In which I regain my shopping mojo

For at least two or three months I've bought very little and had no chance to do any real shopping. I've looked at plenty of mail-order stuff and online catalogues but really these are not for me. Its nice getting something delivered to your door but nothing beats the thrill of actually coming across something in a shop and thinking how great it would be to wear that.
Also because of various orthopedic problems I'd not bought any pretty shoes for an age. I really don't like the multi strapped killer platform things that are in vogue at the moment and could not imagine where I could wear (never mind walk) in such a pair of things.
And yet it came to pass that last Saturday I was given just over two hours to myself at Braehead Shopping Centre, just on the outskirts of Glasgow. Not the most exclusive or inspiring place in the world but happily I was able to find plenty of things that I wanted to wear and even managed to make a few purchases.
In Dune I found a pair of elegant and wearable wedges for £50 then after happy browsing in Wallis and Monsoon and a mini make up blowout in Boots (my new vibrating Lancome mascara is quite something) I got into Marks and Spencer where they have a rather lovely selection of clothes to celebrate their 125th anniversary. Nothing there in my size though but I did get some new work clothes including this very sweet jacket which I am hoping will save me from death by boring black trouser suit at work.

Shopping in person for clothes is what I want to be able to do and happily in the mainstream part UK "high street" there is at the moment enough choice to make this an enjoyable experience. I wish that there was more choice and that some of the more exclusive retailers that I like were available more readily, butr really things aren't too bad.

Sizing Directory

I thought it might be useful to record in one place the size range available in various UK stores. Hopefully I'll be able to keep this updated and expanded.
Should add the caveat that the actual sizes of garments will differ from one store's manufactuer to the next and also that not all sizes will be stocked in all places at all times.

• Anne Harvey 16-30 limited petite range
• Bravissimo 8-18 curvy, really curvy and super curvy
  
• Debenhams:Betty Jackson Black 8-20
• Debenhams: Rocha, John Rocha 8-22 (with short, regular and long trouser lengths to 22)
• Dorothy Perkins 6-22
• Evans 14-32
• Jaeger 6-18
  
• Marks & Spencer 6-24 (main range, short, medium and long trouser lengths)
• Monsoon 8-22
• New Look 6-18, Inspire range 18-26
  
• Next 6-22, limited range up to 28, petite range up to 18
• Planet 6-20
  
• River Island 6-18 (x-short, short, medium and long trouser length)

Ethical Fashion

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Ethical fashion is not generally available over a size 14. Marks and Spencer is the big exception to this, you can have a whole wardrobe full of fair-trade cotton vests up to a size 28. However useful as these items undoubtedly are it is nice to find something a bit more distinctive made by a small scale producer.
So I was delighted to come across the mail-order label Quail by Mail
This is a Devon-based company promising ethical, fairtrade and organic fashion and a few of their designs go up to a size 20, including the pretty Amelie top pictured above. When I placed an order with them for this I was slightly disconcerted to find that the item would be made specially to order for me as is the case with all the items in my size. However having received it in the post I am very happy with the finished result. The sleeves in particular are well-cut and the top is very flattering. I'd love to see more producers getting involved in this sector of the market that were interested in designing for non standard body shapes, but I guess they need to know that there is a market out there that would be interested in purchasing from them.

Anne Harvey

OK I'm scaring myself. Either I am finally turning into the frump-monger I'd always feared or the world is actually turning on its axis. Yesterday I found myself in Anne Harvey and actually coveting some of the clothes on offer there.
For the unfamiliar I can explain that AH have existed for the last 12 or so years and are prime High Street criminals as purveyors of elasticated polyester separates in sizes 12-28. They also had no internet presence until recently which meant that you would need to brave one of their ill considered store plans to look at their clothes.
The store layout and lighting is still from the seventies but the clothes themselves seemed to have improved in part. There was some particularly covetable outerwear. Including this jacket which is in slightly textured cotton blend (also in black). There were also a number of funnel necked formal coats in black, red and cream which were reduced from £90 to £70 and which I would certainly have bought for winter had I seen them earlier in the year.
Their size range also extends to a size 32 for some items and AH also do a petite range which I imagine must cater to a long neglected market, (especially in the West of Scotland, land of wee fat wummin). I'll certainly be keeping an eye on them and hope to post on future purchases soon.

