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Yes, No, Maybe: Fashion Bug

Happy, happy Thanksgiving!

Today we are pricing down, to Fashion Bug, which  sells Misses and Plus size casual-wear and lingerie. At the top of the home page, you can opt to shop according to size, including 16-34, 16-32 short (they couldn’t call it petite? Whatever.), and 16-32 long. (Warning: Short and Long selections are limited.) (Misses sizes start at 6). Their sale page is here.

Today they are having the Thanksgiving Day sale, online only, on all their Fall clothing here.

YES

Francesca had a hard time with the “Yesses” and “Maybes” because her personal idea of “casual” is “suede jacket with boot-cut jeans.” So let us get it out of the way: If you are looking for your basic turtlenecks (on sale today for $6 apiece), polo shirts, jeans, panties, and the like, this is a good place to go. It is a good value for the price.

And now for the slightly more Francesca-esque items. Click for outfit suggestions and/or purchase info:

NO

MAYBE

http://www.fashionbug.com/polka-dot-knit-dress/p45261/index.pro

All Walks (kinda)

I shamelessly stole this from Style Spy because

a) it’s awesome

b) I’m about to go on vacation so I’m not even trying to come up with my own material.

All Walks Beyond the Catwalk from ALL WALKS BEYOND THE CATWALK on Vimeo.

On one hand, YAY! On the other, uh, not to look a gift cat in the mouth, but is this really all walks?

Because it kinda looks to me like it’s “mostly the same walk, but some have bigger shoes and oh there’s a black girl too“.

It’s like you can have ONE thing working “against” you: you can be plus-size if you’re tall and young and gorgeous. You can be black as long as you’ve got processed hair and fit all other standard model requirements. You can be old as long as you’ve got the bone structure of a patrician flamingo. And you can be tall if you’re…well, you kinda have to be tall.

Don’t get me wrong, I still really like this video and the concept behind it.

Maybe they didn’t include women who are more than just a hair out of the mainstream because they didn’t want to seem like it was a gimmick.

I mean Jackie Robinson was a great ball player, but he wasn’t the best the Negro Leagues had to offer by a long shot, but the reason you know Jackie Robinson instead of Ray Dandridge –widely considered one of the best ever to have played the game– is that Mr Robinson was far more palatable to white working class America than Mr Dandridge. Maybe they wanted to make sure the women were still palatable enough for fashion consumption: thus the being tall and beautiful and mostly slender.

Clothes as they’re designed now look better on tall women and on thin women.

They just do. Being tall means you can carry off a lot of stuff short chicks can’t, and that’s just the way it is (you pocket people get all the men, so let the tall girls have this one) but just because tall girls have an easier time of things doesn’t mean designers should be expected to design only for tall women. But they do.

I believe the average fit model is about 5’9″ which is fine for me, I’m just an inch taller, but the average American woman is just under 5’4″ oh, and petite models? Generally between 5’6″ – 5’8″.

So should we be glad that in an industry so totally skewed and screwed that designers are getting and embracing SOME change and take what we can get or do the All Walks people get a “close, but no style cigar”?

Francesca’s New Stuff: Glaring Omission

crossword.gifYou might notice that nowhere have I mentioned purchases involving clothing. Yes, two raincoats. Also foundation undergarments which are pretty but do not deserve their own post.

Did I buy any dresses? No. Skirts? No. Tops? No.

Do you wish to know why?

Because nowhere in all of Manhattan — neither in the summer sales nor in the fall collections — did Francesca find plus-size clothing that works for her 5’1″, apple-shaped frame and desire for sleeves.

If you are tall, you are in luck. If you regularly wear sleeveless clothing, fine. If you are pear-shaped, all the better.

But if you are none of those things, as Francesca is not, then just stay home for the next few weeks, under the covers. Do not bother shopping for new clothes. Crossword puzzles are more tempting right now.

Perhaps the winter collections will have more to offer us.

Francesca is put out, and hath spoken.

