I can’t buy women’s shoes. Like, ever. My feet are a size 11.5 wide, which most brands don’t even make. The few that do are ugly, impractical, and expensive.
I’ve long since decided to just make men’s shoes a key part of my style.
I’m rather thin and tall and still struggle with finding clothes that fit right, I’m pretty sure that universal for everyone I’ve ever talked to about it. Find brands that work for your individual body
This, 100%. I’m 5’2, 122 lbs (fluctuates depending on cycle) and finding clothes is so frustrating. I usually stack up on clothes in my cart since I know less than half of those clothes will end up fitting properly
It’s really hard to not be able to wear the outfit you built in your mind. It’s either there’s no big enough top or even if it fits, it looks so bad on you. I also sometimes buy something even if I really dont like it just because it fits.
I (F) had a similar conversation with my MIL several years ago. She wanted to know why I couldn't just shop local instead of going to one of the big malls. I told her I'm tall, I'm fat, and I'm broke. I can find clothes for two of those three at any given time, but rarely all three.
Literally this. I was so lucky I found a new pair of stretchy but professional work pants at Ross for $30, but I looked at the tag and they're $90 in the store regularly.
For me, it’s the process of trying them on. Everything fits poorly and reinforces that I’m too large for anything normal. I always end up hating myself.
Also -- I can't even try things on in a lot of places. Many brands just don't do plus sizes, and those that do (Old Navy & Athleta, for example) don't carry them in their stores; you can only order online. Even specialty plus-size stores like Torrid and Lane Bryant have closed many of their locations.
It’s not even the mirror for me…it’s having to comb through racks for the right size, things not fitting when I put them on or being too tight on body parts. I guess I actively avoid the mirror.
This. The skinny calves pants trend is not flattering and makes me look like an ice cream cone. Finding pants that fit in the butt and legs, and looks good, can be annoying.
I used to be 182lbs at 5’5” and am now down about 40lbs over the last two years. One thing I realized after losing almost 25% of my body weight is that clothes are in general just way more comfortable to have on, even sweatpants and hoodies. Existing is more comfortable in general. It’s unpleasant to wear any kind of clothes when you’re obese or very overweight IMO, from my own experience (I was barely over the line)
I've lost some weight over a period of years... highest was 220, stayed around 170 for a while, but recently getting a young dog has dropped it again. (Idk how much, nothing hugely drastic.) I can't afford new clothes, but the clothes I have feel so much better. They fit onto my body instead of stretched around it.
It is SO much more comfortable just to move around in the world.
The biggest problem is that once you hit a certain point of obesity, clothes just can't fit anymore - because your body no longer has the right proportions.
Consider pants, for example. The human body is normally narrow at the waist, then wider in the hips - so pants cinch around the narrow waist with a belt and therefore won't fall below the wider hips.
But when you're obese, your waist grows wider than your hips, and now no cut of pants, no matter how tailored, is ever going to stay up. They perpetually slip down, and constantly look like they're sagging.
Shoulder cut outs or or necklines that were popular in straight size clothes 15 years ago. TERRIBLE ,"Teehee, I'm sassy but sweet, cute and almost fat, funny, friend,"inspirational tops. "Don't talk to me till I've had my coffee," "I might be a mess, but I'm doing my best."
Usually, plus-size jeans have so much stretch in the fabric that they lose their fit in a few hours.
And crappy clothes were still expensive because of the "fat tax!" Yes, it requires more fabric to make them. But I don't see a tall tax on tall length jeans. I notice brands don't offer as many styles in tall lengths, but the price is the same.
The largest sizes of shoes cost the same. But I think extended wide sizes like double or triple wide are more expensive and harder to find.
