Winter Clothes Shopping
 

This thread was buried! We probably need a winter thread actually. Unless I'm the only one shopping? :o

I have a new bugaboo that I would like to share!!! Now that I pretty much have to wear a Small, I'm finding that ALL THE CLOTHES ARE TOO SHORT!!!!!!!

At 5'9 I've always been right on the cusp of regular/tall lengths in M, L and XL. If I want to wear heels, I need talls, and I need talls in cords and things that shrink in the wash. For the most part though, I can get by.

But recently I've been buying size small sweaters and they are all too short in the sleeves. And a shipment of lounge pants arrived from VS today and they are all several inches too short. Is it really true that smalls are sized shorter than Ms and Ls??? Unlike jeans and dress pants, things like sweaters and lounge pants are quite difficult to find in tall sizes, so this is a bit of a pickle.

Really, I think that if they're going to be vanity sizing to the point that someone like me wears a small/4, they need lots of options for we taller types in the length.

Alright. Rant over.

:)

wait...all the tall clothes are getting shorter? thats not right, because all the short clothes are getting longer....including ones I bought by the inseam measurement. We all must be 5'6" it is the only acceptable height.

BUT I was excited that costco had SHORT jeans. As long as jeans are gonna fit me crappy, I am pretty happy to only pay $18 for them.

Winter Clothes Shopping
 

You're absolutely right, Baff -- we need a winter clothes shopping thread! So here it is and I'll move your post and Ennay's over. :D

Oh yes Baffled, smalls are quite frequently sized shorter than M's and L's. I'm not as tall as you, but I still find that some smalls are just TOO SHORT, either on the sleeves or the torso. I don't want to be wearing fitted tees that barely cover my belly button... how slutty. I used to be a fan of "showing a little skin" back in my thin days... :lol:... funny how I refer to them as my thin days when I wear the same size now... the thing is, I weighed less and looked WAY smaller... but I digress... I also definitely DO NOT want *business* shirts rising up, either. I doubt anyone would mind ;) but some may deem it inappropriate.

I went Christmas shopping, so I'm currently too broke for winter clothes. This won't stop me for long, though.

Ennay, the tall clothes are still the same; my observation is that regular smalls are shorter than regular M, L or XL. I think I need a TS in tops and bottoms in almost all clothes. This is annoying because 1. stores don't usually stock Longs in the store, just online; and 2. tops and some kinds of bottoms are not widely available in longs, online or off.

Shane, when I've found shirts too short, I always thought it had something to do with my boobs--which used to be really big. Sometimes when they don't cut enough room in the bust, it comes out of the length. I think that I must have been right: my shirts are all long enough in the torso (and I have a longish torso), but too short in the arms. It's probably not good, but I consider that a minor problem. The bigger problem for me is too short pants. That is unacceptable!

Grrrrr on vanity sizing, and manufacturers who do not acknowledge that short and petite are 2 very different things! Along with those who think that women who wear larger sizes cannot also be short (or tall). I really need petite jeans/pants as I have a very short rise. Pants that are merely "short" are shorter only in the legs, which I don't need as I'm 5'4" I don't wear petite tops, but in fact quite the opposite. I buy talls when I can find them, or I look for tunic length stuff. (I swear my body was put together by a committee!) Baff - you're right about the boobs. Mine don't go down by much no matter what size/weight I am, and it does make shirts shorter, but this current craze of tummy-baring shirts drives me insane. I'm 62 for heaven's sake - NO ONE wants to see my midrift! :lol: I recently bought 3 shirts from J Jill which had the actual length in the description, so I knew they'd be long enough, though one is still marginal.

I did find some cords that fit reasonably well, at Wal-Mart of all places. Whatever, they were inexpensive enough and they'll last this winter, or until I'm down one more size and my Land's End ones will fit again. :)

My issue with winter clothing has to do with skiing/snow boarding gear. Columbia is one of the easier to find brands, but they seem to think that all women have no hips and thick waists (this is true with their street clothes too.) When I find something that fits my hips the waist is was to large. I'm not an extremely "hippie" person either.

Hmm, winter clothes? Asside from wearing a ski jacket or my dress winter coat and some Christmas sweaters I've collected over the years, I've never thought about having separate clothes from my fall or early spring wardrobe. As soon as the temperature goes below 70 degrees, out come all of my sweaters and I must have 2 dozen.