Cast aside your Principles

So farewell then Principles. The last remaining stores of this UK and Irish based chain are fast disappearing and so there is one less place that I can go to search for something that might just fit. I went into the Glasgow Braehead branch today and bought myself this cardi more for old times sake rather than anything else. My version is in a citrussy green and there is detail on the shoulders and sleeves which the pic does not capture. Shopping there was, as always, a maddening experience. Some of the stuff on sale was lovely including some really edgy deconstructed tailoring and some funky silk throwback 80's batwinged tops. However there was much arbitrariness in the sizing. Principles has never put sizes on hangers so you have to go through the swingtags painstakingly looking for what might be there in your size. Some stuff stops at 16 some at 18 and a tiny proportion at 20, but you could never rely on sales staff to help you with this and I certainly would not have pulled them up on this today. Similarly some starts at 8 and some at 10 so there is a lack of consistency at both ends of sizing.
This stuff just drives me crazy-where is the economic sense in making it a challenge for people to find what they want. Good layout of stock and knowleable staff should be nursery stuff for retailers nowadays but it is still ignored. Sorry about the rant I'm feeling very grumpy about this. I wish Principles were staying so I could post their head office with my complaints. Oh well

Bravissimo and Lingerie Shopping

Bravissimo has grown in just a few years from a specialist retailer to a familiar high street presence. Their USP is "Lingerie, swimwear and clothing for D-K cup women" which is a rather inelegant way of saying that they are not a plus-size retailer as such but that their target market is big-boosomed women who may otherwise be slim waisted and snake-hipped. I know women like this and can empathise with the difficulty they have finding clothes that don't snag and gap simultaneously on different parts of their body.
The bonus for bigger women is that we can at least benefit from the lingerie. Bravissimo in common with other specialist retailers fit women for bras based on the size of their back and shoulders rather than measuring round the bust area. That means that they measure me as a size 36ff whereas in Marks & Spencers when I was last measured I was told to wear a 40c.
The big difference here is that if you fit yourself as advised by leaning down and scooping your boobies into a bra as you put it on (don't fret this becomes automatic after a week or two) then your chest sits higher and more flesh including the soft underarm tissue is supported. The first time you see this effect in a changing room mirror you'll be amazed as it can appear as if you've lost a fair bit of weight and your waist is emphasised as never before.
There is a downside to this which is that the fastening of the bra will emphasise all that lovely back fat and will dig in a bit more than is always comfortable. So while it should not be cutting off circulation you'll probably sigh with relief when you get your pyjamas on at the end of the day.
Bravissimo have also increasingly started to feature clothing in their stores and catalogue. With the majority of items going up to a size 18 in either curvy, really curvy or super curvy. But again as the naming suggests is only in the bust area that there is extra ease and so a size 20 tummy may not button into one of their shirts.
In terms of style there is not much here to set the heather alight. For me the pick from their recent collection is a safari-ish shirt dress shown above, but there are a lot of jersey wrap dresses to pick from which still make reasonable wardrobe staples.
Specialist independent lingerie shops still seem to exist in most Scottish towns where other types of shopping have been superceded entirely by chain stores. Some of my favourites are The Personal Touch in King Street Stirling and Upfront Lingerie in Dunfermline. I've found a better level of stock and service in these places than in any city centre store and would recommend them to all aliens.

Betty Jackson Black

I've not really written much about the Betty Jackson Black range from Debenhams which is strange since it really provides the backbone of my Wardrobe. Over the last couple of years I've gotten a great black full-skirted shirtwaister dress (my own Mad Men office outfit) a couple of pairs of well cut trousers which are as kind as any garment can be to my size 20 proportions and this week I treated myself to a blush pink cardi with a lace placket, wearing it today for the first time I got a couple of complements and felt pretty and feminine wearing it.

On the Debenhams website there are some examples of why I think the range offers some of the best choice on the High Street at the moment. The Dress on the left is priced £50; I think it is about as flattering a garment as would be wearable for larger sizes while still being lovely in its own terms.
One of the ranges other great strengths is knitwear. Again I love to wear pretty cardigans and the embellishment and level of detail here are a step above the Marks & Spencer functional stuff.
Debenhams is not always the most pleasant place to shop, especially the crowded, strip lit department store in Glasgow, and some of the designers ranges they sell veer towards the tacky. But I'm pretty sure I would buy this stuff without the lure of the Jackson name. Almost all the range goes to a size 20 and prices are reasonable for the quality of the finish.