Why must buying clothes be such a fucking ordeal?

[LeftyMom]

I should preface this by saying I don't have a particularly unusual body. I'm short but proportionate, not especially curvy, just generally small.

For a long time I've had issues buying pants. I don't have especially muscular legs, and there's no fat on them to speak of, but they're not thin, stork-like legs, which, let's face it, are pretty unusual on short bodies anyhow. Keep in mind, I'm not some crazed workout junkie, I ride my bike when I feel like it, but the majority of my lower body activity probably comes from going up and down the stairs in my house over the course of my day. For some stupid reason, I have a hell of a time finding pants that aren't too small in the thigh without being much too long, enormous in the seat or both. *grr*

So I'm pretty much used to that longstanding annoyance, and now a new one has presented itself. Last night my mother and I stopped at a clothing store so she could look at a purse after we went to dinner. I grabbed a shirt in my size, but didn't bother to try it on because the store was closing. I put it on this morning, and everything else fits perfectly but the fucking arms are too small! Seriously, they were really tight, I had to be very careful not to split the seams getting the thing off. Unfortunately, I've had this happen more than once lately- are sausage casing sleeves in fashion, or is this some stupid trend? I'm not sure who they're making these clothes for, if I look like the fucking incredible hulk trying them on- I'm fucking tiny. Do I have to fucking lie in bed and waste away to be able to buy off the rack clothing now? If I have this hard a time, and I weigh in at all of a buck twenty, how the hell are other people supposed to manage?

:head explodes:

[AlCzervik]

1. i have major problems buying shirts, the arms are too tight or god forbid--cap sleeves and then the

rest is too big. I have kind of wide shoulders, not much chest and what i would consider, normal sized arms. I hate shopping so much. My daughter has what she has dubbed-Long torso syndrome so shirt shopping for her is the suck, i never dry any of her shirts ever.

[LeftyMom]

5. Oh please don't get me started on the shoulders.

I guess mine might be a bit on the wide side as a hereditary thing- that's where LeftyKid outgrows things first. Buying his clothes is already a bit of a trial, and I'm sure it'll be way worse once he hits puberty, he's going to be enormous.

[KitchenWitch]

2. I have had that happen to me a lot lately too

My arms are not large, I wear a size 16 blouse, you would think they would put enough fabric in the upper arms.

[BarenakedLady]

3. You just reminded me why I hate shopping.

And why I never have any new clothes.

[mainegreen]

4. My wife rants about the same issues.

Similar build. She told me when she went to Japan, it was like shopping paradise. Everything fit her! Here, she's actually started making some of her own clothes in order to get things that aren't built for tiny sticks or spherical blobs.

[UndertheOcean]

6. I have no problem at all

but I am male , they make things easier for us

[BOSSHOG]

7. My wife does all my clothes shopping for me

She likes to shop, I hate it. She knows my sizes better then I do. Whatever she buys I wear. Whenever we have to get dressed up for whatever she lays out my "wardrobe" on the bed. Lordy no telling what I'd look like if it weren't for her.

[LeftyMom]

12. That's my problem- I need a wife!

Maybe I can get flvegan to get me one for giftmas. :D

[BOSSHOG]

14. My wife and I get along great

but when it comes to shopping she's on her own, or usually her and one of her girlfriends "make it a day." Fine with me. Strangely, I do enjoy grocery shopping, maybe because I know exactly where everything is I want. (And maybe because I don't have to try any groceries on.)

[flvegan]

19. ka-ching!

woo hoo, I retain watching and joining-in rights!

[RadiationTherapy]

8. Yeah...my arm fat messes me up too...

Kidding!

[RebelOne]

9. I have a problem with long-sleeved blouses.

The manufacturers must think that women's arms are 6 feet long. I always have to roll the cuffs and I do not have short arms.

[Crazy Dave]

10. Mrs DTW is a little less than a buck twenty and short

She buys most her clothes in the girls/kids section

[MissMillie]

11. shopping has become a nightmare

the stores do not offer the clothing that best flatters the female body.

