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Original poster

Is it just me, or do clothes have no shape??

74 replies

KoalaDownUnder · 14/12/2016 07:53

The last few dresses I've ordered from ASOS are like boxes. They're supposed to be sort of shift dresses, but they don't go in at the waist at all.

I've increasingly found this with dresses from mid-priced high-street chains. They have no shape at all, they're just a big boxy column. If I buy something that fits my hips and chest, I can grab handfuls of material around my rib cage and waist. V unflattering.

Is it just me who has this new problem? Confused

OP posts:
chanie44 · 15/12/2016 10:50

It may just be that those dresses don't suit your shape. I'm an inverted triangle, so I can't wear anything that emphasises a small waist eg skater dresses. Those style of dresses worn for me. I bet you'd look lovely in something a bit more figure hugging.

mummydawn07 · 15/12/2016 13:16

I'm quite busty and a have a curvy figure and I am also a midget that's 5ft nothing, so I have a really hard time finding clothes that look nice on me or are flattering for my body shape, some dresses etc just make me look frumpy and a lot of the clothes I see these days all look like they are aimed and stick insects, I don't like to show cleavage as it just gets unwanted attention/looks, and trying to find tops that don't show any but don't completely cover up the whole chest area is proving a problem for me lately too, it doesn't help that my legs are so bloody short that finding jeans to fit leg length is a pain in the arse too, what's a girl to do Sad also I don't like to buy clothes online, I prefer to be able to look at it feel it and try it on if need be, instead of ordering it finding out there's some sort of issue and having to send it back again

user1477282676 · 15/12/2016 13:42

The first dress looks baggy on the waist and the second dress is being held in at the waist by the model.

Change shapes...shift dresses are shapeless.

LauraBiding · 15/12/2016 14:49

I have found this no-waist problem since I grew hips aged 12 in the 90s! Trousers are the worst.

Had a lovely shift dress that looked great from the front but like a tent from the side (am small of boob so it was like a triangle). I wore it with a fairly wide belt to show my waist - seems to work with some styles.

BalloonSlayer · 15/12/2016 15:22

I found this when looking at jumpers this year.

They were all squares with sleeves.

Want2bSupermum · 15/12/2016 16:34

I have a theory its because these clothes are made in China. If you look at Chinese women they tend to be thin and not have wider hips or big chests (just a generalization but that is what I observed). I can imagine that when you are trying to do your quality control, it is very difficult to do it in bigger sizes when you don't have many people in that size. My friend who is Nigerian has a terrible time buying clothes that fit properly over her bottom. No issues in Nigeria but really struggles here and has to get everything altered.

For good tailoring take a look at coast, LK Bennett, Reiss, Hobbs and Jigsaw in the sales. Jaeger is good too but their sizing is weird. I am a 12 in that place and a 16 everywhere else.

Sara107 · 15/12/2016 19:10

I bought a few tops on line recently which in the photos looked like they were a sort of loose, floaty fit (M+S). They were a truly weird square shape when they arrived, with sort of excess shapeless fabric ballooning round the back but quite tight over the tummy and hips. They are the only garments I have ever tried that appear to be both too big and too small at the same time...
Square is not a good shape for clothes!

Oblomov16 · 15/12/2016 21:19

I don't think current fashion is for hourglass. A pain, if like me, you have an hourglass figure.

Wigeon · 15/12/2016 22:25

Totally agree. Went shopping for jumpers and they were all massive boxes which managed to make me look shapeless and fat when I've got a lovely waist and am not fat. Almost impossible to buy things which actually fit my shape (totally standard female shape involving having a waist and having hips and a bum).

BillStickersIsInnocent · 16/12/2016 07:07

I've never had a waist so this trend suits me perfectly

I love reading reviews that say 'waist too big, shapeless, far too much material' as know will be great for me.

There are brands that are cut properly for hour glasses though - French Connection and Great Plains (same people), Reiss, LK Bennett. I rarely buy anything there as nothing fits. Oh and Baukjen.

IKnowWhyACagedBirdSings · 16/12/2016 07:12

I was going to post on this very subject. Clothes are mostly shapeless nowadays, I think this has some bearing on the current obesity problem. When clothes were more fitted,people watched what they ate.

schnubbins · 16/12/2016 07:14

I agree with want2bsupermum , the clothes do seem to be made more for the size and shape of chinese women.The shops are full of boxy everything.Its like they have one pattern, round high neck and square shape be it in dresses, blouses or jumpers. I can find nothing with a scooped or V neck which are way more flattering for those of us with for larger boobs.As for the length , I am 5ft 10 and most of the square dresses on sale are like tunics on me nothing is made longer just wider .Anything that is any way waisted sits under my boobs.I am not overweight and my figure is fairly proportional but female i.e. boobs, waist and hips but find getting clothes to fit me is becoming increasingly difficult.

