I absolutely despise most clothing designed for “larger sized” women. Typically, it’s little more than a skinny woman’s outfit enlarged many times over without respect to proportion, pattern, or even how certain fabrics do not and never will flatter ample curves. Take Jersey knit dresses, for instance.
Being a sort of artsy-fartsy dresser myself, finding clothes that suit my tastes while also flattering my figure has been immensely frustrating. Most clothing manufacturers seem to think that you’ve got no business wearing their clothing if you’re not skinny.
And then there are designers like Vicki Vi who create flattering clothes for women with curves. Vi is among the many designers featured at Bodacious Boutique, an awesome online source of pluz size clothing.
I’m not talking about a clothing store run by some emaciated waif who’ll stand there feeling sorry for you while pretending that, yes, you do look good in that polka-dotted caftan dress. Paula Guthrie, the owner of Bodacious Boutique, is a woman just like us: full-figured and fashionable, too.
With offerings running the gamut from 0x (basically an extra-large) up to 4x — or 14-28 in Women’s — the boutique has you covered from head-to-toe. While most items are priced in the moderate (but not discount) range, their “Deal of the Week” is not to be missed — we’re talking prices so affordable you can buy an entire outfit or two! They even carry plus-sized swimsuits in figure-flattering styles, including the coveted Miraclesuit swimwear line. (I can tell you from personal experience, those suits are aptly named.)
So, ladies, skip the shop that’s trying to convince you to cram your curves into clothes designed for the skinny minis. And don’t you dare start wearing those tent-shaped dresses, either. Next time you want clothes to fit your figure, go to a store founded by a woman who knows all about helping you look bodaciously beautiful. Then sit back and enjoy it when even your svelte friends start asking “Where did you get that gorgeous blouse?”
Once upon a time, long before J.Lo.’s derriere made bubble butts fashionable, I hid mine under long sweaters or tunic blouses. Then her hindness entered the picture and Sir Mix-A-Lot’s song “Baby Got Back” got everybody singing the praises of a bodacious behind, and for a very brief point in my life my callipygian curves were cool.
It was only a matter of time before
To look at most clothing stores, you’d never know that the average American is considerably overweight. Size-2 and even -0 clothes crowd store racks, draped on hangars almost as thin as the women flipping through them. Until now, the rest of us had to settle for flowing dresses under hip-hiding blazers when we wanted to dress up for a night.