Plus Size is the New Normal

* Fact: Womens Plus Size apparel has been in need of a major overhaul for decades.

* Fact: 43% of the retail apparel market is womens plus size apparel.

* Fact: Women want clothes that fit and flatter, in all sizes, and especially in sizes 16 to 30.

* Fact: Women of our size and shape want fashion forward, current styling, youthful, playful, serious, business.

* Fact: In other words, WE WANT CHOICES.

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Reed-thin models may look sharp sashaying down a runway to the murmured accolades of the fashion world. A small fraction of women may actually be able to wear the skinniest jeans, the lowest-riding bikinis, the thongs that leave absolutely nothing to the imagination. And that fraction is shrinking every month (pardon the pun).

There's an even larger fraction of us American women who are NOT considered slender, skinny, toothpick, Twiggy, or even small. Well over 65 percent of American adults are overweight by health industry standards, and over 30 percent of them are considered obese.

Some retailers are holding back, perhaps thinking that their female adult demographic is 5'10", weighs 112 pounds, and fits into their Junior Petite collections. Either that or we're all are going to wake up one morning and find we've dropped 10-20 dress sizes. Not likely.

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(Much of this advice can be applied to online shopping in general, but I'm going to focus on our goal of finding and listing the best plus size shopping locations.)

In a perfect life, shopping online would be as simple as opening a browser window that goes directly to the item you want, clicking on the [[I WANT THIS]] button, entering some payment data, and pushing Go.

Unfortunately, a perfect life doesn't exist (yet), so we have to do a great deal more work that those four steps. Where do we start?

Time, Time and More Time
One of the biggest complaints I've heard about online shopping is that it takes too much time. Many of us start with a search engine like Google, search for what we want, scan down a few entries, click on what looks interesting, surf the site and not find what we want, go back and find another site, surf that site and not find what we want, find a third site, go back to Google, refine our search, and repeat until we either find what we're looking for or give up and drive to a store, or give up and settle for something close, or give up entirely and decide we don't really need the item THAT bad.

It often boils down to a matter of time. Do you have the time to search, surf, plow through dozens of websites that may or may not have what you want? If you're like most of us, the answer to that is a resounding 'NO.'

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I am asking stores for permission to post their sizing charts here. In the meantime, while I wait for their responses, here's some general guidelines for measuring, to get you started.

How to Measure Your Body

Bust
Wrap around the fullest part of your bust. Let your arms rest at your sides in a relaxed position.

Waist
First tie a string around your waist. Bend side to side. This is your natural waistline. Wrap the tape measure around your waist. Make sure not to pull too tight.

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If you view online shopping in the same way you tackle on-the-ground shopping, you may have a lot of fun but you may also find you're not getting the complete value for your dollar that you deserve. Try these simple twists in thinking:

1 - Make sure that shipping costs are a key factor in your buying decision. In fact, look first for free shipping offers, flat rate shipping offers, super saver shipping and similar offers. Some of these offers are fleeting, with specific expiration dates, but others are company policy or long term (like Amazon's Super Saver Shipping).

2 - When you're starting out with online shopping, focus on heritage items, wardrobe staples and basics. Just like shopping in "real" stores, you'll find you do your best online shopping if you make a list before you start. The big difference is... your online shopping list includes checking for the best possible shipping savings.

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Even at my most slender size five'ness, it was difficult to view the media's portrayal of the Ultimate Female Form as an attainable goal (since I'm 5'4" or so). If we are to believe print and television, videos and movies, the ideal woman seems to be about 5'10" and weighs in just under 115 pounds after a decent meal.

So, What is a Plus-Size Model?
A plus-size model is the term applied to a woman larger than a standard U.S. size 8 who models clothing for consumers wearing a dress size 14 in North American sizing. (Source: Wikipedia) Probably the most recognizable plus-size model is Melissa Aronson (you know her as Emme), at 5'11, who wears a size 16. The plus-size label has been applied (somewhat unfairly in some cases) to other actively working models and stars. One of my absolute favorites is Dana Owens (Queen Latifah), the hallmark face of CoverGirl Cosmetics and a completely unapologetic right-size person.

In the last few years, more apparel companies are opening the doors to plus-size product lines, catalogs and online offerings, and are beginning to present wardrobe and apparel on models that are more reflective of what many more of us look like. There is progress, more every day, and there will continue to be progress as long as apparel companies keep recognizing that we are not all Kate Moss hopefuls.

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I love Tim Gunn. Wait. That came out wrong. I am a huge (pardon the pun) Tim Gunn fan and have fallen in love with his new show Tim Gunn's Guide to Style for several reasons - the biggest one of which is that he had the foresight to feature a right-size woman as one of his first makeover 'victims.'

JeAnne had recently lost a significant amount of weight, and the Before and After pictures were a clear tribute to her persistence and strength of spirit in her weight-loss endeavor. The show where she is featured is described as "Tim and Veronica give the fashion skinny to a style-impaired woman who recently lost a lot of weight. Included: fitting tips."

Removing my Stress from my Closet
As my weight climbed and my inability to exercise properly took its toll on my old skinny self, I found myself hoarding garments of my past, reciting the reassuring phrase to myself: I'll fit back into these in a few months.

The few months became a few years, then over a decade, and believe me - I was no closer to getting back into those size 5 neon blue lycra stretch pencil-thin pants than they were getting any closer to being back in style. They kept getting pushed further toward the back in the closet, supplanted by slacks I could actually get my legs into.

Keeping those old skinny-years memorabilia in the closet was doing nothing more than causing stress which caused more eating which caused more weight which caused more stress. Oh, and eating up closet space.

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Many of the most well-known and famous women of the world aren't stick-thin model types. Before we achieve style consciousness, we need to seek and attain body image acceptance. Being comfortable and aware of our form, shape, presence, is an important step. If you are comfortable and positive, standing tall and proud, the room will positively glow when you walk in.

Change if you decide you wish to change. Be as you are and proud of who you are. I can't imagine the Mona Lisa as a wallflower... can you?

Just remember our mantra, ladies...

We're curvaceous, audacious, bold, beautiful, voluptuous, sensously shapely, and we dress to show off our beautiful selves! We live in our perfectly shaped world, comfortably fashion forward and proud of it. We celebrate ourselves and our world.

No matter what beautiful size we are, we all tend to fit into one of five basic body shapes: Circle, Triangle, Inverted Triangle, Rectangle and Hourglass.

These are just guidelines, and other sites may differ radically. One site may say there are two basic types - another may claim four - and yet another may claim seven.

Let's use five shapes, since it's a nice prime number, fits with the number of fingers on one hand, and is easy to remember and relate to fashion in general.

Now let's talk about each one, shall we?

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Brought To You By...
... Plus Size Fashions at Perfectly Shaped World
... Wine and Wine Tasting, Gourmet at The Wine Lass
... Wedding Accessories and Planning at The Wedding Lass
... Cosmetics, Skin Care, Hair Care at The Beauty Lass
... Plus Size Intimates, Sleepwear at The Large Lass
... Environmentally Gentle, Eco-Friendly Apparel, Home and Power at The Ecology Lass