Francesca in Love

Francesca just received the Igigi Velvet Wrap Dress (with silk charmeuse tie), which she ordered  a while ago. Since Francesca has been traveling, she had to wait a while before being in the same city as the dress so she could try it on.

Let Francesca tell you about this dress.

The magic of Igigi is that although their clothes do not come in petite sizes, and do not always appear to be suitable for the Apple, they always fit Francesca perfectly.

Francesca is 5’1″ and very Appley. On taller folk, the dress is designed to come to just below the knee and have 3/4 sleeves (as pictured). On Francesca, the sleeves came down, quite attractively, to the wrists, and the hem fell just below the wide part of the calf. The shoulders fit perfectly. The plunging neckline ended exactly at the point just above Francesca’s bra.

And, though wrap dresses are generally an iffy proposition for Apples, this one draped perfectly. She does not know how Igigi does it.

Francesca’s mother was in the room, and said “Francesca, the dress looks like it was made for you.” The emerald green color was beautiful with Francesca’s light-red hair. (The dress also comes in black.)

The only criticism I have is that the dress should really be lined. One certainly needs to wear a good slip underneath the skirt.

It just goes to show that Apples CAN wear wrap dresses, and petites CAN sometimes wear regular sizes. Do not be afraid to experiment (especially when the dress is on sale, as this one is)!

xoxo,

Francesca

Post-Christmas Sales

Well, now that all of you dear readers have given away the presents to your loved ones, it is time to relax and do some online shopping to find a little something for yourself. The following vendors of plus-size clothing are all having the sales! Some of them are incredible. Follow the links to see!

Saks Fifth AvenueDesigner sale. Designer plus-size sale here. Free shipping on orders over $200 with code SAKSFS

IgigiUp to 75% off everything. Ends tomorrow.

Liz Claiborne WomanTremendous discounts, ends tonight!! Additionally, you’ll automatically get $25 off purchases of $100 or more, or $50 off purchases of $150 or more, or $125 off purchases of $300 or more.

Avenue – Shop The Ten Dollar Event!

Monif C - Up to 80% off everything at the site.

Nordstrom – Sales for women and men. Plus sizes are here.

Svoboda – “Preview” sale ending tomorrow: take 35% off anything you want with code PREVIEW09.

Land’s End- Semi-annual sale. Plus sizes here. Tall sizes here.

Lane Bryant – Up to 60% off everything on the site, and semi-annual lingerie sale.

Silhouettes – Lots of end-of-season The sale items, and take 20% off your order of $50 or more with code S8W908.

Old Navy – Clearance sale! Plus sizes here.

JC Penney- After-Christmas clearance. Plus sizes here. Tall sizes here.

Talbots – End-of-season sale. Plus sizes here. Petite-plus sizes here.

Kiyonna - After-Christmas savings deal: Through December 31, use code GIFT20 ($20 off purchases of $100 or more), GIFT50 ($50 off purchases of $200 or more) or GIFT100 ($100 off purchases of $350 or more).

Coldwater Creek - 50% off the whole website. Use code SAVEBIG at checkout. Plus sizes here.

Bloomingdales - Sale on selected items ends December 31. Plus sizes are here.

Always for MeSwimwear sale. Use code freeship100 and get free shipping on orders over $100 in continental US.

Roaman’s- After-Christmas sale.

One Stop Plussite-wide sale.

Chico’s – Winter Sale on select items. Use code 6380 to receive $10 off your purchase of $50 or more. (Also, at their affiliated Soma Intimates store, there is a lingerie sale going on, AND you get a free panty with any purchase at the Soma store with code 7126.)

J.Jill- up to 70% off. Ends January 5. Plus sizes here. Tall sizes here.

Woman Within-Clearance sale.

Evans (British sizes) – Up to 70% off

Torrid- Holiday through January 4th. Also through the 4th: an additional 50% off clearance items.

From Francesca’s Inbox

Offer from Lane Bryant: Get two years of Figure magazine for the price of one. Francesca enjoys the articles in Figure. It is feel-good reading.