I've started to watch Tim Gunn's Guide to Style on Bravo on Thursday at 10 EST. He says there are "10 Essential Items" each woman MUST HAVE. I can only remember 8 at the moment:

a black dress,
the classic white shirt,
dress pants, (black or dark)
a blazer,
a trench coat,
jeans, (dark and dressy)
a cashmere sweater,
a sweatsuit alternative.

On the show, he and a supermodel goes to the house of a fashion challenged woman and basically throws EVERYTHING she owns out. Even the sentamental stuff. Then he shows her how to shop, but does it in with a clearer plan then on What Not To Wear. They usually start by getting her a proper fitting bra and underwear that doesn't show panty lines.

Off the list, I only have 1 pair of dress plants that fit. But I'm always complemented on my clothes - especially because I usually wear pretty dresses to the dance parties we go to. But I do see where his list makes sense as a building foundation and that classic clothes that are well made and well-fitted never go out of style.

Baff~I'm 5'8" and the regular stuff I buy is barely long enough BUT if I buy talls, then I have to wear high heels! Can't they get something in between??? I have a very casual job and since it is usually quite temperate here (not today--rain!!) I can wear flip flops daily (which I just love). My newest jeans from Express aren't long enough any more (which makes me sad). I have to wear tennis shoes with them to give them appearance of being long enough (they hit right about on my ankle bone and I prefer them to be just above the floor but not dragging at all).

I have to say that most of the CAbI(Carol Anderson by Invitation--you have to be invited to a party to get these) are the only pants that I can find that are the right length for me. Talbots, which I love, Coldwater Creek, Chicos and many others are simply too short so I usually only buy capris from them (and it's not seasonable to wear capris in the winter). I can get tall from the Gap, but I swear they add 4" to make them talls and I only need 1-2". And I'm not into having jeans altered!

The shoe/pant thing is sort of a conundrum. I have some flats, some shoes with little 1.5" heels and some higher 3" heels, but the trouble is that you have to match your shoes with specific pairs of pants because of the different lengths. Basically my shoe choice is determined by my pant choice each morning, or vice versa. It's a pickle. I often buy the pants long and get them hemmed. Jeans...well, jeans I work with. There's a boutique in town that sells expensive designer jeans and they'll do the tailoring for free, which is nice. But otherwise it's a pest.

But can someone explain: what's the difference between short and petite? I don't get it.

Carolyn, I have most of the items on that list. The one thing I have to disagree with Tim Gunn about is the "classic white shirt." I assume this means a standard collared white shirt. The thing is, if you are build and colored like I am, not only does white look bad in general, but collared shirts look awful on me! No white collared shirts in my wardrobe! ;)

I have issues with lengths on pants too. They usually say that 5'4" is tall enough for "regular" sizes but it is not true 90% of the time. It USED to be true, I swear jeans have been getting longer over the years! The problem is that if you're 5'4" you're also too tall for "short" sizes 90% of the time. However, luckily I have found some exceptions. Turns out that Levi's "short" sizes are just barely long enough for me! Woohoo! Express "short" sizes are just about right too, although they never seem to carry my size in anything remotely attractive.

So in general for jeans I look for something that says "curvy" "bootcut" and "short" on it. My standard jeans right now are Levi's 515 bootcut, but they recently came out with a curvy cut (I think it's 528) that fits much better. When I was at the store they didn't have it in short length though so I couldn't buy it. I always go for the "curvy" ones because otherwise I end up with the waistband squeezing my tummy and a big old gap over my butt. I guess my butt is just too big!

Baff - petite pants are cut smaller overall, that is, the rise is shorter as well as the leg length. Short pants merely have shorter leg length but the same rise as regular. Which on me means that the crotch is halfway to my knees :lol: I keep pulling up on the waist to put the crotch in the proper place (very unattractive). It's very hard to find shorts and capris in petite unless you get an more expensive brand.

Both my SILs are barely 5' tall and have a terrible time with clothes. Neither is overweight, but one is really skinny and straight and ends up buying casual stuff in the kids/teen areas. Off topic, but she also buys children's glasses frames.