Sears as 30,000,000 skirts on their racks. All of them with pleats at the widest part of the bottom. Tell me, if I'm supposed to look thin, why do the stores insist on only stocking clothing that ADDS volume to my body?






I want a jean skirt.

It should have pockets in the front (or into the side seam).

I do not want the thighs or the butt washed out in the denim.

I do not want it to have any pleats.

I do not want it to have any pockets or pocket flaps on the butt (again... why add volume?????)

I would like it to go down to just above the knee.



This skirt does not exist.... well, not in any size over 10.

[XemaSab]

13. I have always had broad shoulders

and now I have fat arms.

I look good with more "fitted" clothes because I still have a fairly narrow waist, but dammit if I can't find something that doesn't look like a muumuu. x(

[AirmensMom]

15. I hate shopping.

My weight fluctuates a lot, so that makes it hard. I have more success if I go with the right person. MissHC is WONDERFUL to shop with and I was able to buy a few things when she was helping me. I get too discouraged when I try to shop by myself or with someone who is impatient.

[Chan790]

16. How am I the only person here who knows...

you buy a size larger than you need and frequent a tailor? More important than a hairstylist or nail technician is a great tailor/seamstress. Nothing ever fits anybody right, right off the hanger...some people just think things fit off-the-hanger and they might fit...kinda. Proper fit always requires alteration. Yes, it costs more money...but wouldn't you rather look good than save money?

If I'd learned this when I was 17 instead of 27, I'd have become a tailor.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

21. hey, i KNOW that, but have decided i dont care.

:P

[NV Whino]

17. Look to see where it was made

Different cultures have different proportions.


(The first stuff that was imported from China had extremely short arms.)

[flvegan]

18. Those massive guns of yours getting in the way again?

[LeftyMom]

20. d00d, you have no idea.

I'm like :wow:

[distantearlywarning]

22. I have the exact problems with buying clothing,

and I have the exact opposite body type from you - big broad muscular arms + shoulders, hourglass figure and bosomy, size 14 or so, about 5'5".

Shirts and dresses never fit across my boobs unless I buy them 2 sizes too big. Then they look like tents. Nothing I try on fits in the arms or thighs unless it's 2 sizes too big (and really, how many size 14 women out there have arms or thighs like twigs? Clothing people need a big fucking cluebat to the head already...:eyes: ) Everything seems to either bind or droop in weird places, nothing ever just FITS or looks good.

And don't even get me started on pants. I have never tried on a single pair of pants of any kind in the last 5 years that weren't huge in the waist when they fit my butt, or way too tight in the butt when they fit my waist. And they all expose my underwear with a giant gap in the back.

As a consequence of all this, I am basically always walking around in clothing that is way too huge for me in an effort to just not show the world my bra or panties. And even then it STILL doesn't fit right across the arms or whatever. I feel constantly constricted and put-upon by my clothing and it makes me really angry. I'm starting to think it's a conspiracy or something - keep women totally uncomfortable and aware of their body issues 24-7 so we don't spend any extra brain power *thinking*.

It's not even about my size, either. I had the boob-gapiosis problem way back when as a size 2, because I've always been at least a C-cup and apparently women in America today aren't allowed to be anything other than flat-chested. And the shoes! It took me weeks to find a single pair of attractive flat-heeled sandals this summer - everything that doesn't look like it belongs to a giant German nurse named Helga has 3 inch heels and is literally unusable for anything resembling walking. And it's all made out of such crappy material!

Actually, I was telling my husband that I am going to start completely boycotting women's clothing. My favorite sweater this winter was bought from the men's section at CostCo. And I already bought myself a couple of men's summer shirts (which unbelievably seem to fit me better than the girl shirts I have and are much more sturdy and not made out of "mystery fabric"), and next time I go to the store I'm going to try on some men's pants. If they fit ok, I'm never going to patronize women's clothing lines again. Fuck these stupid designers and their crappy clothes! :mad: