Wouldn't it be good... - YouLookFab Forum

Category

General

About: Practice Body Confidence

Welcome! Read about what to wear and how to wear it on the YLF Blog. Join the YLF Forum to ask specific questions or just chat about fashion and personal style. Or check out the curated list of things we love in YLF Finds.

Outfits Ensembles Trends Advice

Wouldn't it be good...

April

Veteran

...if there were clothing companies that acknowledged disproportion in body shapes?

I have spoken of this before regarding tights - apart from "petite" "queen-sized" and maternity hosiery, I've seen nothing. What if I'm a tiny size with really long legs? What if my bottom is much larger than my front, or vice versa? Far as I can tell, you're kind of out of luck if your shape isn't consistent on all dimensions.

You can sort of surf the internet and hope for helpful reviews by good retail citizens but this is hardly the same thing.

Is it just me or do others find this problematic?

General

16 replies

Latest reply was from Jaime

kkards

Veteran

April- well, I do think that brands do this. For example I can never get a good fit with Old Navy be use it’s cut for a body shaped differently from mine. But I generally do well with Banana Republic. I think it a matter of finding the brands that get you best

Now is this going to be perfect, of course not, because we are buying mass production, which by its very name means that it’s going to try to work for as large a group as possible. It’s what keeps the prices down.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

LOL you are reminding me of how I used to buy pantyhose in large sizes because that was the only way to get the legs long enough! But the tops would be way too long — long enough to pull up to my bra, and the butt would be saggy, and they were just awful. No wonder I ditched hose as soon as I could!

I feel like there is a great opportunity out there for custom-made clothing. I know eShakti does dresses but I’ve never been motivated enough to try them.

Vildy

Veteran

Janet reminds me, instead of pantyhose we wore stockings and garter belts or panty girdles with garters. But also, I remembe seeing a page in the sears catalog that showed the different leg shapes their stockings came in.

RobinF

Veteran

It would be nice if we could at least see more measurements when choosing clothing. My waist is proportionately large compared to my hips and legs so that is always the main problem with buying pants. If companies would put some actual measurements in descriptions then I could tell if they will work for me instead of just hit or miss. It is helpful when retailers have style descriptions, like for straighter styles vs. curvier styles, but I don't see as much of that as I used to.

Vildy

Veteran

In the "olden" days when clothes had construction and not able to rely on stretch fabric, I wonder how people chose fit. Obviously not from the internet but maybe some clothing in catalogs?

Vildy

Veteran

This has got me thinking about being stranded living somewhere without stores. When I was around 12 we lived in an unincorporated town in California that was basically one miles long street. No stores at all.
At a right angle at one end was the highway and the commercial districts which consisted of such as an animal feed store and something like a grade Z Kmart. We had a swimming pool at my school and when there was a school swim party my mother had to shop at that store and there were no swim suits at all and she bought me what you would now call a romper with short bloomer legs. I was the only one dressed like that.

When we moved to the next town over, I remember the realtor gushing and proudly telling my mom that this town had, wait for it, a Penneys.
It was a tiny narrow building with a mezzanine. But also, weirdly, it
had some clothes at the little strip mall and you could buy them inside the drugstore that sold nickel ice cream cones and also in the supermarket. I got my first silk button shirts from that supermarket!
But of course nobody could try anything on in those stores.

cat2

Veteran

April, I have found it incredibly helpful that when people post about brands they often give a quick little note about their shape; I search for reviews about pear shapes and duck feet, and then note the brands that worked for them. I also keep my own lists of the brands that did and did not work for me, so I don’t waste ordering and return cycles on things unlikely to fit.

Vildy

Veteran

Interesting about those brands - duck feet here, too. I remember when J Crew wouldn't fit me because I was narrow side to side from the front view but J Crew seemed narrow back to front where I was stocky.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

How fab to dream about a perfect clothing-fit-world!

phoebe

Definitely more garment measurements for online shoppers and maybe we could toss "fits true to size" and never bring it back

April

Veteran

Janet, my sister and I have discussed this. I mean, Sara Blakely more or less redesigned the girdle, gave it a sassy name, and boom, right? We talked about varying by leg length, booty size, belly size, etc. - but per kkards, it quickly became dizzying and hard to see how to make it feasible.

My feeling is that if one is large or small all over, there are options. It's really when "one of these parts is not like the other" that the trouble arises. But why must middle-aged women resort to buying maternity tights because of that pesky meno-body? Feels like a line of tights made just for us might be popular.

slim cat

Veteran

What about not having any curves - should it be just junior departments forever? Lol - i made my peace with my shape .

Echo

Veteran

But it's all about volume. It is not profitable to make, say, 7 versions of a product when 90% of sales will be in two categories. It is easier for online retailers, I suppose, to keep stock of items in storage so they don't end up shopworn and unsaleable, but even so, as PPs mentioned, mass production rules. This is why having someone to tailor clothing is important.

Alternatively, it would be easier to buy according to measurements. Then again, I see my Dh try wildly different fits in jeans depending on whether they are straight, relaxed, slim fit, etc. And even in men's clothing, the "Big and Tall" department is often solely for average height people who are overweight. Finding an average sized waistband with long legs is next to impossible. Why? It just doesn't sell.

So I guess I'm not a fan of the cookie cutter system used now, but I am not sure what the solution is, either. By the time retailers could sell some fits (in all different sizes), the item would be dated.

April

Veteran

Great points, Echo - I guess I feel plain black tights (gotta start somewhere, right) wouldn't date.

cat2

Veteran

April, ages ago Levi’s had a program where if you went to their New York store, they would take your measurements and customize jeans for you. My husband and I both ordered jeans and when they came back to us, neither pair fit. Both were rocker level tight. So even being able to order custom doesn’t guarantee something will work.

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

In lieu of this, I will accept a personal tailor that gets exactly what I want .