Drowning In Jersey

…Otherwise known as… plus-size window shopping! Actually that’s rather unfair, and I’m going to try and keep my bitching to a minimum. Wish me luck!

Recently the workhorse of British plus size, Evans, held a twitter conversation with their web-savvy consumers asking them what they wanted to see in the new autumn collection. This was a brilliant idea and it’s great to see a brand interacting with their customers in this way. Inevitably we asked them to tie in more closely with catwalk trends – at the moment these are the tough vs romantic combinations: studs, zips, structure and mesh jostling for space with feminine drapes, chiffon, and nudes. To Evans’ credit, they have incorporated on trend elements in to their clothes. But like Simply Be before them, they’re only in context of their usual tunics. Here are some examples (please excuse my exhausted post gym face and hair, by the way!):

Trend 1: Structured Shoulders

This particular tunic/dress has a special tag on it exclaiming “straight from the catwalk!” And yes, power shoulders have been present throughout the year on catwalks and, increasingly, in the high street. But even with the eyelet design in the back, there’s nothing particularly striking about this garment – it does look and feel like someone’s sewn a couple of shoulder pads into a t-shirt. Of course this makes a great base for accessorisation, I understand that, but surely it’s not such a stretch to create a statement piece in itself? Or am I asking for too much?

I did turn the tunic round to see if that made a difference:

Slightly better – if a little risque in the cleavage area!

Trend 2: Studs

Being brutally honest here: when I picked this top off the rack, I let out a large groan. But, happily, it looked much nicer and more sensical on my body than on the hanger. The material was still viscose, but unstretchy. It still had no form to it, however.

Admittedly the photos here don’t do the draping of this tunic justice. One thing I will say in Evans’ favour is that while they use jersey and viscose far too much than is neccessary, it is least of a decent quality! Not quite sure what the parachute leads are for, but overall this did look rather nice. I also turned this around to see what it looked like – unfortunately to stop it from being NSFW I ended up strangling myself a bit. Ha!

Sigh. I do feel immensely guilty ragging on Evans in this way. They have the thankless task of catering to plus size women of all ages and all tastes, all over the world! No wonder they have to dilute trends down to something accessible. But on the other hand, they are the elder sister of the Arcadia clan – surely they can emulate some of their trendier siblings‘ apparel fairly easily?

I’m not sure what the answer is. Perhaps more capsule ranges? The sales figures aren’t in for the Ditto range yet, but I’m guessing it was incredibly successful…

I did venture into other stores (even a non-Arcadia one, gasp!) although I still looked thoroughly miserable! Here you go with some pics:

Dorothy Perkins:

Military Dress/Knitted Dress

New Look – Inspire

Studded Bandau/‘Beaded’ Bubble Top/Colour Block Tunic

What do you think? Is the curse of viscose something us plus sizers have to just deal with? Am I being really whiney for no good reason? Should I just suck it up and start wearing leggings?

Tags: dorothy perkins, evans, fashion, new look inspire, plus size, plus size fashion, simply be