apple shape seeking business suit and career attire

tangerine

hello everyone!

I am an apple shaped, size 16 woman, shopping for my first business suit! im more drawn to skirt suits but find that most of them have skirts that are similar to pencil skirts (which i dont think would be very flattering on me) or are drab in the color department, or arent my size. so i guess my question(s) are as follows:

1. where can i shop for my shape and size for business attire

2. if i go with a skirt suit, does it have to be a skirt that poofs away from my body at the bottom...or are there some straight skirts that my shape can pull off

3. how do i make business suits for my shape and size more colorful and fashionable?

And thank you in advance to anyone that responds to this!!

17 years ago

Shopping

6 replies

Latest reply was from swirl

Ana

(website)

Veteran

Hi Tangerine!

Here's a link to the "Adorable Apple" post Angie made. I think reading this will give you a few ideas about what to look for when shopping for clothing.

http://youlookfab.com/2006/05/.....ble-apple/

Now, as far as suiting goes--what is this suit for? I think you maybe could wear a pencil skirt, but you might need to experiment with how fitted and tapered it is. Two things about the jacket though--it needs to button below the bustline (have a low stance), and it needs to be nipped in at the waist. A boxy silhouette will only emphasize your tummy area.

I think you're going to have a difficult time finding a suit that is available in any sort of bright color (and I'm not sure you'd want to because it wouldn't be very versatile). But you can make a suit more playful and colorful by wearing it with an interesting blouse. J. Crew and Banana Republic both carry suiting in size 16 (but only online, not in stores). Both of the stores make a great quality suit, too.

http://www.jcrew.com/AST/Brows.....uiting.jsp

http://www.bananarepublic.com/.....o?cid=5013

J. Crew's suiting line is more traditional, but they offer a lot of fun blouses that would look great worn with it (and on their own with jeans, too!). You want to maintain that V neckline, I think that would be most flattering on your body type, so I'd recommend something maybe along these lines:

http://www.jcrew.com/AST/Brows...../95001.jsp

http://www.jcrew.com/AST/Brows...../93675.jsp

http://www.jcrew.com/AST/Brows...../91377.jsp

And as far as BR, these blouses would be great:

http://www.bananarepublic.com/.....pid=587884

http://www.bananarepublic.com/.....=587899002

http://www.bananarepublic.com/.....pid=592123

Of course you should experiment and see how each thing works on you. Also, I'm definitely no suit expert (I think Sihaya might be), so hopefully others will chime in and make some suggestions as well.

17 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

How tall are you, Tangerine?

17 years ago

tangerine

Member

Ana thanks you soooo much for the help, your great!!

TO ANGIE: hello!... im 5'5...i mosted a front view and a side view in the "what body type" forum if you would like to see pics again. thanks!

17 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Super! I'd head straight for Nordstrom’s “Encore” department and get a suit by “Classiques Entier”. I’d give Ann Taylor a bash too.

Ana made super suggestions.

17 years ago

tangerine

Member

17 years ago

swirl

Active Member

Do try the Encore department, they should have new Fall things in right now. I am also a size 16 (tho a bit shorter at 5'3") and have had success with the ENcore suit selection in the past. However, this summer I totally struck out there and tried Talbot's for the first time in a while.

They have very nice suits (and a big sale right now, too) and almost everything is coordinated --there are two or three skirt options and a couple of trouser options for each jacket. I liked the option of different skirt shapes. Especially if you only have one suit--it might be nice to have pants and a skirt for it to get some different looks. Look for regular-length pants; their petite pants tend to break Angie's good rule about pant length--they are bit too short.

If you go with a Talbot suit you'll get something fairly classic that will take you through several seasons without looking dated. However, I'd suggest still hitting Nordstrom's Encore for blouses and tops for more fun and in a current style. (You can go a bit toooo far with matchy-matchy and "classic" at Talbot). Nordstrom Encore's Foxcroft no-wrinkle blouses are divine and offer lots a of fun-yet-business-appropriate patterns and stripes.

17 years ago

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