Manolo for the Big Girl Fashion, Lifestyle, and Humor for the Plus Sized Woman.

October 27, 2008

What to wear on Halloween

Filed under: This Week In Fat Blogging,What Should I Wear? — Francesca @ 5:41 pm

There is an excellent comment thread at Shapely Prose about great plus-size Halloween costumes, past and present. Go over there to get ideas for this weekend! Happy costuming!

Maternity clothes for the Big Girl

Filed under: Uncategorized,What Should I Wear? — Francesca @ 12:54 pm

Good morning, dear internet friends, and happy new week.

Francesca has written in the past about the trials and tribulations of finding superfantastic plus-size maternity clothes. She is well aware that the search can be long and not nearly as fruitful as the woman doing the searching!

So, for those of you who are expecting the little bundle of joy, Francesca would like to give you a heads-up that Sydney’s Closet has a small but beautiful line of satin mix-and-match holiday maternity clothes. There are two formal skirts and five tops to choose from, each available in a wide variety of colors.

The catch is that delivery takes 8 weeks — if one pays for expedited shipping — so one must order now if one wishes to receive the outfit before the Christmas and New Year’s parties.

October 24, 2008

The Big Question: Who is the Fantasy You?

Filed under: The Big Question,Uncategorized,What Should I Wear? — Francesca @ 12:33 pm

Halloween is coming!

Who (or what) will you be dressing as?

And what is your DREAM costume?

PS There are plus-size costumes and accessories available at TorridAnytime Costumes (with costumes for plus-size men! and modest women!), Yandy, Halloween Street (men’s/modest available), Spirit Halloween (modest items are there if you look), and Frederick’s of Hollywood. Francesca cannot vouch for the service at these sites (except for that at Torrid, who are partners of ours), so read the fine print carefully.

September 12, 2008

Rain Coat for the Big Girl

Once again, an internet reader pleads to Francesca for help!

The weather has been tres hot and humid all summer in DC, and I have been happy to rock my sleeveless shirts, skirts, and bare legs for several months now. So it came as a surprise to me this morning when I exited my apartment building into somewhat chilly air. Fall is almost upon us! This means no more bare legs (a TRAGEDY, but I’ll have to cope with that one on my own), and it also means coats will again be necessary. I have a fabulous coral-colored rain coat that I have gotten several good years out of. But it’s now looking rather shabby and I’m ready to move on to something else. So far, though, I haven’t been able to find a rain/fall coat that is anywhere near perfect. I need it to survive in the rain, and be a light coat – a very thin lining or none at all. I like making a statement with my coats – no black, grey, or brown for me. I loved the vibrant coral color of my last one, and would love to find something in pink, red, green, purple, blue, or a print. And I would like it to be trench-coat (knee) length. I’m size 18-20, vaguely pair-shaped (ie slightly bigger on the bottom, but mostly in proportion). Lastly, making my request the most difficult, I can only spend $100 – preferably less.

I know if anyone can help me, Francesca can. Please perform that voodoo that you do!

Sincerely,
Jen

Francesca is so very happy to help the Jen, though she is somewhat perplexed by the reference to voodoo. Francesca does not practice the dark arts. She prefers to think of herself as the Good Witch from the Wizard of Oz, the beautiful and radiant Glinda, who will now tap her starry wand onto Jen’s bowed head and grant her the wish of the wonderful fall coat.

Behold! It is a purple trench coat which will enliven the gray fall days of the Jen and sparkle with every step! It is available in sizes 14-28 and costs less than 90 of the American dollars!

Avenue will not allow me to post a direct link. Just go to Avenue.com, click on “apparel” and then “coat shop,” and then on to “double breasted patent trench coat.”

Or, click here for a nice raincoat from Land’s End, one which is less fun-and-flirty than our purple design here, but perhaps lighter-feeling and more reliably waterproof – and it is available in a happy, happy shade of light blue. (Be sure to click on “plus sizes” to get the correct list of sizes for the Big Girl!)

Happy fall!

xoxo,

Francesca

August 22, 2008

Newsflash: Francesca is stumped!

Filed under: What Should I Wear?,You Asked For It — Francesca @ 9:47 am

Our internet friend CJ wrote:

I have read your FABULOUS post from last August aiding the law student looking for a conservative suit.  I’m in the same spot, but now Talbots has no navy suits for me!  I’d love a navy suit, in size 18/ 16W (or so), preferably with a skirt and pants option.  I do not want pinstripes!  The skirt must be long enough and the jacket short enough to be traditional.  I’d even be willing to have a peplum on the jacket or a flounce on the skirt.  However, it must not stand out.