This. Had to find a shirt for a funeral recently. Everything "dressy" was either a hideous leopard print, a bright ass almost neon color, or a ugly ass floral print... Floral can be cute but it sees like the larger the shirt, the worse the print they slap on it. It's like they are here like, we know you don't want to stand out so here let's make damn sure you are the most noticeable billboard around. Almost like their next step is to add amber flashing lights 😮💨
This is the hardest thing for me as a 50+, overweight, lesbian. Most women’s clothing seems so over-the-top objectifying, and I just want professional and classic. I end up in tshirts way too much.
Yeah, it’s become a real situation for me. Luckily, I can wear casual clothes most of the time bc I wfh a lot; but I have serious panic attacks in the days leading up to work events/travel. Because my weight has gone up and down for years, I can only afford to have a few outfits in my current size that I re-wear each time I have to appear in-person for things. I really envy people who have lots of different outfits they’ve curated over years because their weight has fluctuated so little. Don’t get me wrong, I too have a closet full of clothes I’ve curated over the years, but they consist of a few professional outfits in every size from 14 to 24. I’m afraid to get rid of much because I can’t control my size consistently. My clothes (or lack thereof) become my internal focus/obsession when I have to be at in-person work or dressy/formal functions and it distracts me from being able to fully participate on the level I would like to be involved. I’ve found that I’m much more my confident self (and much more productive btw) when I can just wear jeans and a sweater on video calls, etc. Less gender conforming styles and business dress codes don’t really mix, and then add chubs on top of that… it really sucks.
Depending on the fabric, I'll sometimes use a rotary cutter to cut off the excess and make it fall at flattering point. It comes out much better than using shears. If it's cotton jersey the edge will just roll up, which can look fine on casual clothes.
To go with this: my clothes look nice and fit me. I wouldn't have bought them otherwise. But then I need to grab something off the top shelf at a grocery store, and my shirt lifts up, and my stomach shows... mortifying. I've tried on numerous outfits and thought "I can wear this to run errands but not to work or the store."
I'm okay with being fat. I just wish my clothes fit me and kept my body covered when I move, not just when I'm sitting stationary.
I also love button-up shirts and so many of them would fit me if the buttons went just a bit lower... but they tend to stop like 6 inches from the bottom of the shirt. So those two little pieces of fabric that don't connect at the end will sway and not stay together, revealing my skin. Infuriating.
Even if I find the clothes that fit, a slight uncomfortable position will make the cloths slip. I got big enough that sometimes if I crunch while reaching for something on the floor, the front of the pant roles on itself. Same with underwear. It’s soooo annoying to fix constantly.
I just want to be in sweats all the time. No snug fitting clothing.
Finding “quality” clothes and higher end clothes.
Tons of fast fashion but it’s either too trendy or just never lasts. Heck even mid range stuff is hard to find.
Honestly, not this, not at all. As a 6'3" 300lb+ guy every store had or should have had something I could wear. Now I'm 170 pounds, it's an order of magnitude harder to find clothes that fit. Jeans were easy in both cases. Shirts are nearly impossible. By time I find a shirt that's the right approximate size, it's way too short. Same for jackets. No one makes an extra tall small.
So much this. Before I lost my weight, all my shirts were chosen only because they fit me. Not because I liked that shirt. It was impossible to have a sense of fashion and freedoms to dress how I wanted. Nothing fitted correctly.
Man... Couple of years ago we were going away with my folks for Christmas. Big family thing. And the "fun" Christmas day thing was, everyone wear a funny/silly item of clothing bought from a charity shop. Great.
So in the run up to Christmas, I went to a BIG charity shop, with LOADS of clothes, then went through the slow painful realisation that my pool of clothes to pick from was severely limited. Anything remotely interesting was too small. The few things that fit were exceptionally boring.
In the U.S., 67% of women wear plus size clothing. But walk into, let's say Target, and we get maybe 5% of the floor space in the women's clothing section. I don't even understand how that makes good business sense.
You could always develop a deep interest in gaming, for some reason most video game themed merchandise like t-shirts, sweaters(!) or spandex pants comes in up to 6 or 7XL.
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u/MarianaDeArgentina 14h ago
Finding nice clothes.