Manolo for the Big Girl

At the recommendation of a friend, Francesca recently went for a professional bra fitting at Intimacy, a wonderful bra boutique with locations in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Miami, and New York. It was a wonderful experience which resulted in a wonderful purchase. The woman helping Francesca did not use a measuring tape. She looked her over, did a little patting and looking and weighing hear and there, and came back with several bras for her to try on. She showed Francesca how to recognize a good fit from a bad, so that Francesca could shop elsewhere and find what she needs on her own, which was good because the cup sizes at Intimacy run a little small, so while there Francesca needed a 42D, elsewhere, it turns out, she is a 42C. Anyhow, it was a fine experience and Francesca recommends them. The only problem was that they only had one 42D in stock — not because they do not carry large sizes, but because so many 42D women shop there, that they were sold out. It was alright, though. That is why God created Cacique sales at Lane Bryant.

All this is an introduction to Francesca’s next tale, which has a less happy ending. While visiting one of the aforementioned cities, she decided to stop by the shop of a plus-size clothing designer of whom she had heard, and whom Francesca wanted to vett, while she had a chance to do so in person, before discussing the clothes on this website.

The clothes at this little boutique looked beautiful on the rack. The materials were luscious and the colors were amazing. Everything was presented in a tasteful and eye-pleasing manner. They were off to a good start.

But all of the designs had empire waists. Every. Single. One. And though some Apple-shaped women can get away with empire waists, Francesca is not one.  They also were all sleeveless, and Francesca does not “do” sleeveless, though she appreciates it on others. Still, for several reasons she decided to try on a few styles. Since many of our readers are Pears or have hourglass figures, and wear sleeveless dresses, I wanted a chance alone with the clothes in the fitting room, to see if the clothes were well-made (they were not). And, also, I was there anyway, and one never knows! One must be adventurous! And even with sleeveless dresses, one can work wonders with a shrug! So Francesca took about 4-5 dresses into the fitting room, and wore them out into the store where the mirror was.

Francesca understands that salespeople need to make sales. She understands when they say something like “if you wear Spanx, this will look fantastic” — which the saleswoman here said — because not everyone shares Francesca’s opinion that “if an outfit needs Spanx to look good, it is not a good outfit for you.” It’s OK. She gets it.

But it is another thing entirely for Francesca to stand in the middle of the boutique floor, looking like a stuffed sausage whose elephantine pregnancy is emphasized by a turniquet below her breasts –not that there is anything wrong with that, she supposes — and for the saleswoman to say “I think it looks wonderful. It looks much better than you believe it does. It looks terrific.”

Francesca looked the woman right in the eye and said “it is a beautiful dress for someone else.”

It is also something else for the saleswoman to say “the problem is your bra. You do not have enough support. If you buy a better bra, this dress will look amazing on you,” when Francesca was wearing a snug, brand-new, professionally-fitted bra which was probably the best fit she’d ever had, and if her breasts had been any better “supported,” they would have been up over her head. And when the rest of the dress was making Francesca look like she had a set of triplets stuffed into her (new lace) underwear.

Bah.

Francesca will not speak of this particular establishment again.

Meanwhile, remember, ladies: The last word on whether you look good in a dress is your own.

And shop at Intimacy. Francesca approves of them.

One of the trials of being a Big Girl is in the search for nightgowns, pajamas, and robes.

You want a Size 24 ball gown? Check. Size 32 flounce skirt? Check. Size 56F bra? Check.

You want Size 5x pajamas? Um, not so much.

But here! PajamaGram has an extensive line of yummy, comfy pajamas and robes, up to size 3x!

Thank you to internet friend Ripley for telling us about this site! Francesca likes!

Sleep tight . . . .

xoxo

Oh, my goodness! Can you believe this blog has been going for 9 months? It feels like yesterday that Plumcake and I dove into the wonderful, wide world of plus-size clothing here at the Manolo network. And what a superfantastic trip it has been!

This means that it has been 9 months since Francesca reminded you to consider carefully whether it is time for you to replace your bras. Much can happen in 9 months! If a baby can gestate in 9 months, that is plenty of time for your bras to stretch out, sag, and gap. It is enough time for you to gain or lose a few pounds and now need a new size.

So, start shopping!

If you are racktastic and need a hard-to-find bra size, Francesca recommends that you start with BiggerBras.com and Bravissimo.

Of course there is also the Cacique line at Lane Bryant, the ONEsexy bra collection at Avenue, and the full-figure department at Frederick’s of Hollywood! Mmmm!