I’m in the northwest, so I might have more options than someone looking in New York.  However, there are less stores.  In fact, I have been incredibly disappointed with Nordstrom and Macy’s- the first places I went looking.  And Lane Bryant has a jacket, but no bottoms in Navy (Why? so close!).

In response to CJ’s cry for help, Francesca looked high and low for an appropriate interview suit and discovered that CJ is not crazy, as CJ had feared, but rather she is corrrect: Finding a Navy, summer/fall interview suit in size 16/18 is not easy right now.

There are wool suits available, which Francesca may discuss in September or October, but CJ must needs to find a job now, in the August weather, and wool would Not Be Good.

Dear readers! Especially those in the superfantastic Northwest! Do you have any secret sources of interview clothing which might help CJ?

Francesca is truly good and stumped. Perhaps collectively we can help our Big Sister get a great job!

August 11, 2008

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

August 8, 2008

Purple Power

Filed under: Petite and Plus-Size,What Should I Wear?,You Asked For It — Francesca @ 8:57 am

Dear Francesca, I have been reading your column for several months now.  I am a petite bigger girl; 5’2″ and around a size 18-ish, with an hourglass figure.  My daughter once told me I was not allowed to call myself “fat” when she was about 4 years old; “Mama, I just call you soft.”  *melt*  Such a sweet girl!

I have a bit of a dilemna.  My father is remarrying in early October. My statuesque stepmother-to-be will wear a beautiful Dessy nu-georgette strapless gown in aubergine, and the “wedding party” (my stepsister-to-be and daughter, the maid of honor and flower girl, respectively) will wear Jim Hjelm chiffon gowns in a beautiful shade of purple (“tranquil”).  I would like my siblings and our spouses to fit in with the general color palette.  (Won’t the family pictures look stunning?)  My husband and brothers will be
wearing black suits and shopping for purple tie (and/or shirts), and my sister-in-law will likely shop for a new dress.

I would like to find an attractive tea-length dress, elegant, not too casual, preferably classic in style — able to be worn again.  I’m having trouble figuring out where to look in places that won’t break the bank.  I work full-time and live in a smaller town without many bridal shops.  I am expecting to mail order a dress, hopefully with enough time for alterations.  

If I can find the right dress, I can reuse a pair of beaded black shoes from my brother’s wedding 2 years ago along with a darling black beaded purse I’ve got.

Can you help me find something lovely and flattering?  Am I asking for too much?  I’m worried I won’t find anything reasonable in time.

Thank you for any assistance you can provide!
-Becky 

Dear Becky,

Indeed, the wedding photos will look stunning as you say. Francesca loves purple! She also loves when brides eschew the tradition of wearing a white dress, and instead embrace the colors which make them (and, one hopes, their bridal party) look and feel superfantastic!

Francesca wishes to point out to Becky and her sister-in-law that since the bride has chosen to wear a deep purple, it would be best to avoid similar shades such as eggplant. Just as it is gauche to wear an all-white dress to a white-clad-bride-wedding, so too it would behoove one to allow one’s new stepmother to look unique in the wedding photos.

Francesca will assume that it is OK with the bride for family members who are not technically in the “wedding party” to wear colors in the same palette. It seems reasonable to Francesca for children of the bride and groom to be color-coordinated, but it is always best to check with those are doing the marrying.

So, we are searching for an elegant, tea-length dress, available in size 18, which will work with the “tranquil” dresses without clashing with the aubergine. Francesca is relieved to see that the Becky expects to have to make alterations, as it is probable that any dress we find will have to be shortened. Them’s the breaks.

Here is a lovely cocktail dress in lilac which would work beautifully with Becky’s hourglass figure, and whose black trim would make the black shoes and purse less jarring against the pastel dress:

Here, a similar dress in black and ivory would complement the purple bridal party quite beautifully.

Here, too, is a sweet dress at — believe it or not — Home Shopping Network. With the hourglass figure, it could be worn to great effect with a pretty black belt, and may hit the tea length on the woman who is 5’2.”

At HSN, Francesca also found this fetching number, which, in silver will once again complement the wedding party without trying to matchy-match it. The beaded accessories and elegant earrings and necklace would bring the outfit to an appropriate level of wedding fanciness.

Francesca wishes Becky a good time at her father’s wedding!

xoxo

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