I just found Peggy Lutz Plus. It's primarily evening wear, beautiful arts-y clothes. Expensive! Plus size models, easy site to navigate. Bridal wear! The clothing is custom made for your measurements, but they do have some "Ready To Wear" choices. Interesting sizing systems that makes my 18W-20W a size SMALL! Sizes up to 38W-40W.

Now ... if I only had a reason to wear a velvet gown and cape!

cool! i loved playing with the hair styles.

Thanks for posting that link! It's one of the few plus-sized sites I have never seen before. I want one of those ball skirts, but they cost much more than I have ever paid for a piece of clothing in my life (including my own wedding dress, which I bought used) and I don't have any place to wear one, so I'll just have to fantasize about owning one!

I have to chime in on Landsend. I've been a customer for years. I was so disappointed when I could no longer where my misses size 20 chinos because, at the time, they didn't carry plus sizes. (side note - I can now wear the misses 20s again, they may be 12 years old but chinos never go out of style.)
However, I have not bought from them since I discovered that they couldn't "make" a model with my height and weight specifications. It was a while ago, but I put in 5'8", 235 and I got the lovely can't do it message. Mind you, they sell plus sizes!!! But they can't puff up a model to fit me?? It annoyed the crap out of me and I haven't been back. Not even to overstocks. (And I do miss it!)

http://www.pearlparadise.com/

. . . because woman should not live by clothes alone. . .

caveat emptor. . . I have not done business with these people*yet* but they are on my lifetime list of things to do . . .

Casey,

I played with the Virtual Model to try to see what I would look like when I hit goal weight, and also to see what I looked like when I started LCing in January at 252. At the higher weight, I also got the no-can-do message. I don't think that Lands End created Virtual Model, but are just vendors--I've seen the same thing at LLBean.

Have you tried letting Lands End know why they lost a customer? I've found them very receptive, and I think that complaining might be more effective than marching. I had a suggestion for them once, and I got a note back from the president of the company, to my surprise.

Just a thought. . .

The comments about formal wear made me remember this site: Xcentricities Corsets by Ynhared.

I recently purchased a corset dress from these designers. I'm planning to wear it to a formal event in November. (My dress is black with peacock blue and green accents instead of the red and black that the model is wearing, plus mine doesn't have lapels).

I'm off to Lands' End to see if they'll model me. If not, they'll be hearing from me!

Spiderdust ~ Wow! Finally a solution to that stubborn Apple shape! You know we've truly entered a post-feminist world when the guy's have a corset section all to themselves. I can image you'll look stunning for your fancy event in November. I would love try one on myself ... maybe the Victorian Corset & Fishtail Skirt.

Kathleen ~ Fun pearl site! I like the white South Sea pearl pendant on a simple white gold chain. {sigh} A girl can dream ...

Lands' End couldn't make a model for me ...

... However you can go cyber shopping with My Virtual Model. She goes up to 350 pounds -- but 280 looks an awful lot like like 350 on my model. Anyways, get a load of what I'll look like at 190!



As if! I've got skin like a basset hound. In order to look like this, I'd have to roll up my extra belly skin and stuff it into those tiny little panties. And that's just for starters.

But it's sure fun to help imagine what I'd look like so skinny*.

(Where else but the TDC could I refer to a weight of 190 as 'skinny'? But you guys get it, I know you do.)

Another place I like to shop in person, as well as on-line is Catherine's. Though their prices day-to-day are high, they have GREAT sales! I bought a really nice 3-piece suit for $35, after all the price cuts! I'm definitely going to check out some of the other places mentioned here, though - there's quite a few I haven't heard of.

My experience with Silhouettes was that their material was cheap - most are imported and didn't wash well. I only bought 2 items there that I didn't return to them, and they were made-in-the-USA sweaters.

Monika,
ROFL!!!! Yeah, this version of MVM should be on the web sites of the post-weight-loss plastic surgeons, yes? I'm going to go visit that site and see what I'd look like now if I'd kept on eating . . .

Seriously, though (o why) I did find an uncanny resemblance between MVM and what I looked like at 150 when I was briefly there. . . It's also fun to rotate them and see what we look like from behind. . . .

Okay, so I'm playing with this. Yeah, I find that once she gets over 240, like the rest of us, MVM goes into serious denial. ("I don't look THAT much heavier at 345 than I did at 245, do I? Be honest. . . ") although above 220, she switches from the above-mentioned tiny little butt-floss panties to something a little more sensible and supportive.

I look fine at 150, and also at 50, for that matter--but take it any lower and the mother-box firmly scolds us that we MUST keep our weight between 50 and 350. Sigh.

It would be fun to play with this and see how and when fashion advice changes from hot mama to sensible shoes. . . perhaps another day. . . perhaps not. . .

Okay, okay, we knew I would, didn't we? So the advice is the same at 250 as at 150, I liked that. I was urged to consider horizontal elements at the shoulders and vertical ones at the hips. What does that mean, epaulets and a holster?

I was playing around with MVM this morning too....interesting little thingie. I found it most interesting that I looked the same at 290 as I did at 220...ya know, I'm pretty sure 70 pounds would show a little difference.

After fiddling with that, I thought I'd shop with her at my goal weight of 150. Nothing looked good on her and the selection was incredibly limited. For a minute there, I actually thought maybe I should redefine my goal...then I remembered 140 pounds lost is nothing to balk at. I betcha I'll look better at 150 than that little cartoon does.

You brought back a funny memory, Susan, haven't thought of this for years:

A friend of mine, when a 135 lb teenager, was moaning to her dad about how `fat' she was, and comparing herself with a friend who weighed 103. He was baffled, and said, "Why would you want to look like her?" Friend replied, "She looks so good in clothes." He said, "Maybe, but I bet you look better than her out of 'em," and walked away laughing.

Congrats on your progress so far, and we'll be looking forward to seeing you outshine MVM at 150.

This is slightly (only slightly, I'd argue) off topic, but the new issue of More magazine (which is for women over 40) has a "bathing suit makeover" feature, where they supposedly plucked women off the beach and got them to try on different suits. None of the women is obese, but several are heavy (including a 21 year old). They all look significantly better is the different suits. The one piece of advice I've gleaned from looking at the pictures is that we all really should stop wearing those old comfy stretched out bathing suits if anyone else is going to see us. And there is one from L.L. Bean in the mix, so we can order it online.

All right, folks, now you have put me in a difficult position.

I've been happily shopping out of the Lands End catalogue for years without ever trying their virtual model, so I had no idea they did not have a virtual model in my size. Now that I've learned that, I feel like I should boycott them, but I've finally reached the point where I can fit into their Long bathing suits (they only go up to size 18) and I look a lot better in a bathing suit in Long that fits me than I do in a regular length bathing suit a size too big (which is what I need to buy if I can't find a Long, so I could stretch the fabric down to fully cover me). And, as Diane just posted, having a bathing suit that fits right can make all the difference in the world.

I don't know anyone other than Lands End that makes one piece bathing suites in size 18 Long? Does anyone know of another brand?

Liz, a while back I was trying to tell you about a brand of bathing suits, supposedly cut long that I've seen at department stores, called Longtitude, but I think you thought I meant regular ladies' business suits, and I never cleared it up. They do come in plus sizes. Here's a link to some of the styles (I couldn't find a manufacturer's link).

However, I just went into Lands End and tried to make a model based on your height of 5'9" and weight of 232 and had no problem. So....they do provide models your size! I was also able to make one with AntiM's height of 5'11" and weight of 240, but when I went up to 270 they said they couldn't do it. So they do have annoying limits, but I think they've expanded the parameters from when they first started offering the virtual model.