Hello,

I'm your classic broke college student. I work at a job where we're expected to dress professionally, but as I lose weight, I have problems with clothes. Loose, baggy dress pants and blouses never look professional. And most cheaper plus-size clothing stores use incredibly cheap looking and feeling fabric.

So I was wondering if anyone had any suggestion for stores, shops, and clothes alterations. (I do check out Goodwill, but it's far away and their selection around me is quite slim. Literally and figuratively speaking.)

Thanks!

I bought all my clothes at Goodwiil, Salvation Army, Savers and consignment shops. You have to check them often as merchandise turns over fast, sometimes you can get brand new clothing and very cheap.

You can try checking out ebay or some plus size communities on livejournal for good clothes on the cheap.

Check stores like Target, Walmart and the like . . they usually have clearance racks. You might have to frequent them often because Target at least changes stuff/gets stuff in/puts stuff on sale all the time. Oh, and maybe Kohl's clearance racks. Marshalls and Ross also.

Call up some churches. Not only do some have thrift stores, but some donate to local "professional women clothes" drives and perhaps they can point you to where it is they are hiding at.

I know my church pulls out clothes from its thrift store to send to the charity running the "professional clothes" drive. We're not the only church that does that.

Might try calling the women's shelters too -- they probably know where the pro clothes go to help give women a leg up. Pro clothes are not cheap!

HTH!
A.

Okay I also forgot about Dots. I don't know if any are around where you live, but they have plus size and regular clothes (sizes 0-24) I got a lot of my professional wear there when I was in grad school and they are very inexpensive.

Sign up for their email list if you have any around. They send out coupons every other week.

Check for lots in your size on ebay. All the clothes might not fit 100% but if you know how to do some simple alterations (and/or are creative in how you wear the clothes), it might not make a big difference. Just to be safe, though, try to find lots in brands that you're familiar with and you roughly know your size in.

I have found some nice dresses at Ross at a good price. It has been mentioned on here before that dresses are easier to wear longer as your sizes go down while still looking professional.

One of my good friends from my old company was very obese.... and also probably the best dresser in the entire office. She was a shopping guru who always found the $400 work dress for $60.

She shopped mostly at Filene's Basement, H&M, TJ Maxx and New York and Company. (I know this because everyone always asked her where she got this and where she found that.... she just always looked so put-together.) She was also an incredible couponer who was on the mailing lists of all of these companies, their parent companies, etc and whenever we went shopping together she always paid half or less of what I paid for my items.

I got a huge haul at our local Value Village (like Goodwill), for plus size clothes. Some brands I know for a fact, run $60 a top. I paid about $7-$8 each! I find you need time to spend in those places, to check everything.

You might want to buy some mix and match pieces that you can vary. You could also cinch up loose blouses over loose pants with a belt (who would know?). Or, toss a fashionable scarf around your neck and pull that look off. Pair leggings with oversized blouses. If you're comfortable with your legs, the same look can be achieved with oversized blouses and skirts. I don't know how you feel about pashminas or ponchos but they can dress up and outfit as well.

This lady, for a cause, worked up different "looks" for an entire year revolving around one dress. Some of the looks are quite out there, but others quite nice. http://vimeo.com/11113046

We are limited by our imaginations

If there is an upper scale part of your city, check out the goodwill there. There is a noticeable difference in the style/quality of the second hand clothes.

ebay ebay ebay!

very obese? H & M and NY&C? Hmm, didn't know they carried plus size clothes

I always liked Shopko if you have them by you - especially now I bet you can get cheap clearance stuff. They always have the basics for work stuff.

I also personally LOVE Land's end - if you can find their overstock clearance stuff.