The Sizing Thing 
Musings from the Editor’s Chair, ElegantPlus.com

As the Fourth of July holiday weekend heats up, it’s one of those times of year when fashion retailers dazzle us with rock bottom sales, discounts, coupons and bargains as they clear their racks of spring and summer apparel to make room for the new “Back to School” styles beginning to arrive.

Savvy shoppers beware. The plus-size apparel market is in flux. Excitingly so, as more and more manufacturers cater to women with curves. We celebrate when junior and misses size lines that serve our thinner sisters expand their offerings into plus sizes.

Some fail miserably. Why? There are more women in the United States who wear a size 14 or larger than those who wear smaller sizes, yet there is more fashion on the racks for smaller sizes. Why? It defies common sense that any line serving this yet to be fully tapped market should fail. But they do, as the recent announcements by H&M and J Lo attest.

I had a recent shopping experience that reminded me why some of those items land on the sale racks and some apparel designers try and fail to reach the plus size market. Some of it is clearly marketing - or rather the lack of marketing - as the “shame” of carrying plus sizes causes a retailer to push them into dark back corners of their stores. If your target customers don’t even know that you carry larger sizes, how do expect your line to succeed? The fashion industry can be accused of tiresome high school cliquish behaviours at times as the article referenced above discusses.

But, my shopping trip to a local department store highlighted another problem. The failure to use truly plus size fit models when designing a plus apparel line. It isn’t just about style, although that is problematic too….frumpiness often creeps into larger styles. (Even baby-boomer grandmothers don’t want to look like doddering old grannies. Hello apparel designers - frumpy is out with all but the very oldest generation ….. and even my 86 year old grandmother doesn’t like to look frumpy.) If a designer either makes the error due to lack of experience in this market, or thinks they can save money by cutting corners they are wrong. Simply sizing up from a Size 6 fit model for all sizes right up through a size 26 is going to fail miserably.

I was reminded of this fact when my bargain hunting radar spied a sale rack full of gorgeous jackets in the body conscious short, tailored styles big this year - in a beautiful floral print, no less. Twenty dollars in a high end department store! Steal!! I grabbed two, found a lovely blouse to go under them and went off to the dressing room. And found out why there was an entire bargain sale rack of what should have been one of the hottest items of the season. I couldn’t get my arms in those jackets no matter how hard I tried. The body was tailored properly for a larger hour glass figure - although I’m not sure how an apple shaped plus woman would have fared, but even with some stretch to the fabric my arms looked like stuffed sausages and my circulation was cut off. Suddenly the explanation for an entire “bargain” rack of hot ticket items was crystal clear. The style was cool. The fit was not. And the consumer walked away again and again and again until there were below cost mark-downs and a department store begging Goodwill to take it away. If an executive doesn’t understand this market and the design issues, s/he could very well conclude that plus size women don’t purchase trendier styles or that their straight size line does not appeal to full figured women. And the experiment they decided to run for a season or two fails.

What are “fit models”? you might be wondering. They are models who are hired not for their beauty, so much as for their measurements and proportions which are used to fit clothing designs and develop accurate patterns. It is also helpful to the company hiring them if they also have a background in fashion design that enables them to communicate fitting problems when they are trying on clothing samples during the design process. Because a plus size body isn’t just larger, it also has some different proportioning like arm sizes, it’s important that plus lines aren’t simply sized up from straight sized fit model. Within the industry, the average plus size fit model must meet exact measurement standards that usually fit an evenly balanced 16W or 18W figure, depending on the preference of the company and have the height of about 5′7″.

For the consumer, sizing is confusing enough - with vanity sizing, women’s, junior plus, brand-special sizing - without the added problems caused by ignoring the use of a plus size fit model for the line. The results are patently obvious to any of us who understand what is going on. Gone are the days when a full figured consumer is delighted just to find anything in her size - a situation that began to change in the 1990’s. Now there is a full fledged demand for quality, fit and style. In a way the plus specialty retail chains are at an advantage, since they already understand fitting issues that straight size designers might miss as they size up. But even they have had to try to undestand the bodies of their customers better. Last year, plus retailer Catherines used advanced body scan technology to research the body shapes of its customers and tailor their in-house labels to better meet consumer needs.

