy” hatred. And so, they design clothing that will make us look as horrible as possible.
Now, that’s just my mom’s theory, and she’s joking, but sometimes it seems to be true.
Yup, being an “monroe” in this day and age, is NO fun at all. This is why I sew. You can make the styles you like, and tailor them to suit.
The sizing isn’t the only problem though, the hideous clunky boxy styles are so ugly too.
When my daughter got married, my mom and I had a HORRIBLE time finding mom of the bride, and grandma of the bride dresses. I finally ended up with a lovely outfit of separates, but it cost me 300 bucks.
I have, usually I stick to shirts because unless I have a LOT of time to spend going through sizes and trying things on it’s hard to find any pants that fit right. At least when I go to a regular store I have a decent chance of finding something in my size that fits right when I grab it off the hanger. At thrift stores I find the pants are always either too loose or too tight from the washing/wearing and I have to try on lots of pairs.
I had to buy a couple pantsuits junior year of high school for Mock Trial and Model UN (I was a prosecuting attorney and representative for Fiji ), and I got them at Sears and Wal-Mart. Seriously. The juniors’ section in Sears. The WM one had a really boxy jacket, but the sleeves actually fit, so I was ready to sell my soul for that. In retrospect, I probably should have gone down a size. The one from Sears was a seriously cute pinstripe that screamed ladylike Mafia-chic, if such a thing exists.
For the record, I’m a short girl (5’2") with boobs (34D) and hips, so finding things that fit in length and don’t gap like crazy is hard enough. Two suits in as many months was like Christmas in July.
My fellow Mock Trial/Model UN friends got their suits at either Sears or one of the little boutique stores in the mall. The things that made the suits come off as “young” and not old, though, were the accessories – crazy scarves and cute earrings and the like. I mean, the suit automatically becomes young if you wear a Hello Kitty! t-shirt underneath it or your tights are lime green.* It’s all about having fun.
Hey! A big shout-out to a fellow MUN alumus!!! I pissed off a few chairs by going to conferences (including the national ones in New York and Washington) with bright purple hair. I was always prepared for debate though. Go Mauritius!
Have you tried La Senza (if you live near one that is)? They’ve got a big sale on right now, so I spent my Saturday afternoon digging through a giant bin of $8 bras trying to find anything bigger than a 32 or 34.
I’ve found that The Gap has done this too. I’m 5’5", and regular used to be just about the perfect length for me - maybe a bit long, but I like jeans that way, so it’s fine. However, I went jean shopping recently, and regular was so long in every style that I tried that I looked like a little kid playing dress-up with mommy’s clothes. Now unless I want to get them altered, I have to go in search of new jeans that I like, and I hate shopping for jeans.
Oooh, I disturbed my entire committee on the oil-for-food programme by checking my blood sugar repeatedly and bleeding everywhere. And then they kept sneering at me because it was really close to lunch and I was chowing down early. Oh, well, medical condition and if they couldn’t understand that, then they were JERKS.
Nothing like vitriol three years after the fact.
It was all great fun, though, because we were 1) Fiji and 2) like the only country that cared enough to actually be serious about it. We did call for military action in the middle east, though, and the UN can’t do that. Whoops. At least we weren’t the committe calling for an airdrop of condoms on the African plains to stem the spread of AIDS. That particular proposal wasn’t passed because there were many who feared that local wildlife would eat the condoms and choke on them.
Wait, I want in on the MUN love! I was Chad one year and Burkina Faso the next. Most of the people at the conference had never heard of Burkina Faso. I was on SocHum both times. How much I actually was in the session, I’ll never know. When I was present, I passed notes to people asking if they knew what their country looked like, what the capital city was, etc. It was awesome, because they rarely knew. I miss MUN.
…d’OH!!! :smack: I was there Saturday myself (Alright, Suzy Shier, but here it’s in the same store). I was more concerned with the suits though, as I’ve been thinking about getting one for a while and a coat and pants were $10 each. I don’t need a bra right now really, though when I go back into town this Saturday, I may have a look if I don’t have to be home early.
Remember that bell curve? Well, with few people buying the sizes I wear, there’s also few people throwing away the sizes I wear. Plus there’s never anything I like either. I only bother if I’m looking for something for a costume.
But I still shop there a lot because the’re [/]cheap/i]. I love paying $10-$25 bucks for an article of clothing.
), and I got them at Sears and Wal-Mart. Seriously. The juniors’ section in Sears. The WM one had a really boxy jacket, but the sleeves actually fit, so I was ready to sell my soul for that. In retrospect, I probably should have gone down a size. The one from Sears was a seriously cute pinstripe that screamed ladylike Mafia-chic, if such a thing exists.