Fat Clothes & OMZ! I’ll Never Find This Again!!!
Listening to the Fatcast: Two Whole Cakes has been such a comfort and a little therapeutic for me lately. It really is like listening to two BFFs chit chat about all things fat. I love it! In one episode they mention early fat shopping buys and experiences and the discuss something I hadn’t thought of but just now found myself shopping and realized that I do it, too. The whole “I’ll Never Find This Again” syndrome.
You see, plus size clothing options are already pretty dang limited. I get that with the internet we have a much larger selection than ever before, but there’s issues with that, too. Sizing is all crazy, no matter what store/brand you still have to try on or check measurements and then HOPE those measurements were true…UGH! Exhausting and not so fun actually.
Marianne and Lesley mention having things simply because they thought they would never find anything like it again, even if it didn’t fit right or comfortable. Story of my life! Or the ever popular, looked great in the store, not so much at home. Or it fits fine, but wears awful: Chafing, bunching, riding up…NO THANKS!
So, a month or so ago my husband says to me, “Do you think you might have a clothing addiction?” he seemed serious, but I could tell he didn’t want to freak me out. Well, I was sort of offended. It stuck with me awhile. I explained to him that day that women must dress for occasion and don’t have the luxury of simply changing a shirt to complete a look for an event, etc. He only half bought that.
Now? Now I think that I don’t have an addiction, but I do have a case of the “I’ll Never Find This Again-itis!” Things I have bought over the last several years in hopes of finding what could be my own unique style. Alas, this just isn’t what’s accumulated in my closet, dressers & big basket of WHOA! (Or possibly Woe.)
As I do every so often, I shall purge and see what I can sell/donate/reconstruct/etc. I have no idea what the results will be, but I have a lot of trying on and prioritizing to do. Hopefully this will give more space to my well loved clothes and get rid of things I’ve only worn once.
And yet…I get a dollar in my pocket (so to speak) and what do I do but go on eBay and search for Mexican embroidered peasant tops in my size. DAMN! But I do love them and I only have one and I cherish it so! It’s from LB years ago. I paid close to $50 for it and it still fits. Though it seems shorter than I recall, but I still wear it with pride when The weather warms and I’m feeling a little more confident in my arm showings.
Do you have a closet of I’ll Never Find This Again? Tell me about it! =0)
My shopping issue is that when I find something I really REALLY like, I’ll buy it in EVERY color they have and sometimes even multiple copies of one color.
It’s silly to have so many of one thing, but it’s SO HARD to find stuff that fits and that you really really like, so when you find it, you want to buy 10 of them!
Hard on the budget, though, buying 10 of something at once. :-\
I LOVE your blog, btw.
Yes! I did the multiple color thing with this one t-shirt from Target. They were those super thin ones, so comfy! Now they all have tiny holes all over them and I can’t find a replacement. Times to move on I suppose, but with my new zero budget it’s just not gonna happen. Oh well.
I’ve had “clothing problems” in the past. I had spent my whole life with such a lack of stuff to wear, that when I finally moved to the city and had access to stores with decent plus-size selections, I went bonkers. I wasn’t choosy. If it fit, I’d grab it. Even if it wasn’t perfect. Even if I didn’t really like it. I’ve had to train myself out of this mindset. “Only buy it if you love it! LOVE IT! Unless it’s $5 and then you might as well buy 3 or 4.”
Ahem. Perhaps I’m not as recovered as I think. I’m still wondering what in the blazes I’m going to do with that grey-and-floral maxi dress I got from Old Navy, that I only wore once…
Oh gawd, I know what you mean. The clearance is such a fly trap for me. “But it’s only $5! When will I see that again?!” Hence my getting a few dollars and heading straight for eBay as though I’ll never have the chance again. Ugh! But I also think that there’s so many options that sometimes we get overwhelmed and just buy-buy-buy until we feel we’ve taken advantage of those options. At a size 28 though, my options are in fact fairly limited. Many of the lines that do have my size are simply way outside of my price range.
As for your maxi dress? SELL IT! There’s the FatshionExchange community on LiveJournal as well as others on there, too. And eBay of course.
While I have no specific advice for us on this topic, I greatly appreciate your reading & commenting. =0)
But-but-but I caaaaaan’t sell it, what if I suddenly need to wear a dress that makes me trip and fumble?! :O …ha, I kid. Maybe when I have enough unloved clothes in good condition, I’ll do a sale post on fatshionexchange. I do love that place, although I’ve yet to give in and buy anything.
Readers and comments are a wonderful thing. =) I’ll have to read and comment more often.
I’ve bought some things on LJ, but have sold more.
I have a stack of t-shirts at home that I am hoping to reconstruct or what have you. Just need to decide what to do with which…
And then you know do it!
This is so true! Fashion insecurity has its resemblances to food insecurity. I grew up wearing a lot of uncomfortable ugly polyester clothing in ugly colors off the clearance rack, and men’s shoes that looked unisex. Maybe I should send a thank-you letter to the fashion industry for helping me save so much money over so many years. They took extra care to make sure I would spend as little as possible by 1) providing only ugly clothing for so long, and 2) never showing anybody who looked remotely like me wearing it. Also, a special shout-out to the shoe industry, which must be subsidized by podiatrists into making most shoes in only one width.
Availability has improved a great deal since those days, but there’s still quite a way to go. I buy nice things and I hate to get rid of clothing, so my closet and drawers are quite full these days. Funny thing is that I’m about five sizes bigger than I was then.
Oh, I know what you mean. As my feet widened my choices of shoes narrowed. I wore boys boots for awhile until I could afford nicer ones. It is amazing to me that the ready to wear industry believes that we will simply buy whatever trash they put out there. Somewhat true I suppose, but still infuriating! Thanks for reading/commenting.