And now — hat tip to our internet friend Carol for bringing this to our attention — Big Singer Jill Scott has created a bra brand of her own in partnership with Ashley Stewart. The “Butterfly Bra” not only has wide, gel-filled shoulder straps but also two support bands in the back and — Francesca’s favorite feature — underwires filled with gel. No more underwires cutting into the delicate flesh of the Big Girl! Hallelujah!

Take care of those girls!

xoxo

Excellent discussion at Shapely Prose going on, about what to wear to a job interview when one has a poochie-tummy such that one looks several months pregnant.

Francesca does not look pregnant, she just looks fat, but as an Apple-shape she appreciates that sometimes even the Spanx will not do it.

For those for whom Spanx is enough, or at least helpful, here is Francesca’s post with information about where to buy Spanx for the interview for the Good Job.

But anyway, as Francesca says, sometimes one must Give It Up and understand that no matter how strong the “slimming undergarments” are, we are not truly succeeding in hiding our love handles and the poochie tummy.  They are there. We know they are there, and so does everyone else. There is no point in kidding anyone, because we cannot. And why should we? The love handles are called love handles for a reason. Being soft and squishie is very, very sexy.

There is only one thing to do: Stand up straight, be confident in one’s beauty and specialness, and –if being not pregnant is important to you — take up an extreme sport so that you can say, in all truthfulness,  “on Saturdays I go bungee jumping, and on Sundays I parachute.”

Of course, you could lie and say those things even if in actuality you spend your weekends  at the sci-fi/fantasy conventions (and who wouldn’t rather do that?), but then you run the risk of your potential boss saying “really? I’m a parachuter also . . . but I never see you at the club.” That would be bad.

Francesca says: Do your best to look the way you would like to look for your job interview, and leave the rest to the goodness of the cosmos.

How I love Katie Price. Price, better known British glamour model Jordan, was the queen of the Page Three Girls until The Sun decided on instituting an all-natural policy. Why? Well, before, having Ms. Price in my pocket, as it were, was like money in the bank every time one of my British pals got all stroppy about the lack of refinement in America.

Ms Price has released a lingerie line for Asda, the British Wal-Mart and in doing so invited “regular women” to help her launch the collection, including a big girl. Naturally the internet has snarked up a storm. Now, Plumcake has publicly appeared in her unmentionables more times than she would care to mention, and let me tell you, it takes guts to show your guts. So I say, good for you, Katie Price, you highly sea-worthy orange nutter you, and good for you too, Big Girl!

(we won’t talk about the hair)

Kiyonna (Sizes through 5x) has moved several items into the Sale section, and you can save an additional 20% off of Sale items by entering code PDAY08 at checkout until midnight PST tomorrow night! Now you can have this cute dress, available in several colors and variations, for under $72 instead of $128:

Outlet sale at Talbots.com: Through the 22nd, take an additional 50% off many items in the Outlet (where prices are already Superfantastic; this is Francesca’s favorite place to get beautiful Women’s Petite clothes at terrific prices). Look, this Italian wool pencil skirt is marked down from $134 to $27.50

If you see something at a regular, non-sale price you like, you could take advantage of yet another offer from Talbots: Buy any jacket, put it into your online “shopping bag,” and get 50% off a skirt or set of pants or shorts that you then put into your shopping bag. Enjoy your new outfit!

Today only: Save 25% off your purchase at Avenue.com (Sizes 14-32) by entering code AV81061 at checkout, or print out this coupon to use in the physical store. Check out this number from their “Red Hot” lingerie collection:

My, my, happy shopping indeed!

xoxo, Francesca

Francesca remembers well the day she went into a specialty lingerie boutique and asked for control-top pantyhose. The owner of the little shop looked up and down the Apple-shaped body of Francesca and said “I hope you realize that control tops are overrated. It is true they slim the thighs and buttocks, but if you have a tummy, they also enlarge your love handles. I highly recommend that you get regular hose.”

Suddenly, the heavens opened and Francesca knew that this saleswoman was her personal messenger from God. It was so true! The control top pantyhose helped the skirts go on more smoothly, but they also created the unsightly muffin top! Francesca had seen this in her mirror oh so terribly often, but it had never registered. It took a stranger to point out the obvious.

So, Francesca says: beware of slimming “foundation garments” which slim one area and make another area poochie!

Now, onto another, related matter. Speaking of slimming foundation garments, our readers have long been raving about the Spanx brand of “body shapers.” Where can you find Spanx, you ask? Why, Francesca can tell you! They are available, just for example, at Kiyonna here, and at Nordstrom here.

