SUPER Stripes Thursday

Oh, what a difference a change in pose makes!

Cute:


SUPER cute:


Now I know why this week's challenge is SUPER Stripes Week; I've been looking at it from the wrong angle all week!

The sweater is great, right? I saw it on a blog (sorry, I've forgotten which one) that it was from Lane Bryant, and what caught my eye was the sale price: a $44 sweater marked down to $7. Plus there was a 30% off coupon. I've been trying not to have to go to Lane Bryant, but it was so cute in a bright blue on that mystery blog I could not resist. So I ordered it in black and in a bright turquoise ("opal"), but the black is the keeper. Love it!

What's interesting is that at first I put a bright teal camisole underneath, and intended to pair it with a bold, saturated black-and-teal floral scarf. But...the colors were all wrong, which didn't make sense for a black-and-white striped top.

Then I looked closer: the white is actually a softer cream. That needs softer colors, not saturated ones. I swapped camisoles to a matching cream, and added a long beach-glass necklace (from Eddie Bauer of all places, can you believe it?). I've had this necklace for a couple of years but because it is more muted it doesn't get a lot of wear. But it worked perfectly here!



Couple of extra notes:
1. Angie at YLF raved about a similar item from Talbots the other day; her find was a t-shirt of excellent quality, and I did consider getting it. This sweater is the alternate for bigger gals; it's a very thin quality, perfect for spring, and the size and placement of the stripes work better for our size than the Talbots one does. Plus the price cannot be beat. (For now. In a month or so, the Talbots one will probably be just as low. They have great sales too.)

2. It must be spring, as all kinds of long-unworn items were coming out of hiding! The flats are ones I picked up at Ann Taylor Factory several years ago and hardly ever wear; the wool-like fabric of them means they only work for a very short period of time each year, when it's still cool enough to wear wool but warm enough to wear flats. I have considered getting rid of them during several purges, but couldn't quite do it. But they, like the beach-glass necklace, worked perfectly with this outfit. It's like both pieces were waiting for this sweater to let them shine!

The problem with business formal

My closet feels a bit schizophrenic these days. I feel like I have three types of outfits:
-business casual, for work days sitting at my desk churning out reports and emails, and generally solving the problems of the universe. I want to be comfortable, but also a little trendy, on these days.
-business formal, for work days at meetings with executives, nuns (I am not kidding), and assorted people at higher levels than me. I need to be conservative, polished, and professional on those days.
-casual, for weekends and the rare vacation. I consider these my "play clothes", like what we would get changed into after school to go play. I'm not a grubby t-shirt gal, so this is usually jeans and a sweater and cute top, and either a scarf or necklace.

Angie at YLF calls these "capsules", which is a great way to think about it. Maybe that's what my problem is: I recently stocked up on business casual and casual -- those ribbed layering tops, a fabulous pair of Gap Long & Lean jeans, etc -- and as much as I have tried to get new tops for my business formal capsule, I am still struggling with dressing myself on meeting days.

Part of it is I am hesitant to invest in a real suit when I am at this weight. It seems dumb, since I have turned over my entire closet to buy enough pants, tops and sweaters, but there is something about buying a suit that seems so final, like I have officially stopped trying to lose weight. Even buying the ball gown (post and pictures coming soon!) didn't have the same impact, even though the cost of it was equal to a suit. I think because the gown will only be worn once, so I convinced myself it was a temporary, necessary purchase.

Anyway, in lieu of a suit, I have two tweed jackets that I am using with my Gap pants for business formal, and I rotate a couple of tops with them. But it doesn't seem like enough, and since I see the same people in these meetings I feel like I need to have more than two jackets. I long for a solid, dark jacket to wear with my patterned tops, but a solid jacket means it must match the fabric of the pants, and that means suit.

Damn you, Talbots. Why did you stop making suits? They had the best ones, with lots of non-black options, and skirts and pants to match.

Plus, nice tops to wear under jackets, that aren't just boring shells and/or cost a fortune and/or come in my size? Soooo hard to find!

Do any of you have the same struggle? I feel like I am caught between two work-clothing options, where it's not completely business casual or business formal, but a bit of both. It's tough to navigate!

The Most Impossible Size

Sizing is a crazy business in women's retail; vanity sizing has taken over everywhere, and what used to be a 4 is now a 00. No two stores use the same model for the size, so a 10 could be anywhere from an 8 to a 14 depending on the price point of the store. You can't even always find consistent sizing within the same store; I just ordered from Gap and I had to go to XXL for the top and XL for the matching sweater.

One thing remains the same: if you are a size 18, you are SCREWED.

It is better to be 20 pounds heavier or skinnier than to be trapped as a size 18. You're not quite in "women's" sizes yet -- the extra room around the thighs makes all pants look like diapers on you -- but "regular" retailers don't carry your size in the store, if they make it at all. I have compiled a list of "regular size" stores I can shop at when I am size 18 in bottoms. It is pitifully short.

Old Navy -- online only
Gap -- online only
Talbots -- online only (and most of the time everything is too short anyway)
Ann Taylor Outlet -- but everything is boxy
LOFT -- online only
Macys -- sometimes, but you have to dig and most of the time they are ugly as sin
Kohls -- Kohls has the ugliest pants on earth. I never buy them there.
Target -- but the selection is better, you guessed it, online

That's pretty much it. My mom is also an 18, and we went to Coldwater Creek for her at Christmas. The first set of pants we looked at had sizes up to 16 and then 20, so we were heartened and went looking through every single stack of pants in the store for an 18. Turns out they don't even make them. They skip over 18s on purpose. I was so pissed off I didn't even ask why.

If you go down to 16s, several more stores open up for you (online only) like Ann Taylor and Banana Republic. But it isn't until you get to 14 that you can consistently walk into a store and try the damn pants on like everyone else. Until then, you become best friends with your UPS guy and learn how to get free shipping whenever possible. You also become the Return Queen of the mall, and sadly, you can't even spend other money in the store to make up for your return -- because nothing there goddamn fits you in the first place.

The other option is to just gain more until you can officially shop in the Lane Bryants and Encore sections of Nordstroms. But really -- have you ever heard of anyone gaining weight to get to better selections of clothes?

On frustrating shopping days, believe me, I've been tempted.

18 is impossible. I can't wait to be out of it again.