On-line clothing shopping is growing in popularity for both smaller size and plus size women. The convenience, a greater range of colors and styles even for the same brick and mortar store, and the ability to find exactly what you want without filling an entire weekend trudging from store to store is bringing web-shopping to the fore. Fashion copywriters are getting better at describing garments including information like fabric content and fit types (eg. loose fit, close fit, tailored fit, etc.) . Color swatches are more often included. And truly savvy apparel sites include individualized garment measurements and not simply generalized sizing charts, and the newest web shopping aide to hit - shopping by body shape .

Much of this sizing help relies on you, the customer, to understand your own body and measurements. It’s always a good idea to have your body measurements on hand, tucked in your purse or sitting next to your computer for quick reference. Have a friend help you take the measurements with a flexible seamstress measuring tape easily found at any local fabric store, Walmarts, grocery stores and convenience stores. Having them will make for a more pleasureable shopping experience all around as you undestand and compare the size charts of various manufacturers.

So enjoy those holiday bargains that still have an entire summer’s worth of wearing time in them, just remember to try things on if you can or make sure you understand the label you are purchasing. All plus size apparel fits are not made equal.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Shopping Review: Zappos

Originally published in the Elegant Plus Newsletter on January 18, 2006

Billed as the “Web’s Most Popular Shoe Store”, we decided to review Zappos.com and see what all the fuss was about.
Until recently I’d been very reluctant to purchase shoes on-line, precisely because my foot
can be hard to fit, and there is nothing worse than a chaffing, ill fitting shoe. I like to be able to
try them on, walk around a bit in the store and decide if the toe is indeed wide enough, the arch
high enough, and heel snug but not pinched. Basically I want to know the answer to the
question “are they comfortable?” before I hand my credit card over. While I will rarely sacrifice
style for comfort, I will NEVER sacrifice comfort for style - not with shoes. The blisters are too
painful.
The search for a pair of ICON shoes - an artsy, hard to find, but exceedingly comfortable brand of shoe helped me to make the leap from die-hard off-line shoe shopper to on-line shoe shopper. (I found them, and love them!)
This review is based on five or more secret shopping experiences

The Good:

A huge selection. Almost any brand and style that you can think of from athletic shoes to designer shoes, from plain and practical to highly embellished stilettos. And….. sizes, sizes, sizes.
Have a small, extra, extra wide foot? They have them. Have a large, extra narrow foot?
They have shoes that will fit you too- and probably not just a few pairs, either. They even
have a section of “Vegetarian” shoes, for shoppers who prefer to be animal friendly in their
footwear purchases. It’s a shoe shopper’s dream come true.
Added features include extensive search capabilities and the ability to request an e-mail
when a sold out shoe comes back in stock in your size. Customers can leave reviews on particular shoe styles which are extra-helpful in making shoe fit decisions.

Shipping is often very quick and most arrive in four to five days from the time of order.
Zappos has a feature that tells the customer how long a particular shoe should take to ship,
available prior to placing the item in the cart. Once in the cart, the shopping cart view will tell
you how many more pairs in that size and style are available if it is at risk of selling out.
With one of my orders, I asked that Zappos ship to a different address than is the billing address. I received a courteous customer service phone call the next morning, confirming that I had indeed ordered the shoes and that the credit card was mine.
On another occasion after a shipping mistake which was noted on the return form, a customer service agent phoned to make a personal apology for the error. Both incidents indicate, a high level of commitment to the customer.

The Bad:
Disappointingly, unlike some of their direct on-line competitors, Zappos does not offer
shipping to Canada. We know our Canadian sisters are even more starved for fashionable
clothing and accessories in hard to find sizes than Americans are.

While there are numerous ways to search for shoes at Zappos (brand, style, size) I actually found the selection to be almost too overwhelming. If I saw something I might like, I found I had to collect it in my shopping cart just to keep track of it and await final decision. If not, it was almost impossible to find it again, unless I happened to remember the brand
name. There is a “My Favorites” feature, but it only works if you have an account or are
signed in. It would be better if it worked without an account.

