Seriously, why is this hard?
Oct. 31st, 2012 09:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miss_lucy21I have been to four stores in the past week looking for a pair of casual, non-denim/jean pants to replace a pair that has gotten so large that I could fit a whole other pair of pants on underneath them (I'm not deliberately trying to lose weight, but the triathlon training is having that effect, at least for the moment). This does not sound like it should be an overwhelmingly difficult task. I mean, it's not like I'm looking for long pants in July or something here. However, I have yet to locate a pair of pants that 1) fits, 2) looks reasonable on me, 3) is a color I actually want.
I am admittedly picky about my clothes. I don't buy new clothes very often, so whatever I buy generally has to last for about 3-5 years because there's no guarantee that I'll be able to afford to buy something new at any point in time. Therefore, my clothes tend towards the fairly basic and not trendy, because it still needs to look okay next year and the year after that. So, for example, the current colored denim trend is not what I'm looking for, because they'll likely look dated next year. And I don't want jeans, because my jeans still more or less fit and are in decent shape. I can't just have jeans because some days, wearing jeans is not a happy thing (even if they're a little too big or fit me perfectly, they tend to leave marks on my skin. Some days, I can't tolerate them).
This whole thing is complicated by the fact that I need at least a size 20 or larger, which dramatically limits the number of places I can shop for clothing. There's probably maybe ten possible stores that carry my size. The thing is, I kind of have a non-standard body, and about half of those stores don't carry or make pants that have a rise that works. Many plus size manufacturers don't make a moderate low rise/just below waist rise (or any sort of low rise), because why on earth would a fat woman want to wear low rise pants, amirite? On me, an "at waist" type of rise comes up under my bust, so, yeah, I want lower rise pants that actually hit at something resembling a normal person's waist (they rest on top of my hips, which is close enough to be going on with).
Once I get the size thing sorted and find a brand that has a reasonable waist height, then I get to contend with the fact that for some God only knows why reason, clothing manufacturers feel the need to add "slimming panels" or "shaping" to the pants. I'm not entirely sure this is just a plus size phenomenon- I think I saw a tag today for slimming panels on a size 8- but it's incredibly annoying. For one thing, there's precious little any kind of panel on the front of my pants is going to do to make me look less fat. For another, they don't really work, on me, anyway. All they do is redistribute my lower belly fat to my upper belly fat, which would seem to defeat the purpose. And if for no other reason, they're pretty uncomfortable. I've found that sometimes if I go up a size, it'll work, but sometimes that means the pants are too big in other ways. And sometimes, there isn't a size bigger available.
So, at store one, I found a pair that was in a reasonable rise, a good color (I'd prefer grey. I'll go with almost anything other than khaki tan or black, though), and they had no slimming panels. Except, the legs were a bit slimmer than I'd prefer (I like straight leg over boot cut, because they're roomier in the thighs and because they balance my hips better) and the pockets stuck out horribly. The pocket thing is also endemic and also drives me nuts because it makes it look like the pants are too tight, even when they fit perfectly.
Store two didn't have anything in the right size. I tried an 18, because the pair I'm replacing is from this store and they're a 22. So dropping two sizes sounded like it might potentially work. The 18s were way too small. The 22s at the store were too big (sometimes stores change sizing and my current pair is about 3 years old). They didn't have anything in a size 20.
Store three was almost the same story as store one. Right color, right rise, right size, bad pockets and not long enough. Height-wise, I'm just on the upper edge of petite, but I have ridiculously long legs with a 29-30 inch inseam, which usually works with regular length. I think these might have been ankle length pants, which look ridiculous on me for some reason.
At store four, I found a pair of pants that was grey, in a rise that worked, in a size large enough to make the slimming panels mostly work. Victory! Right? No. They weren't at all comfortable and they cost $45. If I'm going to spend $45 on a pair of pants, I'd damn well better at least like them, if not really like them. They need to be better than okay.
I have another store I can try, and I also may have better luck at other locations of store two and four. So that's the project for tomorrow and Friday. After that, I get to start looking online. I don't mind ordering online when I already know the clothes will work (shirts, for example. Shirts are easy, so long as I don't want a button down shirt. Those are hard). If I know the size I need, then I'd almost rather order online. But I don't know what size I need, because the sizes vary so much from brand to brand and size charts are generally not terribly helpful. Sure, I can measure my hips or my non-existent waist, but different brands use different spots to determine the measurements of their clothes, so even if what I've got matches up measurement wise, there's no guarantee that the clothes will actually fit.
