Let's Talk Clothes

9/17/2017

For the men who follow my blog, I can already visual their eyes turning around in their heads!  But, myself, like most women like clothes and shoes.  

First, let's tackle the business of clothes.  My body type reminds me of an upside down mushroom, bigger the farther down my body goes.  This is not a desired shape, I can assure you.  Oh, and to add more quirks (if you can call them that) to my body - I'm short.  Like, really short.  When I look in catalogs or on-line, the inseam on most "petite" pants is somewhere around 28 or 29 inches.  That's fine, if you want your pants covering up your shoes.  Me?  Not so much.  Any pants that could get in the way of my walking (such as it is these days), would be a fall just waiting to happen.  I like my pants to be just slightly above the back of my shoe.  Hence, hemming is involved.  In the days when I was working, I took my pants to the tailor for hemming.  Now, since I'm home all the time, I take needle and thread to my pants.  Okay, they don't look great and sometimes the two legs aren't exactly the same length, but close enough for me.

And, then there's clothes - tops, dresses, etc.  My body is mostly composed of two different sizes.  So, I buy one size for the top and another size for the bottom.  Buying a dress, however, is a tricky business.  Do you want the dress to be tighter on top or on the bottom.  My preference, go for the top.  Nobody wants to see clothing stretched tight across my hinny (not a word, but you get the idea)!

In today's paper, in the Business Section, above the fold, is an article about manufacturers getting with the program and making clothes in larger sizes.  Let's face it people, the majority of us are getting wider by the day.  Look at how well most folks fit in an airplane seat - not a pretty picture I can assure you.  There is something to be said for flying first class - if you can afford it.

For years, plus size clothing looked much like a tent and said tent could only be bought in basically camouflage colors - dark green, black, dark blue, etc.  And, most plus sized clothing avoided horizontal stripes.  Vertical ones were okay.  I can't speak for everyone, but with my coloring, I look great in bright winter colors: reds, dark pinks, etc.  I want to look pretty in my clothes, just like every other woman.  But the options are limited.

And, catalogs that carry larger size clothing, are always shown on a woman who is probably at most, a size 10.  She looks great in stretch leggings, but what does a woman my size, for instance, look in those same leggings.  Sausage legs come to mind.  If we are supposed to embrace our inner and outer self, then show me some clothes being worn by a larger woman.  It's hard to imagine what said clothing item will look like on me, when I have such a poor example (i.e., small) to base my clothing decisions on.  Seems like everybody else has come out of the closet, and I think it's time we curvy (I'm not counting me in that group) women did too.  We need to demand and should expect more attractive clothing.  Nothing short of that is unacceptable. 

This picture says it all.