Finally, it’s been shown in several studies that many consumers do not like on-line stores that
require a mandatory registration and account creation. Unfortunately Zappos is a store that
does require this procedure, rather than making it optional.

The Bottom Line:
If you love shoes, have a hard to find size, enjoy designer shoes, or are looking for a particular
brand or style shoe, we recommend Zappos.com.
Afterall, with an easy 365 day return policy on unworn shoes and free shipping there is almost no risk.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Those Television Shopping Networks - Part I, HSN

You know those moments when you’re channel surfing aimlessly and you get caught for a few minutes watching a TV host chatting with callers about the last purchase they made from the designer currently being shown and how much they just love it. You’ve found a television shopping network. Those channels beaming directly into your living room encouraging you to buy, buy, buy while acting like your best friend sitting down for a cozy chat over a coffee. They are amazingly mesmerizing, and stories you hear about little old ladies - your grandmother perhaps - addicted and spending their life savings …… I think that they might be true.

But, if you’re a busy working woman or mother, you probably don’t get caught up in the television shopping channels often. So you might not know one of the best kept secrets out there. Stylish plus size clothing can be found by the truckloads through some of these shopping channels. You heard me…. STYLISH plus size clothing. Not just something Granny would wear….at reasonable prices too…..sometimes with extended payment plans for more expensive items like formal dresses or outerwear. Tempted?

Here’s another little secret: you don’t have to watch some of these shopping channels to get this fabulous fashion. They have websites. They work a little differently than regular retailers because if something you like goes on air on the television it can be sold out in ten minutes flat. One minute it’s there in your size, the next, poof it’s gone. But you can page through and sort fashion, jewelry, shoes, cosmetics, and accessories that is appealing to you without listening to endless chatter about what a wonderful buy this is or waiting for your favorite designer’s show to come on the air. If you’re busy (or impatient), this is a much more appealing way to shop.

HSN

Hands down, my favorite in this category is HSN . Their selection is fantastic. Their website is easy to navigate and use. They have handy shopping tools like My Virtual Model that you can design to match your body shape, then try on clothing. They list the measurements of individual garments in the size charts, not generalized charts. In other words they do it just about 100% right.

The only small criticism I have is that there is almost no way to easily find petite and tall styles. They do have a few here and there - even in plus sizes, but they are almost impossible to find unless you are a savvy searcher and think to use the search box provided. I typed in “2X Tall” as a test and came up with 6 pages of pants and pant suits and “24 Petite” and discovered 3 pages of skirts, jackets and pants.

Styles range from modern, chic fashion from designers like Randolph Duke, Donna Ricco and Silk Assets by Diane von Furstenburg to trend-setting looks from celebrity designers like Suzanne Sommers, Susan Lucci and Patti LaBelle. Plus specialist designers like Carolyn Strauss and Perfect Style have the widest range of sizes for the stylish full figured woman with offerings often in the plus petite, plus tall and extended size ranges. One of the things I like best is the availability of stylish clothing in natural fibers like silk, cotton and linen in larger sizes. Most trendy to stylish plus apparel on the market today is done in synthetic fabrics which no matter how beautiful they are simply do not hold a candle to the sophistication and comfort of finer fabrics.

Less trendy, but fun are the novelty Storybook Knit sweaters. Their “stories” can range from vintage embellishments to animals to reproduction of fine art such as Botticelli’s Venus knit right into the sweater. They like to use lots of beading and embellishments too. Conversation pieces, they’re all sure to get you noticed.

If you find yourself on the go a lot and in need easy packing knits, there are lots to choose from here from names like Travel Smith and Slinky Brands.

Another tip:  jewelry here is not just gorgeous, it also comes in plus-friendly sizing. Many shorter necklaces have extenders available. Rings be they emeralds, rubies or semi-precious are available up to a size 10. And while you’re here be sure to check out a fabulous shoe and accessory collection.

There are literally hundreds of hard to find fashions in up to the minute style just begging to be shipped straight to your door in your size at HSN. I’d say the selection here is more current and more extensive than any departments store, let alone the usual limited local plus shop. And, even better, is the extended payment plans often available for pricier items like leather jackets.