DeliciousIrony · 16/12/2016 07:47

Ugh, I'm with you OP (although tbf I would have expected shift dresses to be fairly straight up and down, and tend to avoid them). I am short and fairly hourglassy and resort to a waist belt on a lot of dresses to avoid looking like a sack of potatoes. I find tops worse for being bosy and unflattering though, always love finding a good top that goes in at the right places.

NicknameUsed · 16/12/2016 08:05

They don't suit me as I am pear shaped and to get anything over my hips means the top is too big and billows baggily and emptily like Santa's sacks on his way home after a busy Christmas Eve.

The dress that gains me the most compliments is a simple fit and flare dress that I bought from M and Co a couple of years ago. It actually manages to make me look like I have a curvy top half and the flare bit just makes me look more hour glass than pear.

Although, I did buy this linene shift dress from Next this year and found it was very flattering. I sized up and sewed the sides in a little on the top half.

SpringSpringSpring · 16/12/2016 11:50

I like these at the moment because I am pear shaped if you see me front on but have a problem with bloating and so a horrible sticky out tummy for about half the day. The dresses don't look great standing straight in front of a mirror but when you move around they are flattering because the material moves between norks/hips so you can see there is a waist there. I think they need softish material though.

SpringSpringSpring · 16/12/2016 11:51

^ not pear-shaped - hourglass

SmashingInAthleticWear · 16/12/2016 12:59

Skater dresses all the way! Or "fit & flare", yes (dunno what the difference is!)

Winter jumpers have been like this for several years now though, which is very irritating. It is practically impossible to find a nice warm jumper which isn't baggy.

IJustLostTheGame · 16/12/2016 19:57

I'd love to wear boxy clothes.
Unfortunately boxy clothes do not love me. I am great of nork and hip whilst teeny at the waist

NicknameUsed · 16/12/2016 20:01

Be happy with your curves IJust. Being flat chested is no fun.

blueshoes · 16/12/2016 22:51

I believe anything from Asos that says column dress means it goes straight up and down.

BabCNesbitt · 16/12/2016 23:03

I read a few years ago (I think in Overdressed by Elizabeth Cline) that the trend towards floatier, less fitted clothes was because clothes were being made in Asia, but not because Asian women are slimmer or smaller. Rather, it's that fast fashion demands a preposterous turnaround of clothes in the sweatshop-type factories there, and it's much cheaper and faster to make sacks with no darts and no fancy necklines than to try and make something that actually, y'know, fits and flatters. Then they tell us the sacks are fashionable.

Same reason that fabrics are thinner and floatier and the main distinction between clothes is the prints on the fabric or the slogans stamped on them - it's all about reducing speed and overheads.

KnitFastDieWarm · 16/12/2016 23:52

hourglass here, size 14-16 with an 11 inch waist-hip difference - i feel your pain Grin i guess it's just what's in fashion right now and it looks amazing on women who are more straight bodied but have good legs. just one of those things i guess!

i knit all my own sweaters to avoid the 'box with sleeves' look and am going to learn to sew next year so i can do the same with dresses - might be worth a try?

IDismyname · 17/12/2016 03:04

KnitFast Do you do commissions?? (Seriously?)

I really really struggle on the jumper front. I end up buying V necked cardigans and buttoning them up round about where my waist is. I bought a cardigan from East a few years back that's a fit and flare kind of shape. It's wonderful, but a very fine merino, so no good for proper winter.

I also agree that it's probably a cost thing. I mean, if you can get away with no darts (and most of the population don't appear to need them...), then why bother?

OlennasWimple · 17/12/2016 03:15

The whole of the Cos website seems to be full of shapeless box dresses (and models who look miserable and hungry)

OP and others - if something fits well everywhere other than the waist, could it be worth taking it to a tailor to get it adjusted? It's amazing what they can do, and not necessarily very expensive either

CallarMorvern · 17/12/2016 07:36

Strangely, I haven*t found this at all. I'm an hourglass, size 14, 5' 10. I've just bought a pair of jeans, that for the first time ever don't need a belt, they have a 70s vibe, kickflares very tightly fitted and stretchy, with a nipped in,3 button waistband. I'm not a dress person, but I have a lovely, shapely, fit and flare dress from Peacocks and their long sleeve T shirts are close fitting. Jumpers at TKMaxx seem very fitted, I have a lovely Kew one from them, also have beautifully tailored plain white shirt. Sometimes I size down if it's a stretchy fabric, which helps.
I've never set foot in places like Cos or Hush, can't afford to. Though I buy second hand Gant jumpers, as they are also very fitted.
My bugbear is sleeves not being long enough on mst things.