PeaceBang BEMOANS the lack of attention to fit among today’s retailers and clothes-wearers. Fit is EVERYTHING. Fit is ALL. Fit is the Alpha and the Omega of your appearance.
Once upon a time, tailoring was an important and respected skill and trade. One had their quality garments tailored to fit them, and they kept those garments and repaired and altered them for years until those garments had to be lovingly retired or repurposed as diapers or quilts or wash rags. Nowadays, in the throwaway era of cheaply-made clothing, we pull something off the rack, think that it “fits” when we can button it up the back or front, and put it to use in our closet.
Darlings, watch some Turner Classic Movie Channel flicks and feast your eyes on the clothing worn in those pictures. They FIT! Blouses that fit smartly over the chest or bosom do not billow around midsections. Gentlemen’s trousers do not pool around the ankle or bag around the thighs. Blazers do not sag at the shoulders, button at the torso and then flop down past the thigh. Posture was a virtue. Grooming mattered. People understood the meaning of formality.
From that to this:
Please. Unless you’re 6′ tall and … no. Not even then. Floppy monstrosity. Even Bea Arthur’s tunics had tailoring, people.
It’s a throw for your den couch with armholes cut in. Where’s the TAILORING? Where’s the SHAPE? How is a human figure supposed to approach any kind of personal elegance in these garments?
Here are a couple of very chic outfits that feature big, shapeless garments. So yes, of course such things can be fashionable. However, they are neither professional nor ministerial, so they’re not options for us, no matter how slim, tall and young we may be. A big oversized sweater with leggings is NEVER professionally appropriate:
Looks great, though. And this, too. Floaty, unstructured jacket with tiny top and leggings look great on the street, but they shouldn’t make it indoors to a ministerial appearance. Put some pants on.
This isn’t going to segue into a LEGGINGS RANT but it could. It is just to say “pigeons, don’t follow the trends when it comes to fit. Go with the classics, find a tailor, do your research, be honest about your figure (watch yourself in motion from the rear or have a trusted friend give you the honest low-down), and consider the fit of all your garments to be as high priority as their color, cut and fabric.
Please, oh PLEASE, can you help those of us who aren’t average size with this? I’d give a whole paycheck to find ONE place with nice, classic women’s suits that I wouldn’t mind spending the money to tailor! As it is, it’s a crapshoot ordering online and hoping that it will A. be quality and B. not embarrass this big, tall woman! I need at least one suit for formal meetings and/or funerals and weddings, and I live out in a very rural area–I’d make a field trip to Charlotte or to neighboring states if it meant I’d not have to sweat what to wear the next time I’m in front of the Board of Ordained Ministry.
ARGH. [I am also absolutely nothing close to Average Size and I FEEL YOUR PAIN. It’s a constant struggle and involves careful scrutiny of every garment, even T-shirts. No easy answers. Just trial-and-error and learning your own body and how things are made so you can eyeball something and say, “not worth trying on because of the way it’s cut” or “yes, that’s my cut.” For those of you in rural America who can’t shop in person, knits are helpful if you’re not an extremely lumpy person. Because even knits, which have a lot of give, can be cut terribly big or floppy or weirdly small. I stick with a few designers and brands I have learned I can generally trust, like Style & Co from Macy’s, Torrid jackets, Lane Bryant pants in a specific cut (although they change those, too, and AUGH when they do!) and Calvin Klein skirts. – PB]
I just watched “The Eye Has to Travel,” the documentary about style icon Diana Vreeland. She reported that she would have up to three fittings for her nightgowns so that they were perfectly fitted. [Oh my god, that is FABULOUS. – PB]
I was inspired to research Claire Underwood’s wardrobe after watching House of Cards. (Robin Wright plays this part.) Every article with her and the wardrobe director mentioned tailoring. She is one of my style inspirations for 2014!
Good fit in ’14!
They are not cheap but they are well made and last. Women’s Petite has been great for me. They also have great sales (like right now). I appreciate that they sell suits as separates so I can find the pieces that fit my top and bottom and then take to my local tailor for fit. There is some investment to this kind of shopping but a skirt, pants, and two jackets all in coordinating solids and prints in a worsted wool can take me through most any ministerial occasion.
Somehow my opening sentences got deleted from the previous post. I was talking about Talbots for good classic wardrobe staples.
I got my first suit this summer at Ann Taylor. Took the blazer, trousers, and another pair of trousers to the tailor. 2 weeks later and $65 later I got them back feeling a bit more put together! I have heard a lot of wonderful things from Allie at her blog wardrobe oxygen about ponte knit, too…