There are so many challenges in the office that looking good shouldn’t be one of them. For the “off the rack” ladies looking good tends to be easier since there’s a plethora of stylish, suitable, office fashion for the size 00 to size 12 sect. What about suitable office fashion for plus-sized career women? Are there any unique fashion challenges for plus-sized women? There are plenty.
Aside from the inability to find anything adorable in plus sizes, it’s also harder to find something office functional. Many items still come in with the design “hallmarks” of plus sized fashion:
- Three quarter sleeves
- Four way stretch
- Bold & challenging print
- Excessive embellishment
- The Mrs. Roper MuMu
Even in the highest end of plus-sized fashion houses, I see those items. It actually seems to get worse in places that sell both plus-sized and smaller-sized clothing. One side dedicated to the cute, adorable, and trendy fashions then once you cross the chasm to the other sizes the fashion totally changes. I long to see jeans without elastic bands on BOTH sides of the store but I live in disappointment.
I was about 400 pounds when I heard the story about Oprah’s stylist who used to buy two designer suits and have a tailor put them together to make one suit for her. If one of the world’s richest women has to resort to that then what happens to the rest of us?
Here are some tips to survive the office in a plus size:
Know your size and wear it. It may make you feel better to be “in” a size but there is nothing attractive about a size 22 cramming herself into size 14 clothing. It’s essential that you appear confident at work and wondering if you are going to bust out of your pants at any moment does not convey confidence. If it makes you feel better to cut the sizes out of your clothes, do it. No one has ever looked inside the back of my shirt to check my size at work!