So, yeah. Shopping blows. I'm sure pants shopping isn't easy for most people, right? I mean, if clothing manufacturers can't manage to make pants that fit plus size women, then I'm not sure I should hold out hope that they can manage to fit straight size women, either. This really doesn't seem like this should be this complicated.
I am admittedly picky about my clothes. I don't buy new clothes very often, so whatever I buy generally has to last for about 3-5 years because there's no guarantee that I'll be able to afford to buy something new at any point in time. Therefore, my clothes tend towards the fairly basic and not trendy, because it still needs to look okay next year and the year after that. So, for example, the current colored denim trend is not what I'm looking for, because they'll likely look dated next year. And I don't want jeans, because my jeans still more or less fit and are in decent shape. I can't just have jeans because some days, wearing jeans is not a happy thing (even if they're a little too big or fit me perfectly, they tend to leave marks on my skin. Some days, I can't tolerate them).
This whole thing is complicated by the fact that I need at least a size 20 or larger, which dramatically limits the number of places I can shop for clothing. There's probably maybe ten possible stores that carry my size. The thing is, I kind of have a non-standard body, and about half of those stores don't carry or make pants that have a rise that works. Many plus size manufacturers don't make a moderate low rise/just below waist rise (or any sort of low rise), because why on earth would a fat woman want to wear low rise pants, amirite? On me, an "at waist" type of rise comes up under my bust, so, yeah, I want lower rise pants that actually hit at something resembling a normal person's waist (they rest on top of my hips, which is close enough to be going on with).
Once I get the size thing sorted and find a brand that has a reasonable waist height, then I get to contend with the fact that for some God only knows why reason, clothing manufacturers feel the need to add "slimming panels" or "shaping" to the pants. I'm not entirely sure this is just a plus size phenomenon- I think I saw a tag today for slimming panels on a size 8- but it's incredibly annoying. For one thing, there's precious little any kind of panel on the front of my pants is going to do to make me look less fat. For another, they don't really work, on me, anyway. All they do is redistribute my lower belly fat to my upper belly fat, which would seem to defeat the purpose. And if for no other reason, they're pretty uncomfortable. I've found that sometimes if I go up a size, it'll work, but sometimes that means the pants are too big in other ways. And sometimes, there isn't a size bigger available.
So, at store one, I found a pair that was in a reasonable rise, a good color (I'd prefer grey. I'll go with almost anything other than khaki tan or black, though), and they had no slimming panels. Except, the legs were a bit slimmer than I'd prefer (I like straight leg over boot cut, because they're roomier in the thighs and because they balance my hips better) and the pockets stuck out horribly. The pocket thing is also endemic and also drives me nuts because it makes it look like the pants are too tight, even when they fit perfectly.
Store two didn't have anything in the right size. I tried an 18, because the pair I'm replacing is from this store and they're a 22. So dropping two sizes sounded like it might potentially work. The 18s were way too small. The 22s at the store were too big (sometimes stores change sizing and my current pair is about 3 years old). They didn't have anything in a size 20.
Store three was almost the same story as store one. Right color, right rise, right size, bad pockets and not long enough. Height-wise, I'm just on the upper edge of petite, but I have ridiculously long legs with a 29-30 inch inseam, which usually works with regular length. I think these might have been ankle length pants, which look ridiculous on me for some reason.
At store four, I found a pair of pants that was grey, in a rise that worked, in a size large enough to make the slimming panels mostly work. Victory! Right? No. They weren't at all comfortable and they cost $45. If I'm going to spend $45 on a pair of pants, I'd damn well better at least like them, if not really like them. They need to be better than okay.
I have another store I can try, and I also may have better luck at other locations of store two and four. So that's the project for tomorrow and Friday. After that, I get to start looking online. I don't mind ordering online when I already know the clothes will work (shirts, for example. Shirts are easy, so long as I don't want a button down shirt. Those are hard). If I know the size I need, then I'd almost rather order online. But I don't know what size I need, because the sizes vary so much from brand to brand and size charts are generally not terribly helpful. Sure, I can measure my hips or my non-existent waist, but different brands use different spots to determine the measurements of their clothes, so even if what I've got matches up measurement wise, there's no guarantee that the clothes will actually fit.
So, yeah. Shopping blows. I'm sure pants shopping isn't easy for most people, right? I mean, if clothing manufacturers can't manage to make pants that fit plus size women, then I'm not sure I should hold out hope that they can manage to fit straight size women, either. This really doesn't seem like this should be this complicated.