Where do fat women shop?

[FrostyNipples]

Please don't say Evans.

I need grown up wardrobe staples that suit a very very wobbly pear shaped size 16/18 ideally online.

I don't want sparkles or high fashion just quality, value clothes that don't fall to pieces.

Help!

I'm size 16 and in the 'very overweight' category. I feel fat as hell. No problem with people calling it what it is. I am carrying 3st of excess fat, and have a 34 inch waist. I would also like to know where does nice heavyweight clothes.

Oh come on guys. Size 16-18 is fat

Er, no. DD is 6ft tall and a size 16. Her BMI is well within the healthy range and she powerwalks five miles a day. Please don't make assumptions.

I however am fat - size 20 - and I love Taking Shape, Dorothy Perkins, Monsoon and Very. Although for some reason Monsoon is regarded as frumpy on here!

I just shop most everywhere, though Next size 18 fits me perfectly every time. I've never once set foot in an Evans!

I really like phase eight. Am a short arse, size 16 and I fond their clothes to he good quality - thick fabric, well made and their cut seems to fit me. I tend to buy in the sales though, as they are a bit pricey.

Also like m&s for jeggings - the £35 ones are thicker material and better than the £22 ones and you can get different leg lengths.

Have had some decent tops and stretch jeans from top shop but you have to be picky and lucky - I think a lot of their stuff is better suited to slim women.

RogueV whether you think it's fat or not is irrelevant. It's easy to find clothes in pretty much all shops at a 16-18. That's what the post is about clothes. And options are not limited at that size.

Masai clothes are lovely. I'm a 12/14 who wears, and loves them. My friend is an 18/20 and looks fabulous in them.

They look much better on than off.

Well I'd choose my words better if it were my thread.
Simply be
New look.
Asda
Ebay
Yours
Lindy Bop.
Having timber no longer means frumpy.

I'm an 18.
For trousers, I like Yours Clothing.
For jeans I tend to use Dorothy Perkins.
Tops - Asos and Evans are good. Also Forever 21 but not a lot of choice there.

ASOS are bloody awful for plus size dresses (think tent) and trousers (unless you have belly overhang - I don't so the trousers look ridiculously baggy at the crotch)

There's a new company called studio 8. Never purchased anything from there though as its hideous.

Not Yours, worse than Evans... Everything is made out of scuba wear it seems.

New Look
H & M
ASOS
Tesco
For everyday wear

Then I scour the international for smarter stuff

Obviously that should say internet not international

I like Toast clothing. Their sizing is a bit bonkers, I have a size 14 top that fits but I'm most definitely a 16-18. They don't do free returns though, bastards.

If you want quality, non-sparkly stuff, stay away from Next and New Look et al. Try Hobbs (sale of course) or Boden. They cut for a pear-shape and come in different lengths too. You don't say how old you are or what style you go for so it's difficult to guide you but Hobbs will be 'grown up' quality. Is this for work op?

Jesus people! Lay off.

If she wants to think she's fat, let her.

In a lot of cases, a size 16 is fat. That doesn't make you a leper, it just makes you fat!

Don't New Look have a plus size range.

You can't win on Mumsnet when it comes to weight and size.

There was a thread last year abut a woman who is a size 14 and said she didn't feel fat, although her BMI was in the overweight range... and she was utterly flamed for it!

Some people on her thread were more thoughtful and helpful - and you know what? Who has the right to care about anyone else's shape or size? - but a lot of posters laid into her saying anything over a size 10/ 12 is fat.

It was utterly awful to watch and, at the time, I was a size 16-ish, having slimmed down from a size 20 (18 in Next/ Tesco/ Asda - see my point below) so made me and many others on the thread feel quite shit. So imagine how the OP must have felt...

But this is very, very true:

I kidded myself for years that I wasn't fat... I fit into a Next size 18 so I was just "curvy"

No, at 170cm (5'7"-ish?) I weighed 111kg and had a BMI of 38.4. That's not just curvy. It was fat.

I'm still overweight by about 11kg but can fit into a Next size 12. Wrong. I have a Moschino dress which is a size 16 and fits perfectly. In other stores I am a 14.

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that clothes sizing is not a good indicator of weight/ healthiness/ whatever. Weight charts/ BMI etc are also not perfect but they are better than clothes sizing. As someone above said, you can be 6' and a size 18 and slim, or 5' and a size 18 and not slim.

Anyhow, in answer to the original question, most High Street shops go up to a size 18 and some a 20 or more. Next, Gap, M&S etc. all ahve good choices. H&M sizing was weird - sometimes I could wear an 18 but their size 18 jeans wouldn't even go past mid-thigh.

OP, you mentioned online in your original post.
Artigiano, which will be derided as 'what my mum/granny wears' by an element on here, is good for Jersey faux wrap dresses and we'll cut jackets. I've recently lost quite a bit of weight, but these, together with co-ordinating/contrasting or toning cami and opaque tights were my work 'uniform' for a long time.

The US designer Eileen Fisher does beautiful clothes for the more curvy of us - I have a fabulous swing coat and a grey silk knit top that I have worn so much. There is a shop in London on Marylebone High Street and I think Fenwick stocks the line . Unfortunately not cheap but really gorgeous clothes that are timeless and excellent quality.