Stay tuned….. next stop QVC ……

Popularity: 4% [?]

One of the advantages of managing a fashion portal is that I’m almost always notified when great sales are going on. Last weekend, our co-sponsors for the ElegantPlus Model of the Month sent an e-mail announcing a 4 day only 40% off sale celebrating the Fourth of July holiday. I had just seen Igigi come down the runway to much applause in New York City the weekend before (see the fashion show review posting in our newsletter on Tuesday, July 12) and there were several dresses and tops I had been eying for awhile.

I couldn’t restrain myself any longer, now was the time - although I stopped myself from purchasing everything on my wish list. I could easily have ordered several more items.

Wrap style tops are probably the most flattering style on any figure - large or small busted, slim or plus size. If you have an hour-glass figure it emphasizes the great proportions you have. If you have an apple or thick middle figure, the wrapping creates the illusion of a nipped in waist. Voila! Fabulous! The trick is finding one that fits you well, because if it doesn’t fit properly it gaps in all the wrong places.

Igigi understands both these concepts, and as a designer catering to sizes up to 5X, almost no one is left out. They solved the fit problem by using a beautifully draping fine matte jersey knit that stretches and moves with your body and tailoring in the bust area for a more streamlined fit. As a broad shouldered but small busted figure type, I have trouble getting wrap tops to fit well and often end up with gaps that, in a best case scenario, requires a camisole layer underneath so I don’t flash the world. Often, they don’t fit at all well enough to keep. Because of the stretch, in my proper size the fabric in these tops and dresses lies flat - no gaps, yet a larger busted woman would look equally good in them. These are keepers.

I actually opted to buy a faux wrap top that fits me absolutely perfectly, no gapping or navel gazing, in a delicious chocolate brown which will take me from summer right into the fall months. Maybe you’ve noticed…… chocolate brown is turning into one of the hottest colors of the summer. Mix it with those gorgeous turquoise and aqua blues, add a pair of beaded thongs, a natural wood and semi-precious stone chunky necklace, and a beach bag and you’ll look summer fabulous. Add black trousers and a jacket and you’ll look office chic.

I’d also been eying the wrap dresses for quite some time - my favorite the gorgeous plum graphical print. Alas, by the time I’d decided to make a purchase my size was sold out. I decided to take a chance and order the larger size, and a chocolate brown one in my usual size - thinking I would send one back. Not a chance. Igigi’s sizes run true, especially if you consult the individualized size charts that come with each garment. But, because of the nature of the fabric they use, one can get away with one size from your usual. The chocolate brown fits me best, but the plum print with only the slightest of alterations (and I mean slight) looks stunning. The print is one of the most slimming I’ve ever put on. I’m keeping both - and I suspect they will both be seeing a lot of wear. I’m thinking the print may even look fun and funky over a black pair of bootleg knit pants from Danskin that I love and live in - just to mix the looks up a little.

One of the features of wrap dresses and skirts that often drive me crazy is a practical concern. With even the slightest breeze they go flying open so the whole world can see if it’s a cotton granny pant day or a sexy satin thong day. Ugh. These dresses have a broad anchor, not simply a flimsy interior button that can often come undone - and a deep and generous wrap, ensuring that everything stays put. These are designers that know what they are doing, and have thought of everything!

Customer service was excellent. Upon completion of my purchase, I received an e-mailed confirmation. When my credit card was charged, I received a receipt. When they had shipped I received a Fedex tracking number. My one small problem with the process was the use of Fedex which was not indicated before the final phase. Fedex packages can be hard to receive because of the signature on delivery required. I was out when mine first arrived, and had to wait for delivery the next day. I understand why they have chosen to go with Fedex - the carrier is fast, reliable and the signature on delivery means fewer lost packages. I’d like to see some other delivery options, or at the very least an indication before payment is made that Fedex will be the carrier.

Finally, the matte jersey used is fluid and gorgeous, easy to take care of - but synthetic. If you are a natural fiber girl, chic plus size clothing is still hard to come by and Igigi has not offered the solution. I’d try it anyway, because not only is it well made and beautifully styled - this clothing is comfortable.
 

Popularity: 4% [?]