Kiyonna and Nordstrom sell Spanx items at the same or very similar prices, but their selections differ, so check out both sites and see what you like. There is an almost dizzying variety of body-shaping hose, panties, slips, camisoles, body suits, thigh shapers, etc etc. The products go up through size 18. (Francesca does not understand this. Should not they be helping out the sisters whose sizes are in the 20’s? But Francesca helps whomever she can with the information . . . )

(Also remember that both sites have very generous shipping arrangements. At Nordstrom, shipping is $5. At Kiyonna, if you spend $100 and ship within the US, shipping is free. Happy shipping!)

Most pertinent to our discussion, Spanx makes a body slimmer which extends from mid-thigh all the way up past the love handles. It goes all the way up and stops just short of the breasts. This is ingenius and Francesca commends them for creating this.

Here is a similar item, albeit more pricey because it has a cotton lining and stronger slimming powers!

Thanks, Spanx!

xoxo,

Francesca

An internet friend asks:

I am fairly recently married to a guy who grew up with one brother.
One of my favorite things to do now is to get nice girly presents for
his mom, who is 81 and either a 1x petite or a 2x petite. Imagine my
horror when I first tried to shop for her! I had no idea!
Fortunately, there is a Talbots store close to me, and I’ve been
pretty lucky there.

My question is this: Where can I find nice age-appropriate nightgowns
and robes for her? Hanukkah and her birthday arrive soon. Thank you
so much.

Francesca finds this question, and the context surrounding it, very sweet.

However, as difficult as it is to find petite plus-size clothing, finding petite plus-size nightgowns and robes is even more difficult, which is why Francesca admits to sleeping often in her college t-shirt and 10-year-old sweatpants.

And here we have the additional factor that we are looking for attractive and comfortable nightgowns for an elderly woman, not lacy, frothy underthings for the plus-size pop tart.

So we turn to Woman Within, which sells clothing in sizes 12W-44W. Among their offerings in robes and loungewear are a few petite items which may meet the taste of our internet friend’s mother-in-law, such as this fleece lounger with plaid trim

or for something more girly, there is this satin robe, which is lined with fleece inside. It is not a petite size, but at 50″ long it will come to our friend’s mother-in-law’s ankles, if she is over 5′ tall, which is OK, Francesca thinks. Just be sure the belt is removable so that it can be tied at the waist, rather than the hips of the petite girl!

Happy Chanukah and Happy Birthday and Happy Shopping!

xoxo,

Francesca

Francesca never ceases to be amazed to find out which mainstream clothing providers offer a selection in plus sizes.

Or, in today’s case, not exactly mainstream . . . and not exactly clothing . . . more like a studied lack of clothing . . .

Who knew that Frederick’s of Hollywood has a Plus-Size section?

Indeed! They acknowledge that fat women have powers of seduction!

Francesca cannot show too many examples, as most are definitely Not Safe For Work.

She will simply specify that most items in their plus-size page come in 1x and 2x, and some in 3x. And most work better for Pears than for Apples (though as always each woman must decide what works for her).

However, for Apples, they offer this little red velvet Santa thigh-high with princess seams.

Merry Christmas indeed.

Our internet friend Johanne literally begs for help!

Francesca, I’m begging you. Help me.

I am short. I am broad. I am muscular, especially in the thighs. And I cannot for the life of me find even one pair of decent opaque matte black tights. Anywhere.

Everything I’ve found so far, online or in the stores, is sized as if everyone who weighs 181 lbs. also is over 5′7″. I’m five-foot-three on a tall day. The few tights I’ve found that have short “Queen” sizes are crap–either too see-through or horribly shiny.

Can you recommend a site for good tights? My inseam is 28″ and I’m a size 14 on the bottom, mostly due to thighs and butt.

Help. I don’t want to go naked this winter.

Many thanks,

Jo

Ayyyy! Indeed, to be the petite girl of over 181 pounds creates a conundrum for the stocking stuffer!

Francesca, who is 5′1″ and weighs over 200 pounds, finds that the Queen sizes fit her OK, usually, but admittedly her weight is in her tummy, not her thighs. This does not help the Johanne.

Francesca’s first thought, for Jo, was to wear knee-hi’s on the bottom of the leg, and thermal or spandex or cotton leggings/long underwear/biking shorts up top. This would work for days one is wearing trousers or a long skirt, but it is not, admittedly, practical for knee-length skirts or for seducing a man.

What is the short-legged, wide-thighed and -butted girl to do?

First, she goes to Talbot’s! Look! Pantyhose in Women’s Petite sizes!

Here is a link to all the Womens Petite hosiery. Johanne will have a ball!

Next we turn to the readers. Where can Jo get opaque, plus-size matte tights for the short girl?