[Nori71]

I posted this in the shopping forum as well.

DH is bugging me about buying me an outfit for Christmas and wants to know where to go. I'm not that into buying any new clothes right now. But he really wants to. Brave man! (I think I'll have him buy down a size at least!)

So, what are your favorite brands? Or a certain item you cannot be without.

I have HUGE upper legs (32 inches) and upper arms (19 inches). Had my body fat analysis done this morning, and yep, they are %-wise the "fattest" part of my body. This was the way it was 9 years ago after I'd lost 120 pounds also - only it looked Ok then! That said, getting things to fit that aren't stretchy is kinda hard. And usually stretchy isn't all that flattering. So what brands or styles is general have you found work for you? I find that many of the plus sized stores (LB, FBug, Ave...) are sized for women with larger middles, so lots of their stuff doesn't work for me on top - because to get the arms to fit, I'd need a 26. but a 18-20 fits my torso. And most of the pants are too tight in the upper thighs as well when it's a nice fit at the waist. I wear scrubs to work, so that's easy. But other than that I'm wearing mainly a.n.a. or St. John's Bay womens sized tops from JCPenney and Lane Bryant jeans and slacks. I don't spend a lot of time shopping for myself, so I dont' know if I'm missing a cool store or line that carries plus sizes.

[kaplods]

I wear a much larger size than you, but have always had the same problem, even at times in my life when I was much smaller.

I love The Redcat stores online Woman Within (used to be part of Lane Bryant), Roaman's, Jessica London and OneStopPlus, and bcoutlet).

bcoutlet is the discount/clearance/outlet store and you can reach all of their other stores from this site (at the very bottom of their home page). I LOVE this store, and check it daily, and a bunch of other people must too, because if I don't buy something I like as soon as I see it, it's likely to be gone by the next day (at least in my size or preferred color).

For woven fabrics, I order according to their size charts, but their knit tops and bottoms (except in the Talls) seem to run about a size big.


They have a wide variety of sizes, styles, fabrics, and prices. I like that I can find styles that are comfortable, affordable, and flattering through several sizes of weight loss (drawstring waists, soft knits, casual dresses and skirts...).

[Marseille]

If you stay away from the hideous prints, Torrid has some cute dresses and jackets. I really like Old Navy for basics and jeans but a lot of their clothing is just their regular line scaled up and is not particularly flattering. Newport News does great inexpensive wardrobe pieces and some nice special occasion clothing but sometimes the quality isn't what I would like (I guess that's why its so cheap).

[Nori71]

Thanks, I've never looked at either of those sites! I like quite a bit of the stuff at Torrid. I showed DH the site and he was kinda into some stuff I am NOT into! It's nice to think that he thinks I'd look good in those items...but they'll have to wait!