Over the weekend, a friend gave me hell for not following through on my pledge to show you guys more plus-size clothes. And she is right, although I will say in my defense that it hasn’t been for lack of trying. I set a ground rule for myself early on—that I wouldn’t show anything that didn’t make me wish it came in my size—and this has made things a lot more challenging than I might have anticipated. More than once, I’d start a post, and realize I was choosing pieces that I thought were nice—for plus size. And that didn’t seem good enough. Nothing did, until yesterday, when I happened upon the e-commerce site for Evans, a UK-based company that also sells here in the US. I’d never seen their catalogue, but you can check it out online, and it’s very cute and tip-filled and magazine-y.
I’m particularly taken with their Clements Ribiero capsule collection, which feels quite retrosh and womanly and designed to celebrate—as opposed to hide—a woman’s curves. I’m nuts for the dot print on this top, and the lace sleeve inserts provide just the right dose of femme.
And could the print on this easy little top be any more winning? One of my peeves with the plus category in general is that the prints are always huge. But there are lots of normal-proportion prints here, which only seems just.
What a perfect little color block dress to throw on all those winter days when the entire contents of your closet feel like an uninspiring mess of nothingness.
A good find. The model however is probably only a whopping size 10.
Reminds me of Adele.
I agree! This (these?) model does NOT fit into what I consider a “plus size” model.
These are fantastic. Thanks for finding them!
I like the dress at the bottom. It doesn’t make sense to me that the fashion industry does so little for plus size women. It is a demographic that is under served and ready and eager to buy if a line of cute plus sized clothes came out.
I love all these, especially the dress. When I was working in an office I bought my clothes at Talbots Womens and was pleased, most of the time. Now, I just need casual clothes and I can find them at Macy’s. I will take a look at this website though. Looks interesting.
Please keep your high standards!! We can find ugly and poorly made clothes anywhere.
I have a friend looking for pants right now. She usually buys pants from BR but right now, she can’t fit in them, unless she goes the online/mail route, which she refuses to do. And she should not have to.
I told her to try Gap or ON since it’s the same company, but they don’t have the same quality, no lining, etc. I know to a lot of you, BR is not high quality either, but it’s better than nothing. We tried Lane Bryant, same thing — no lining. Next up I guess we’ll try a Nordstrom and see if they have anything that’s not hugely expensive.
Basic, nice-looking pants are not yet a right, but maybe they should be.
Your friend should try Banana Republic again. If she spends over $50 (easily done with just one pair of pants) she gets free shipping. Order a bunch of pairs, try them on at home and then return them to the store. No need to send them back. Also online probably has a bigger selection than the brick and mortar store. I buy almost all my clothes and shoes online and this is how I do it — get free shipping to my house, try on, return to store.
Nordstrom has free shipping and free return shipping.
I’ll tell her, thanks! I think we’re going to check out Talbots and maybe Ann Taylor too. Maybe she’ll get lucky.
You said so much when you said you would only show something if you wish it came in your size. Those who design (or create, because sometimes I wonder just how much thought goes into it) plus-size clothing seem to ignore fashion trends.
I really, really love that top as shown here. The pairing on their site, however, is highly questionable. I like that they work with women’s unique shapes, rather than assuming everyone is just “big.”
Wow, you did excellent factfinding on Evans. I love the colorblock dress and thought hey, maybe Evans isn’t so dowdy anymore. And then I looked and there is still a whole lot of gaaahhhhh. You culled the best stuff.
I’m fond of ASOS Curve, myself. And I look for stuff (both vintage and handmade) on Etsy. (The closing of Re/Dress, the vintage and resale shop for size 10+ in Brooklyn, was SUCH A BLOW. The web site still exists with a small selection.)
I’m glad to know you like Asos Curve, Ms. Ingall; I couldn’t quite tell what the quality was like. Please do feel free to throw tips my way!
The retailer I most wish would foray into my size is Steven Alan. Please, give me buttondown shirts and casual dresses. I beg you.
I wish more sites would let you shop by shape, regardless of size.
As for larger-sized lines, when I wrote a post earlier this year on boutiques for curvy girls, I was recommended Eloquii, the Limited’s plus-size label, as well as the plus size offerings of Fresh Produce.
(If anyone would find this post useful, it’s here: http://www.closet-coach.com/2012/05/08/best-boutiques-for-the-curvy-girl-where-to-find-stylish-plus-size-clothes-online/)
Those are just about the best things from Evans. I have that belt–it’s great!
I would also recommend taking a look at Boden, although they only go up to a US18 (UK22) because they have some nice stuff.
ASOS Curve is best for trendy items you won’t keep forever, I think. Quality is on a par with the main ASOS collection, that is to say, mixed. I have a couple of things from there I really love, though.
Thanks, lady!
These are nice, although for future posts I would bear in mind that not every plus-size woman is automatically into retro looks. There is a tendency to shove any woman above a size four into Joan Holloway drag and call it a day. That just ends up looking matronly on a lot of women, especially if they’re very young. And sixties retro is a fad that won’t last forever anyway.
Also watch the sleeves like on that second top – designers want plus-size women to wear tents, but most plus-size women aren’t trying to hide their bodies, just clothe them.
One of my friends always puts it like this: There’s no outfit that will make me look skinny, so I can either look big and fashionable or big and terrible. It’s not like people look at the bat-wing arms and go “Oh I thought she was plus-size but judging by how enormous her sleeves are compared to her arms I guess she’s a twig!”
You guys have given me a lot of good input here, and I thank you very much for that. Your comment about the Joan Holloway look particularly struck me, Safari, as I feel like I’ve seen a million “wiggle dresses” on the plus sites I’ve checked out. I do feel like there is a whole lot of lack of imagination in this category–why doesn’t somebody realize there’s a fortune to be made here?
Thank you for applying your standards, because if you didn’t, you’d end up featuring a lot of ugly crap. I am a plus-sized woman who favors a lady-like, clean look with vintage overtones and have a hard time finding things I can afford. So much on offer is cheap, gaudy, matronly and dowdy – and on the other end of the spectrum, overly trendy and “sexy.” These hit the sweet spot, in my opinion! Looking forward to more – but don’t rush if you’re not inspired!
Dita von Teese is going to come out with a plus size version of her new vintage inspired clothing line, sounds like it would be another very stylish option.
http://www.refinery29.com/dita-von-teese