Angie, once again you have put into words so many things I felt but couldn’t quite pinpoint.

Dresses. Please, more dresses (if I was getting really picky, I’d say A-line dresses) in heavyweight fabrics for winter. And please, not just formal styles. Everyday dresses to pair with boots and tights.

Sweater dresses. Angie was dead on with this one. I did find a great sweater tunic from Aqua at Bloomie’s, but the perfect A-line sweater dress still eludes me. Short sleeves are NOT a good option for sweater dresses, buyers! For most of the winter, we in northern climes need at least 3/4-length sleeves.

The babydoll is very, very over, and I’d love to see it ride off gracefully into the sunset. Having been in maternity clothes twice in the past 7 years (for my two pregnancies), I really don’t want to look pregnant when I’m not!

I couldn’t agree more about the lack of smart-casual skirts!

Unless you want a skirt with hem line just below your crotch, or a skirt more appropriate for a business suit, you were out of luck!

Where are you perfect skirts? I shall find you someday….

i could not agree more on the minis! does every skirt really have to come with the thrill of accidentally exposing one’s ladybits? i think not.

of course, on the extreme end of the scale, there’s the ubiquitous maxi dress – seriously, every retailer is selling them. maybe i am just bitter about that because i’m short…

also another HELL YES on the heel heights, many a cute shoe have i turned down this season because i’d fall off in about 2 seconds and break an ankle…

I wear heels but I’m afraid even I made a new year’s resolution to stick to 3 inches or less. I ended up breaking that rule on a couple of bootie purchases at the end of last year and my feet are not the happier for it. I’m also giving up my mini skirts from last year. I’m actually not tired of jeans at all but I do switch them often with pencil skirts. Being on the short side I am thoroughly enjoying shopping skirts in the regular department. (I don’t usually wear petite anyway.)

Whoa. WHAT is that model wearing?

Agreed on the difficulty of finding 1-2″ heels. Now, if it’s hard to find pumps with heels in that range, try finding BOOTS that look pretty as opposed to “sturdy” at that heel height. They don’t exist IMO.

I am always creeped out by that Free People model. She looks emaciated. The baggy, dropped crotch on those pants certainly don’t help.

I’m SICK of babydoll tops. I can sometimes wear them but usually not as they tend to fall right across my chest. Adding gathers just seals the deal. Esprit is the worst. All of their empire waist tops have gathers. So many of them would have otherwise been great. I’m having the same trouble with dresses. I really thought dress shopping should be easy for me since I’m an hourglass, but I don’t have a single new dress in my closet. And yes, sweater dresses are the worst to shop for. Why do so many of them have straight skirts? Almost every single BR sweater dress that I might have otherwise tried on had a straight skirt. I sometimes wonder if designers intentionally make their clothes so that curvy women can’t wear them. Why else would they decide to make a clingy sweater material as straight and unflattering as possible?

As I do more and more shoe shopping, I am coming to the conclusion that Euro brands fit me best. My Boden flats needed no special treatment. They came as close to fitting right out of the box as any shoe in recent memory, and with a little shoe stretch liquid they fit just fine. No slipping off the heel either! A Euro 37 is my perfect shoe size. The fact that most Euro shoes have a 2″ heel or less makes me pine for more Euro shoe stores to go online. Shoes will always frustrate me though, so it’s not unique to 2008. I guess since American women do a lot less walking, they can tolerate a 3+ inch heel.

I so enjoy the best of and worst of the season posts.

The harem pants are a joke.

Although I feel the most affected by the lack of shoes of a moderate heel height. I’m considering buying some from last season still in stock because I just don’t think any will come out this season that I like.

Hi, Angie, I’m a subscriber but I haven’t commented until now. I just want to tell you how much I enjoy your blog–it’s by far the best fashion blog I’ve come across. I agree with you 99% of the time because your taste combines the perfect balance of aesthetics and practicality. You are the Stacy and Clinton of the fashion blog world, IMHO, and I consider that a high compliment. Congratulations on producing such excellent content and amazing advice for consumers.

Oh, I so agree with you Angie! I wanted to get a sweater dress, but just couldn’t find the right non-clingy one, although I managed to get a couple of them in tunic length to wear over skinnies. And I completely agree on heel heights, it is so frustrating – I think one reason i love wedges so much is that they are available in reasonable heights. As for all the mini skirts and various strange styles if pants, I cringe, but try to pretend they just don’t exist. The only thing from your list I actually do not mind are puffy sleeves – I like them. But I do not want to have only them available, there has to be some variety.

I forgot to say that the casual pant issue is driving me crazy. I have spent much of the season hunting for elusive micro check pants, and eventually found a pair, but still. I would really, really love more options. I think I am going to try to find some cargo styled ones for the summer that actually look decent, that is do not have the pockets on the wrong places ( another struggle, I know).

here- here for the “missed retail opportunites” -great post!!!!

I so agree with the excess of empire style tops. Usually I walk on by the racks of them because they don’t fit in the first place. If they fit me in the chest, it will be too loose all over or too long. If they fit nicely around the body, will show far too much cleavage.
We need top options!

It does seem that mid-heels are hard to find. I find flats and high heels all over.
A nice 1″ heel is perect for me when I am on my feet all day so I hold on to the ones I have and keep getting them resoled and polished at the cobblers.

