The Pretty Pear

My summer essentials, part 2

Every morning, I roll out of bed, toss on some clothes, leash up the dog and go for a 30 - 60 minute walk around my neighborhood. As you can imagine, I'm not really strutting around in designer fashion. I carry a roll of poop bags and a baggie of liver treats. It's not very glam! And I definitely don't want to wear anything that I'll cry over if it gets dirty or sweaty. So I own a lot of t-shirts.

My favorite tees right now are the Old Navy Women's Perfect V-Neck Tees from the misses line. Old Navy's crazy vanity sizing makes it possible for me to wear the XXL with room to spare. These are not high quality, wear like iron tees. I like them because they're light weight and airy. At under $10 each, I just bought a bunch in different colors and barely made a dent in my credit card. They're not perfect but they get the job done.

If you're looking for something a little nicer, I like the entire Supima cotton line from Lane Bryant, especially the cotton shirred sleeve top. The cotton really is super soft and the colors are pretty. If you like your tees to have a slightly longer sleeve, you'll want to check this one out.

I just got WAY too excited about a shirt

Have you seen Coco avant Chanel? It's about Coco Chanel's life as a teenager/young woman before she became thee Coco Chanel. Anyway, there's a scene where she's vacationing by the sea (I forget where, exactly) and she spots a group of sailors wearing these great striped shirts. In the next scene, she's wearing the same shirt with trousers. It's fantastic.

I'm so excited because LL Bean carries very similar shirts and they come in plus sizes up to 3X. They even call them the French Sailor's Shirt.

They come in other colors but the cream with navy stripes is the obvious choice. I don't even know why you'd have to think twice about it.

Big changes at Fashion Bug

Fashion Bug rolled out some big changes over the weekend. If you haven't shopped with them online or in-store in a while, here's what's new:

• Lower prices: their site says they've lowered prices as much as $5-10 from last year's prices.
• One size range: most items are available in both misses and plus sizes, 6-30. There aren't two separate selections for each size range.
• One price: they’re not charging more for plus size items.

What do you think? Are these significant improvements, in your opinion? Will you be more likely to shop with Fashion Bug now? I really like the "one item, one price" angle but they're not really the first to do that, despite their claim. I don't know which was the first to offer one price for every size but QVC has offered that same pricing structure for as long as I’ve been shopping with them. QVC also carries most clothing items in XS – 3X so Fashion Bug isn’t really blazing any new trails there, either.

However, I’m guessing that Fashion Bug is the first brick and mortar store to offer that type of sizing/pricing and they do have affordable prices all year before sales, clearances, etc. Kudos to them for offering fair prices and a good range of sizes.

Beth Ditto for Evans

Beth Ditto’s line for Evans is up and available for purchase. I’m glad the collection actually came to be and I really want to like it but most of it is just not my taste. I do quite like the biker jacket, the purple hoodie and the sequined tunic. I’m leaning toward liking the acid wash denim pencil skirt but I’d need to see it on someone before deciding. It could be cute with the biker jacket and strappy, chunky heels. I can’t say that I’m willing to spend the money on any of the items, so I don’t think Beth will be in my closet any time soon. I’m sad because I really wanted to love this collection.

I guess what turns me off most is that I was a fat kid in the 80s and I wore a lot of long, baggy tops with leggings. I’ve always thought of that look as the “fat girl uniform” so it just doesn’t appeal to me. In fact, it borders on insulting, in a weird way. I think the cat face t-shirt kind of pushed me over the edge there. I’ve spent a lot of time trying not to dress like a streotypical frumpy fat girl and now that look is trendy? Eh? I know there are ways to put together outfits from the separate pieces and the looks are cute but .. I mean… cat face t-shirt? Should I wear that with big, white socks and a scrunchie?

Having said all that, I predict that this line will be popular and I hope it does well so we can see more from Beth soon. Maybe she’ll venture beyond the 80s trends into something more creative. I’m not anti-trendy but I was really hoping for a collection that was a more forward-thinking and not so reliant on the looks many of us got sick of 20 years ago.

More opinions about the collection:

• Beth Ditto’s Got a Collection! from Big Fat Deal
• I bought a skirt at Beth Ditto for Evans from Obesity Timebomb
• Finally. from Young, Fat and Fabulous
• Waving the White Flag from Fat Girls Like Nice Clothes, Too

Adorable indie tees from Shanalogic!

Shana from shanalogic.com contacted me to let me know about a new selection of super cute tees she's carrying. They're available in sizes up to 3X, which is about 48" in the bust from the measurements given on the site. Here's the scoop from Shana herself:

I run a small online boutique called shanalogic.com. It's a site that features 100% independently designed and handmade items by artists from around the world. One thing I've noticed is that it's really hard to find indie clothing in larger sizes so I've been working really hard to make sure I have items in the plus sized range. I have about 12 amazingly cute tops that go up to 3xl and am working to make more (some of them were even designed by me!) I also have a lot of jewelry and necklaces that go up to 18-20".

My favorites are the Cupcake Love and Robot Love designs!

Have you ordered from eShakti?

I’ve been keeping an eye on the eShakti website for a while now (years, probably) but have resisted ordering this whole time. I do check in occasionally to see what’s new but nothing has ever really grabbed me. The dress to the right is really tempting, though and the custom sizing and styling options are hard to pass up.

However, the reviews I’ve read are so hit or miss, I’m extremely hesitant to order. For example, this review sounds like a total nightmare but this review on Fatshionista sounds pretty great. See why I’m confused?

