I don't know if I am alone in my feelings about this, but....

I am having such mixed feelings about how/where I will shop post-op. I absolutely hate the limited options we, as "plus sized" women have. I hate that I have basically two stores where I can walk in and buy anything I see. Then, I have a couple of other stores where, if I hunt and peck and sacrifice my ego, I might find something that I don't feel ashamed to wear in public.

I'm betting that most of us have this experience where we go into, say for example... Target. We are forced to walk by all the cute and on trend clothes in the front of the store, to go all the way to the back (where we are out of sight of most other costumers, because we shouldn't be seen) to dig through at most, 2 racks of clothing. Most of this "clothing" is wedged between clearance and maternity.

Most of the time, if I am lucky enough to find something I kind of like, it's maternity. Or, even better still it's an item that was accidentally stuck in that section and is a size 2 (because of Target's odd plus-sized sizing structure which also includes 0-3/4.)

Part of me is super-excited to be able to buy clothes that I think are cute and not be stuck wearing clothes I don't like because it's all that fits me and all that is available. I mean really ladies, isn't the rule of plus size fashion that it doesn't make it to the hanger unless it happens to be

1. Solid Black
2. A sleeveless shirt/dress (what the hell??)
3. Pants are three inches too long (because all plus-sized women are really tall)
4. Some kind of animal print, and or lace/cutouts
5. Featuring sequins or rhinestones. Because, "Look at me, I sparkle!" I must need this for my trapeze act later or something?
6. A shirt with some god-awful saying on it in french/english accompanied by flowers and such
7. Made for your grammy or your pregnant friend.
8. A shirt or dress designed for a plus sized woman (other than yourself) who was blessed with ginormous ta-ta's. (oh why could some of my many pounds not make it up there?)
9. A pair of pants with a football field's worth of fabric between the butt pockets, which just so happen to be the size of a postage stamp.

So, this is my issue.... Once I am "thin enough" to shop in other stores at will, and buy whatever darn thing in any store I like, will I really want to support these businesses who wouldn't have me as a customer when I was fat?

What do the rest of you feel about this?

Man I totally agree. Target just makes me MAD!! I love the goodwill or thrift store shopping. I'm gonna stick to yoga pants for a while:) we should go shopping together at Seattle goodwill it's the best:)

Man I totally agree. Target just makes me MAD!! I love the goodwill or thrift store shopping. I'm gonna stick to yoga pants for a while:) we should go shopping together at Seattle goodwill it's the best:)

I am seriously game for this! I love our Goodwill stores.

Sounds good message me on dr. A's Facebook page. We can set up a time and chat. sounds like fun. My name there is sherry Reid bells

Sounds good message me on dr. A's Facebook page. We can set up a time and chat. sounds like fun. My name there is sherry Reid bells

I didn't realize that was you! I am Shelley Barkley. I sent you a friend request on Facebook.

Nice I'll talk to u soon ok

I started a Fashion Blog for plus size a couple of years ago.

When I went from a size 20+ to a 16.

Can't wait to get back to it.

I love clothes and you absolutely can dress cute at any size!

Message me if you want the link

Edited October 9, 201510 yr by cbruce125

I don't know if this is helpful to anyone, but the UK seems to have better ranges for plus sized clothes, and I know from living abroad so much that quite a few of them do international shipping, so it may be worth checked out websites outside of the US. (If you use UK check the size guides, american sizes are one down from us, so a 12 american is a 14 UK, but obviously sizes change from store to store).

Some stores, like yours clothing, will even let you select dollars as currency so you don;t have to guess.

Oh, I feel you. Since surgery, I've gone from a 44DDD to a 40F. That's in two months. So, I had to "retire" about 30 bras, because they no longer fit me, but I'm such a big clothing shopper that I owned bras in every color and style and print you could imagine, mostly from Lane Bryant. I was thinking about it, and I realized that at some point, I will be able to shop in "regular" lingerie stores. I could, at some point, even shop at Victoria's Secret.

Except that once upon a time, maybe 20 years ago, I was a fan of the VS line of bath stuff and a scent they carried. So, I was on my way into the local store one day to get some bath stuff, and a sales person stopped me at the entrance and said, "I'm sorry, we don't carry anything for you." She physically got in front of me, as if to head me off from entering. I guess she had thought she was being "helpful" by telling me that they didn't carry my bra/lingerie size? I dunno. Anyway, as you can imagine, it was deeply offensive.

I haven't stepped foot in a Victoria's Secret since. I don't think I'm ever going to -- because if they didn't want to even allow me to enter the store when I was a size 18-20, I don't think they deserve my business. Ever. At any size.

I totally get your rant. I'm 5'10 so it's always been hard to find clothes in a store regardless. Now I can find long slacks or tall pants. I can even find shirts that fit off the rack. I'm 7 months and I actually enjoy going onto stores but I only buy things on sale. I had my procedure in March so maxi dresses was a recommendation and I did just that. It helped save on money and questions. Now I did buy some jeans because the weather is changing but I got a 14 I will be wearing them for a while. Good luck!