3
May 22, 2014
So I'm just going to talk about one issue I have with buying clothes to fit my bust online (especially dresses that are actually affordable because I'm a grad student who needs to look nice for interviews). Clothing manufacturers make clothes for pear shaped women. Every single clothing manufacturer has the hips big, waist tiny, and bust smaller than the hips (in varying degrees, some are drastic and some are not). I honestly love a lot of vintage clothing but I'd have to either get it big and alter it, or get it small and stuff myself into it. I know that pear shapes outweigh other body shapes (although apple seems to be fairly common also) but there are so many girls who are hourglass in this world that it's crazy! Considering that this is supposed to be the ideal female body shape, I'm actually surprised more manufacturer's don't make clothes to fit this shape (again, at an affordable price and paying $80 for a casual dress is not affordable). But, being large chested, I can honestly admit that I'm more of an upside down triangle...my bust measures between 43 (standing measurement average)-46 (leaning measurement average) depending on the day/bra and my hips measure 41 inches pretty much all the time (so close to balanced but not quite). Because of this, I have to find pants that aren't skin tight on my thighs but small everywhere else (my mom is a straight hourglass and she deals with this all the time too). Old Navy is a help somewhat in that their shirts tend to be made a little big and they cater pants-somewhat-to body shape (I can literally wear a S or M in most of their dresses if they have stretch to them but I'm a pretty solid 10/12 in pants and 14 in dresses/blazers).
I guess I should invest in a sewing machine and then teach myself to sew but it'd be nice to be able to go into a store, find something I like (especially a bathing suit that says it's a XXL and the cups actually represent the XXL), and be able to try it on, it fit somewhat nicely without having to alter it in some way in order for it to actually look half way decent. If I was talented enough, I'd blow all manufacturer's out of the park by crafting clothes to fit women by body shape and offer a wide variety of sizes at affordable prices but at this point all I have is a dream of my own bra shop that could hopefully one day spread across the US.
Filed under Clothes
11 comments
i want to know where youre shopping that has so many great pear clothes :P i can never get a dress large enough in the hips and small enough in the bust, or a swimsuit for that matter! my dresses always seem to want for a lady with a chest 3 times mine D=
i hear your plight though on hourglassy stuff- ive got quite a few extreme hourglass friends and its miserable for them trying to find an off the rack fit. id say its more than manufactures intend clothes for *slight* hourglass, and anything more than a few inches differnece between bust/waist/hips measurements has to learn to tailor :(
I feel ya girl! I'm a size 14 bust, 12 hips and size 10 waist, and I literally cannot find anything that works well on my body. If it fits in one place, it's either too small or too large in another. I don't know if dresses (top doesn't suffocate me but the rest of me is drowning in fabric) or trousers (if they fit over my hips, there's a 2-inch gap at the waistline - and I'm not even slim) are the worst.
Ah, I miss the good old days a century ago when every item of clothing was tailored to a person's measurements. Better times...
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