Where are all the cute fat short clothes?

Goodwill Eploded In My Living Room!

O.K. Not really.

However, every piece of clean clothes is now located in my living room — except the 1/3 of the closet that I returned to the closet. There are two rather large plastic tubs of winter clothes and two rather large plastic tubs, 3 medium under-the-bed-type plastic boxes, and two small tubs of clothes that are too small. I seriously almost started crying when I packed up my cute skinny clothes. So sad that I can’t wear them anymore because I can’t seem to stop eating. Also, I appear to have four small drawers empty. The socks might fill two of those, but this seriously is a first.

Now that I’ve sorted through every last piece of clothing (except trying to match the socks), I have come to the conclusion that I have too many clothes in too many sizes (I will never have to buy pants in sizes 10 & 12 — seriously) and not enough in my current size.

And so we come to my current complaint of the day: cute plus-sized petite clothes — who sells them? Do they even make them?

Petite does not mean teeny tiny slip of a person, it means a short person and guess what, we short people can gain weight like everyone else. And even if we gain weight, we still want to look good. Why is it most plus-sized clothes look like something your grandmother would wear only around the house? Don’t fashion people realize that some of us are in our 20’s and 30’s and we need nice looking clothes to go to work, the grocery, dinner, and all sort of places in too?

It’s hard enough finding plus-sized clothes that doesn’t have a glaring tacking floral print that even the Hawaiians wouldn’t wear, but add in petite and you’re doomed.

I’m doomed.

I did manage to find 2 pairs of plain black and plain khaki slacks at Catherine’s online but even they only have 15 items to choose from. Even mall-famousLane Bryant didn’t have much to offer those of us who are height-deprived. Avenue, Lerner’s version of Lane Bryant, is limited too and Petite Sophisticate was a big disappointment — their plus sizes mostly stopped at 14 and 16.

Surely with the obesity epidemic in America, I am not the only overweight short woman in America. Surely, I’m not the only one who hasn’t given up entirely on looking nice when I roll myself out of the front door and off to work?

If I can’t find any decent clothes I’m going to have to call in fat and have the dentist wire my jaw shut until those size 10 & 12 clothes fit again.

tags: obesity, Discrimination

5 comments

1. on August 10, 2005 at 12:16 pm

   Yzabel said:

   Oh, the pain. I so know how desperate one can get to find clothes that fit. I’m 5′1, and back when I was heavier than now, everything was always too long. I could never find a pair of trousers that didn’t seem to look cut for a size 2 woman with 4-feet long legs (no kidding, sometimes one *really* wonders what clothes designers are thinking). One exception to that was in a German catalogue my mother used to order clothes to, where they’d have a “petite” version of clothes, but every time said clothes would always look weird… just like some badly done cutting job, rather than really thinking of how a short person is built.

   Somehow, I think this is just a way of “punishing” us for being overweight–both with the cut and with the patterns/colors. I really don’t see what else it could be (this, or a perpetual lack of commercial sense). We’re not just two people in the world, eh.

2. on April 3, 2007 at 10:46 pm

   Lynnie Muller said:

   Boy do I agree. I am only 5 ft and definitely need to loose some pounds, but it would be nice to have pretty clothes that didn’t look like Omar the tentmaker made them. The prints are outrageous. We don’t want to bring attention to ourselves, just look nice. I’ll keep searching though!!!

3. on April 20, 2007 at 12:54 pm

   Christine said:

   Amen, sister. I’m 4′11″ and DEFINITELY not slim. Pants are a real problem for me, between the height and the weight. Even petite pants are often too long.

   Anyway, just wanted to let you know you’re not alone.

4. on May 4, 2007 at 3:21 pm

   vickie said:

   I am 5′3″…kind of borderline “petite”, but I have a stomach (that dreaded apple shape). Everything that fits in length does not fit around my stomach. If it fits the tummy, it is way too big everywhere else. Have not been able to find clothes that fit ANYWHERE!

5. on September 8, 2007 at 1:05 am

   clothes-hooch.burberryclothes said:

   […] roll into this regal genre at http://nmallory.exit-23.net/20050810/where-are-all-the-cute-fat-short-clothes about […]

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.