The Pretty Pear

Lane Bryant's new "Right Fit" Jeans

Update: I have a follow up post here.

Lane Bryant debuted their new line of Right Fit jeans in stores this past week and I was really excited to see if the line is really as cool as it looks online. I've been poking around the website and the concept sounded very neat. First, you choose your body shape (moderately curvy, curvy or straight) and then your waist measurement, and that gives you your new size.

The jeans are designed to fit each body type specifically - so a curvy Blue girl will have more room in the hips, a straighter Yellow girl will have more room in the tummy, and a proportionate Red girl will have the right shape through the waist and hips. According to the website, I'm a Blue 7. My understanding is that the sizing goes up to 12; stores carry up to an 8 and the website will have the full range of sizes.

I headed to the store where I used to work (sniff) and grabbed a pair of bootcuts in a 7 and another in a size 8 just to be safe. I put on the 7s and those mommas were way too big. I had the sales associate measure me and my official size is a 4. What? She told me that your old LB jeans size doesn't matter at all. They use a special measuring tape and some algorithm math magic and that's your size. I held up a size 4 and they looked (relatively) tiny so I played it safe and also grabbed a 5 and a 6.

I slid into the 5 Blue bootcuts and WOW.

A mini-LB report

I don't know how I missed this but it appears that lanebryant.com has drastically expanded their bra size selection. At my store, the bra sizes run 38C, 40B-48DDD but the website has way more selection. Some of the mid-range sizes go up to an H cup! There's a "shop by size" menu on the main bra section of the site.

Some of the panties are now available in size 12. Usually, with LB panties, you should go down one pant size. So, if you wear a 14/16, you should wear the size 12 panties. I thought this was weird at first until I realized that panties in my pant size are a little too loose and are more likely to ride up and move around. However, for hipsters, I stay with my pants size because I think they run a little small.

I've heard rumblings that the denim collection will be changing pretty drastically towards the end of summer when the fall stuff comes out. I do know that my store hasn't gotten shipments of the Easy Fit or Classic cut jeans in a long, long time. I think those will probably be discontinued entirely because uh, they're really unflattering!

Update: Well, fancy that. There are NEW flare-cut jeans on the website. I mentioned yesterday that the old flare-cut jeans were down to $9.99, which would mean that they're either being discontinued or redesigned. As it turns out, they've updated the denim. I can't wait to get my butt in a pair.

I think they're going to expand the Supreme and Seven7 jeans collections, stock more bootcuts, and MAYBE add a straight-leg option (that last part is just my speculation). I know there are older customers who will be annoyed with all the trendy bootcuts, so including a straight-leg jean would probably be a good idea.

Clearly, I can never quit my job at Lane Bryant. Who else is going to take the time to share this valuable information with you? I have a full-time job now so I'm only working one shift a week, mostly for the very generous employee discount. I spend most of my time there checking out the new clothes and thinking about what I might want to buy. I do actual WORK, too, of course! But mostly I just gab with customers and make mental shopping lists.

Speaking of Lane Bryant

I strolled into work today and was greeted by about a million "BUY 1 GET 1 HALF OFF" signs. Absolutely everything at Lane Bryant is B1G1 - sweaters, jeans, trousers, shirts, tees, etc. And you can mix and match (buy a jacket, get a pair of jeans for half price). Be sure to use this $50 off a $150 purchase coupon for even more savings.

I'm not really sure how long the sale will last, probably no more than a few days. If you know your size, order online and they'll bump you up to free priority shipping on orders over $125 through December 18th. Did I mention that they'll ship to Canada now? Also, there are a lot of items that are only available online or in the larger stores. The website offers the best selection of items and sizes.

A few things are excluded from this sale, including: sleepwear, which is 40% off; outerwear, which is 30% off; clearance items; lingerie (the same bra and panty deals as usual apply, though); and jewelry, which is always buy 1 get 1 half off. I've checked on full price scarves and accessories and they seem to be part of the sale.

December Lane Bryant report

I've been working as a sales associate at a nearby Lane Bryant store for the past few weeks. It's hard work, being that it is the holidays and people are stressed out, but I enjoy it. As you could probably guess, my favorite parts of the job are helping customers put together outfits and getting my hands on the new clothes the second it comes into the store.

Here are some of my favorite items that are in Lane Bryant stores right now...