I agree with several things on Angie’s list of “worsts” for these past 2 seasons:

Too short lengths on skirts were a huge problem. I found lots of skirts in beautiful fabrics but couldn’t buy any because at 5′10″ they all looked like minis on me.

I looked high and low for a sweater dress I could wear, but they were either too short or too straight so that they visually added at least 10 lbs around the hips. No thanks. I weigh more than enough, last thing I need is to add more pounds. Ditto for the pleated pants. And the boyfriend jeans! Although I didn’t see very many people actually wearing the BF jeans.

Shoe heights were a problem too. I think Maya’s right about shoe designers thinking that since Americans don’t walk as much as Europeans we are OK with superhigh heels. I’m not OK with it and I still haven’t found the knee high boots I wanted. They were all uncomfortable–because the heels were too high.

Puffed sleeves and empire tops–I like these styles, so I didn’t have a problem with them, but it’s true there were too many of them about.

And I’m not a fan of the homeless look, so I am not at all motivated to try the pants in those photos!

I’m laughing at the photos here with the harem pants.
Like others here I have to gripe about the sweater dress styles. I tried on many and they were pretty bad. It seems like a simple request but somehow the buyers got it all wrong.
Really high heels make women look like fashion victim. I much prefer the look of lower more walkable heels.
I’m hoping the babydoll style is going away.
I’m ready for spring styles.

i usually cut fringe fashion a lot of slack (and usually greatly enjoy it in fact) but harem pants were ridiculous when I was 15 and wore them cuz they were hammer pants. I feel like designers have been trying to bring them back for a few seasons now and they’re still not good. (I really like the cut and drap of the tanks the models are wearing in those pics, though).

Well said Angie, (and that photo of the knee crotch pants is hysterical).

My rants are similar, but with a twist. My big beef with sweater dresses is there seemed to be a lot of short sleeved ones. I don’t get that…it’s a sweater dress because it’s COLD outside. Why would I want to wear short sleeves when it’s cold outside? I know there are people in warmer climates, and you can layer a SS dress…BUT c’mon…throw me a bone, someone! At least HALF the options should be long sleeve, since half of the US is in cold climates.

I agree 100% with the puff sleeve/babydoll phenom. Enough already!! Even if you look good in those things, you don’t want everything in your closet to be puffy and smocked. Sheesh!

Jeans….OK…I know this is asking a lot…but can’t someone make a jean that allows you to mix and match. Since so many leg openings and so many rises are currently popular…a SMART designer is going to offer “make your own jeans”. Pick your rise, pick your leg opening, pick your wash, and pick your pocket–VOILA semi-custom jeans! I can’t tell you how many times I found a pair of jeans that I liked the leg opening, but the rise was too high or too low, or the the rise was right, but the color was faded.

Tops in general seemed to be either too plain jane, or too over the top. I’d like something a little remarkable, but not so ornate that it looks out of place anywhere other than a nightclub. And it seems like there’s been quite a bit of sequence and glitter out there….Uh, I’m glad to see the 80’s making a comeback, but enough with the bling. We’re in a recession, people.

These posts on best and worst are some of my favorites! I agree with it all except that last weekend I finally found a sweater dress (Calvin Klein) that’s near perfection for me (and an untried look) …almost knee length (but ok with tights), heavy drapy knit that doesn’t cling but isn’t bulky, long sleeves, has a waist rather than baby doll and grey.
My biggest gripes when shopping this past season are all the higher than 2″ heels, especially on boots, and short puffy sleeve babydoll tops. If I can’t find a 23″ denim pencil skirt for summer, I’ll be more upset about all the minis.
Nicole’s idea of mix and match jeans is GENIUS!

Nicole, that is Inde denim, http://www.indidenim.com, they got a good review in a recent magazine I read. Maybe In-Style.

Pleated pants have always been the work of the devil and I don’t understand why folks keep making them. If they are unflattering on the size zero’s why go there?

I do have a theory about all the empire waist tops: maybe the wearers ARE trying to look pregnant so they’ll get a seat on the bus. I always give my seat to mommies-to-be or those trailing children…but maybe that’s just me.

Amen Sister!!! To All of the above.

As someone who is actually pregnant, I’ve been finding it quite comical that all my shirts (minus one or two) that I have purchased are non-maternity. To top it all off, I’m larger chested, so it baffles me that anyone who is NOT pregnant would wear the empire or tent-like shirts willingly.

That’s a bit odd about the flatter boots, though – that’s the one type of footwear this season that I’ve been enjoying (and finding quite plentiful) since pregnancy has made most of my usual heels unwearable. Maybe it depends on where you’re located? Maybe I see more because of the harsher winters?

It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one out there who is disappointed. I find the best clothes at resale shops like Value Village and Goodwill. Rarely does anything in the retail stores appeal to me or fit anywhere near right.

Can’t quite figure out why everyone is so down on the pleated pants. It’s quite true that some are more skillfully styled than others, but I have to say that I find them a lot more flattering on some body shapes than the ubiquitous skinny jeans, (just a few short years ago we all swore we would never wear them again, and now look at us). Give it a couple more seasons and I fancy the look will be quite mainstream.

On the subject of high heels, I have recently been experimenting with Insolia weight-shifting inserts. They seem to work, although I am still avoiding heels over long distances.

So true on the puffed sleeves – I’ve been shopping with a few clients recently who don’t look great in puffed sleeves, and it was almost impossible to find a top without them! Talk about overkill.