New arrivals and new sale items at J.Jill. Francesca’s pick (pictured at left).

Get a pair of pants at Avenue for just $10, while supplies last. (Pants for Petites and Talls also available at this price!)
Many new items have been moved to the sale department of Talbot’s Woman and Woman Petite. Also, get free shipping on their newly-arrived shoes and boots through September 20 (or skip that and just buy these slingbacks on sale at 50% off). Francesca’s pick.

Nordstrom announces that their shoe department offers extended sizes and widths! Look, shoes in size 14! Extra-wide shoes! Francesca’s pick.

Through September 30, get $20 off any pair of pants or jeans at Coldwater Creek. Francesca’s pick.

Until September 16, get 30% off your highest-price item at Woman Within by entering code WW26354 at checkout. Remember, as always, their merchandise runs long – petites beware! Francesca’s pick.

Make Your Own Jeans has revamped its website and added new fabrics and new embroidery patterns for the pockets. Custom-made jeans and pants, shipped worldwide!

Through September 15, get 35% off your highest-price item at Roaman’s by entering code  RD15712 at checkout. Francesca’s pick (pictured at left).

Get your sexy plus-size Halloween costume (or just the fairy wings, or mask, or hair extensions, or whatever) at Torrid!

Kiyonna announces their new La Bella Vita collection. Francesca’s pick.

Happy shopping!

xoxo,

Francesca

Naval Academy Reunion Dress!

To the fantastic Francesca!My mom, who is superfantastic on the inside but sometimes a little over-functional on the outside, is going with my dad to his Naval Academy class reunion dinner dance.  The dinner! The dancing! The men formerly in uniform! What is not to love? Yet she is not so excited, because she must now pick out the dress.  She is a petite 14/16 “apple with a waist” (her description) who finds that dresses are almost never large enough in the bust. She is much fun but not much into frills, and has skin that carries off bright colors and black and white equally well; usually not yellow, but she loves green.  In fact I will just attach her photographs. (one is all of our family women but she is the one with the cute butt in the middle, the other is us being very cute together even if I did forget to wear makeup that day)  She has been encouraged by my dad to spend more on a dress than she usually would, which I think she still thinks means less than $100 but he thinks is less than $200.Mostly I just want to help her feel great in the room full of the souped-up trophy wives, since I already know she is pretty foxy but she maybe does not.  I was hoping you might be able to help?? Everyone’s petite sections have vanished and the world of internet shopping is scary and without measurement references, but living in a fairly small town in the south there are not a lot of in-person options.

Thank you so much for any help/inspiration you can offer!!

Much love,

Leah

leah1.jpg

leah2.jpg

Francesca loves that Leah sent the photos, and gave us permission to post them! Indeed all the ladies of Leah’s family are beautiful and superfantastic. (And her mom indeed has the “cute butt,” if she doesn’t mind Francesca saying so.)

As soon as Leah said “green” and “petite” and “Apple,” Francesca’s thoughts turned straight to Igigi.

Yes, yes, Francesca is constantly recommending them for formal occasions. This is because the clothes are beautiful, and because, somehow, magically, even items that look like they would be ill-suited for an Apple, or for a petite girl, manage to look like they were made for just such a woman!

Francesca does not know how this works. She only knows that, as an Apple, she will sometimes try Igigi clothes under the assumption that they will probably have to be returned, and voila! They look amazing.

And their green dresses are such a gorgeous shade of emerald.

“Summer Breeze” Cocktail Dress

“Delicate Lace” Cocktail Dress with Shrug

If your mother would prefer a floor-length gown, the “Dreamy Nights” dress may come to the floor on the Petite woman, and there is the gorgeous “Enchanted Nights” dress, which can be shortened as necessary. From Sydney’s Closet, “Intoxicating” is on sale but there are no returns. It is a mock two-piece, can be shortened, and would lovely on many the Apple.

Leah should remind her mother that the well-endowed chest can be not a liability, but a great asset, one to show off!

Good luck, and please tell us how the dinner goes!

xoxo

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