If you’ve ever ordered from eShakti and can share your experience with me, either in the comments for this post or through my contact form, I’d really appreciate it! I’d like to just take a chance and order so I can write my own review but I want a better idea of what I’m getting myself into first.

New items from b&lu

I get so excited when I visit b&lu and see they’ve added new items. Right now, there are over 40 new pieces to explore. It fills my heart with joy, really. There are a bunch of great styles and lots of them are available in sizes up to 5X. 

La première de la Grande Dame

Catherine, one of the owners of La Grande Dame, emailed me to let me know about the grand opening of the store’s online boutique.

My mom and I just launched a high end, trendy, plus sized e-boutique and we are having a huge grand opening sale with all dresses at least 20% off. Check out www.lagrandedame.com! Plus we have an awesome new environmental program your readers will love called Round Up.

There are quite a few pieces that caught my interest, especially the shirt dress pictured on the left. There’s a nice selection blouses, jeans, pants, etc. but the dress selection stands out the most.

The site is brand new so I have no experience with ordering from them but La Grande Dame looks very promising. Take a look and let me know what you think in the comments for this post.

Forever 21 to launch a plus-size line

Via Fatshionista on LJ: Forever 21 will be launching a plus size line in May.

Faith 21 will offer tops, jeans, tanks, leggings and skirts in a junior plus size as well as XL, 1X and 2X. The design aesthetic follows Forever 21’s trendy take on everything from runway knockoffs to jersey basics.

There are a few promotional pictures in the article. The line will be available in select stores and online. What do you think? Are you excited? I think it's neat!

I still need to read this LA Times piece - Fashion's invisible woman. "The average American woman is size 14. Why is the fashion industry still pretending she doesn't exist?" That's a question I ask myself every day. Go read the articles and let me know what you think!

What's Beth Ditto up to?

I love Beth Ditto. Not just because she's fat and famous (though it is nice that she's fat and famous). She's also super talented and fascinating. I don't always love what she wears but I love how she wears it.

Vogue.com reports that Beth's line for Evans will debut in July.

Promising to add a touch of glam rock to the brand's conservative appeal, the capsule collection has a strong Eighties feel and will consist of clothing, accessories and shoes.

Hat tip to Diva Look Book for the link to the Vogue story.

I'm kind of over the 80's trend but it's not going away any time soon. I am really anxious to see the line and what's even better is that Evans now ships to the US.

When Beth isn't wearing over the top, bold fashion, she seems quite happy to pose nude on the cover of magazines. Jezebel has a scan of her cover shot for LOVE magazine here. It's not safe for work but it's definitely worth seeing.

Would I call Beth Ditto an icon? Maybe not yet but in the future, we may look back at the last couple of years and see just how revolutionary she is.

Right Fit from Fashion Bug

Did you know that Fashion Bug has a Right Fit line? There are two styles of pants and three styles of jeans. Two of the three jeans style have tapered legs, though. I don't quite understand that decision but the bootcut style looks promising:

L.A. Blues Rodeo Right Fit stretch jeans

They're on sale currently for $22 but retail for $27, which I think is more than reasonable for jeans that fit perfectly! They come in black sandblast, the dark sandblast pictured above, and medium sandblast in Right Fit sizes 1 - 10, in short, average and long lengths. I don't know if the selection is the same in stores.

I've heard that Fashion Bug's sizing runs on the smaller side but I'm not sure if that's true of the Right Fit, or if the fit is similar to the Lane Bryant Right Fit jeans. Has anyone out there tried these jeans from Fashion Bug? How is the fit? I wish I had a store near me but I'm going to see if I can figure out the sizing and order them online. I'm definitely curious!

Oh, and this is interesting - the Right Fit line at Fashion Bug also comes in misses sizes, not just plus sizes. I think that's great because I know that women at every size have trouble finding jeans that fit properly.

Obama tees in plus sizes

This is a nice little surprise. Whenever I look for t-shirts online, of pretty much any kind, I just automatically look at the men's tees. They're just more likely to come in bigger sizes. But I was curious and took a peak at the Obama store and yay, they have a few tees that come in women's plus sizes, some up to 4X. They're a couple dollars more but that's fine, I think. I'm ordering this one. I wish they had a size chart, though. I'm assuming that it's standard sizing, where an XL is 14/16. So I'm hoping that a 3X is a 22/24 and that will fit. I'll shove myself into it anyway, if it doesn't!

Dressing Women Of a Certain Size - WSJ.com

On Style: Dressing Women Of a Certain Size - WSJ.com.

The average woman's size in the U.S. approximates a 14, but fashion designers generally don't make anything larger than a size 12. It doesn't take an economist to see that supply is out of kilter with demand for large-size designer duds.

I haven't had a chance to read the full article yet but I wanted to share anyway. Via Jezebel.

yawn.

I don't know what it is about this time of year but it's a lot like the middle of winter, at least in terms of fashion. All of the new stuff for summer is already out and it's still too early to think about fall. Frankly, I'm bored.

There's also the fact that I've looked at pretty much every plus size clothing website on the internet and it's just all so uninspiring. I want new, fresh, exciting! I'm sick of seeing the same styles over and over. Nearly all of the major players in the plus size game are guilty of regurgitating the same stuff they have been for the last few seasons, just in different colors and patterns. Boring!

I've been thinking about which site/product I want to cover for the next Try it On post and I can't think of anything I'm willing to spend money on reviewing. If you have any suggestions, let me know. But it better be exciting 'cause I'm bored to death over here.

A new look at avenue.com

Avenue has updated their website to make it easier to use and much more engaging. Check it out today and save 20% off a purchase of $100 or more.