I did some shopping at the outlets while on vacation with my hubby. I bought 2 pairs of cords, 1 from Tommy and 1 from the Gap. I love them both but the Gap ones drag the floor, even in heels! I usually buy regular size no talls or anything. Gap jeans fit just perfect length wise. I also was able to get a pair of Nautica jeans and the lenght is great on them as well but I bought a pair of Tommy boyfriend cut jeans and they are really too short now that they've been washed. I always wash my darks on cold and dry on low, Oh well. I have found that the small tops are always too short in the arms for me as well. I got a pretty cashmere argyle sweater from Kohl's {I've been wanting since last year} and the arms are almost too short. I have a tendency to pull my sleeves up a little so it's not too bad. But I don't do that on all shirts. I hate to have to buy a medium just to get a good fit in the arms and have it be to big everywhere else.

Pat - maybe you could approximate a petite cut by buying short low-rise pants? They even make ultra-low-rise nowadays...

I wear children's glasses frames also! Thought I was the only one.

Thanks for explaining about short and petite. The low rise jeans I've been wearing since March were marked short - first time I'd seen that type of labeling. But I still had to shorten them 2 inches. Since they're my first pair of low rise, they sure don't feel like regular in the rise! It took me a while to get used to them and to figure out how long shirts I was buying had to be so I won't be showing off my lower tummy. Which looks fine, but at 46, I don't want to be flashing except at the beach and in the shower.

Recently, a guy was trying to convince me that there's now a style where guys wear their girlfriend's pants. I didn't buy it.

Jessica - I have one pair of jeans like that, not the super low cut, but lower and they fit pretty well, except that the waist is a little big because they're really cut to fit lower down and on me the top hits my waist.

Carolyn, unfortunately there is a large group of boys who do wear their girl friends' tight jeans. This has been going on for about 2 years according to my 17 year old son (who wears baggy cargo pants).

I haven't noticed pants getting any shorter :lol:, but they are getting bigger. My major rant is the opposite of baffled's: I stand in dressing rooms with 9 extra inches of pants leg and rant about who on earth wears a size 2 and is 6 feet tall! I guess I just found out :rofl:

Petites usually fit me well unless the waist actually is at the waist- thank heavens for low rise. I just bought a pair of short jeans at The Limited, and they fit great! Along with a few sweaters which seem to be very long this year. Some I could wear as dresses if I dared the mini-dress look. I think I'm a bit over-the-hill for that :o

Mel

Yesterday, a miracle happened! I went to Target's to get a pair of very dark jeans and the first pair I tried on fit! Unbelievable. Usually I have to go through a dozen pairs.

http://www.target.com/Mossimo-Black-...20jeans&page=1

And then another miracle happened. As I was walking to the cash register, I saw that they had a new display of bathing suits separates. Several caught my eye and since we're going to on a sailboat cruise in the Caribbean in February, I could use another suit.

Once again, every one I tried on fit! And we all know the terrible troubles of finding a suit to fit even with our slimmed down bodies.

I ended up getting one bikini bottom with a bikini top and a tankini top so it's like having 2 suits and another tankini top that will go with my skirted bottom from the suit I got this summer.

The one that's a set is by designer Isaac Mizrahi looks like this

http://www.target.com/Isaac-Mizrahi-...%20suit&page=1

They were out of smalls of the pink skirt so I might try going to another Target and see if I can pick it up. Mixing and matching is fun.

Here's the tankini top I got to go with my dark blue skirted bottom:

http://www.target.com/Merona-Stripe-...tankini&page=3

I really like the blue striped top, but everything's cute. You really had a great day -- maybe you should have kept on shopping since everything was fitting! :D

Cute stuff Carolyn!

I'm on a quest for a new pair of jeans at the moment. The butt on my favorite pair is about to give out. :eek: As you all know, shopping options are pretty limited where I live and I haven't had any luck yet. There's some problem with my thighs which will NOT slim down. Very annoying. Grrrrr. I've ordered a pair from BR online and I'm desperately hoping they'll look good!

I did - I went to the Target by our house (yesterday, we were at the Target near our apartment) trying to find the pink skirted bottom to complete the orange & pink set. That store didn't carry them. But I did find 4 v-neck long sleeve t-shirts and one cap sleeved t-shirt, all of which were on super sale.

It's so true that guys wear girls' pants. They don't even need girlfriends (and indeed, most of them do not have them). They just go buy them. Observe:

http://www.howtoavoidthebummerlife.c...s/IMG_8075.jpg

These guys are skaters and/or are emo. A skater guy has the neo-punk/skateboarder thing going on with his clothing choices, and he usually listens to punk or alternative rock. An emo kid is short for emotional. He's the kid who locks himself in his bedroom either cutting himself on the wrists or writing poetry.

Here's an emo/skater combo kid:

http://img36.picoodle.com/img/img36/...em_6861503.jpg

http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com.../2/23/Boys.gif

Emo Girl (who may borrow her pants to said emo boy):

http://www.emo-corner.com/gallery/al...emo-girl-2.jpg

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x...3/emo-girl.gif

He's dark, distant, and emo girls think there is something totally mysterious about this guy. He also plays the guitar and composes his own heartbreaking ballads. After all, he's a very wistful type. Loss, hopelessness, heartache - this boy is no stranger to pain. He revels in it. The only important thing is looking good. By looking good, he can attract attention without appearing to care for it. Genius!

If you think you may be emo but are not sure (or stayed far from placing yourself into any one category - you devil, you) take this test:

http://www.geocities.com/ctskaboy/emotest.html

Oh, I also forgot one other endearing hallmark of the emo kid: He, unlike other boys, is very in touch with his feminine side. He's not afraid to cry. He cries once, twice, three times a day. Some hardcore emo guys are so good at crying that they can do it on command. Impressive!

Disclaimer: These are all stereotypes of what it means to be ska (skater) or emo (emotional). Boys of these types may only do one, two, or all of the things listed above. Results vary.

http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/i...918/boys_l.jpg

I think I'll stick to guys who wear guy clothes.

Just FYI - Ann Taylor is having a FABULOUS cashmere sale online as of today. 49.99 for crewnecks, v-necks, turtlenecks and some really gorgeous colors! I got a pink v-neck and a scarlet turtleneck :)

After reading through this post I've come to the conclusion that the clothing companies are just totally screwed up....and all along I thought it was me just being overly picky! I'm 5'4-1/2", and stuff is either too short or too long, never ever is there a happy medium lengthwise! Not that I wish any of you the aggrevation, but it is nice to know I'm not out here by myself!

And you're supposidly 'average' height! Nothing's ever been too short for me. Even petites have to be hemmed - just cropped off 2" off my new dark jeans so I can wear them with high heals and boots.

Yesterday, I tried on a t-shirt that was actually too tight. This has never happened to me before. I could see the shape of my ribs through it. Usually I stuggle to find ones that aren't baggy.

Baffled - do you have a cold again? What's up with your new avitar?

Yesterday, I went back to one of my favorite stores - Goodwill in search of a red sweater which I found along with a hooded, thick cabled, zip up pink sweater, a medium gray angora blend sweater with a slightly scooped v-neck (very figure flattering), a coral and white blended yarn turtle neck with interesting knitted straight cable designs on the sleeves that I'm wearing now, plus a very fitted, hooded, large knit coral sweater with a large front keyhole - very sexy.

Also, I found a black knitted zip up sweater jacket, a black cropped zip up jacket, and an Ann Taylor black double breasted dress with satin collar that looks great over my new so-dark-blue-their-almost-black jeans paired with my pointy black boots.

All these together were under $40! I live in sweaters from the moment it drops below 75 degrees, and I was still wearing a lot of my very baggy fat time ones. It's nice to have some warm sweaters that are fitted enough that I don't look like a snowman all bundled up.

Plus, I found a brand new leather fuschia purse with the letter K on it that I'm going to give my friend Khrystyna. She and I both love fuschia. If they had one with a C or a V for Vehslage I would have bought it too. They had a P which could have stood for my DH Peter, but it's just not his color ;^)

Carolyn, you really are the diva of shopping!!!

Meg accused me of having an avatar that looked like a nose, so I changed it to a nose. And yes, I have a cold. :) I'll change it to something else soon enough.

Me? :angel:

I walked into Macys yesterday and everywhere I looked (except the sale racks) was shades of yellows, oranges, and corals. I asked one of the sales clerks and she said this is "resortwear" and yes, yellows and all shades of peach and yellows seem to be the new colors. I wonder if this will be true all the way through spring and summer?

Oh dear. I don't think corals and yellow are going to work for me. They'll make me look very washed out. Yucky.

Hey, you're a wise old owl now! Or perhaps "old" is a poor word choice? :lol:

I think yellow is a hard color for most people to wear (including me with my very pale skin). My DD looks great in it because she has olive skin and dark hair and eyes. But she's one of the very few people I know who can pull yellow off.

Yes, very wise, very old. :p

I thought the nose would probably scare people. It was a slightly strange graphic. :)

I've been telling you that about your avatar for several months now. :D

LOL. You are a brute!!! I liked the apollo symbol. I was thinking of getting it as a tattoo. You're forcing me to reconsider. :)

Coral is one color that has always looked good on me. In fact it is the only color lipstick that I own (not that I wear it often, though). And I always thought yellow was an icky color for me, but I got the cutest dark gray and yellow track suite (Nike) just before Christmas. The yellow is a deep butter color and the gray is so dark it is almost black. DH says I look like a bumble bee (NOT) and I think it looks quite good on me.

Coral's a good color on me but definitely not yellow unless maybe it's very pale. I can't do gold or silver either.

For most of my life I've avoiding buying anything black, but this year I've gone black crazy. I now have 3 pants, 6 skirts, a dress, a tank top, a blouse, 3 jackets, a coat, 4 sweaters, boots, and countless shoes. I've got to stop buying black! My wardrobe is set.

Carolyn~one can NEVER have enough pairs of black pants or black skirts!! LOL I must have close to a dozen! And every time I go shopping, I'm drawn to black pants!

Yellow just does not work on me either. It makes my pale Irish skin look even paler. Coral is usually good though.

Carolyn - never too much black! I have - let's see - 5 pairs of black shoes, several black pants, and numerous black jackets, sweaters, tops in general. And let's not start on gym clothes. :lol:

I get so annoyed that basically for work I can buy black pants or some flavor of tan pants. What happened to navy? Or gray? Or olive? Maybe they're available in dressier pants? I wear chino type pants all the time since I'm always in situations where I get dirty and who can afford all that dry cleaning? I do have a pair of gray cords I wear sometimes, but otherwise, its black or tan. At least in the summer I can add in white/cream. :lol:

Hey guys I need some help finding places to shop.

I'm sorta at the "cusp" of being able to shop at normal store. I'm currently in 18's and XL tops. I was hoping since a few of you have been around this size range on your way down you could suggest "normal" stores to shop at that carry 14s and 16s?

It's just from what I remember that is a horrid size to shop for as lots of normal stores tend to stop at 12s or 14s, and while places like Lane Bryant carry 14/16s they tend to be extra generous with the sizing so those aren't going to fit for long. I'm already wearing some of those now.

I've been an 18 or more since High school so I haven't been in a non-plus sized store in years. I guess I'm basically looking for casual and workout maybe something with a bit of a modern/fun edge to it.

Places with good "sales" racks are ideal since I don't want to invest much in clothes on my way down.

Thanks! :)

-muse

Hi Muse! I was lucky when I was your size because we had Liz Claiborne/Elisabeth stores side-by-side in the mall and I ran back and forth between the two sides, trying on different sizes until I found what fit. Usually I was a regular size on top and plus on the bottom. Our Talbots and Talbots Woman stores are set up the same way, with plus and regular sizes together. But that's a hard scenario to find, unfortunately.

How about a department store like Macy's? You've got misses and plus sizes, often with the same manufacturers and lines of clothes. You can try on something in plus and if it's too big, try a misses XL and so forth until you find the right sizes. Macy's has some amazing sales too and they tend to carry a pretty big range of sizes. :)

I know how you're feeling -- the choices become overwhelming and you feel like you've landed on an alien planet. :dizzy: Good luck and happy shopping -- as you can tell from this thread, a lot of us have found clothes to be one of the big rewards of weight loss! :D

Hi! Same is true if you can find a Christopher & Banks (regular sizes) and a C. J. Banks (plus sizes) together. The latter is not in as many places - and they don't sell online! I've resorted to Target and the like for between sizes. I have the advantage of dressing VERY casual for work (i.e. one step above jeans) so this works for me. Very soon I can start shopping in the smaller sizes in my closet. :) Of course, whether the styles are "in" these days will remain to be seen. :lol: