Dressing an athletic frame.

[rightknockered]

I weight train, run, and do yoga. I am finding it increasingly difficult to find clothes that fit me. The best thing for me are t-shirts with skirts. That way I don't have to worry about fit around shoulders/arms/chest/back because the fabric will have some give. Skirts because I don't have to worry about my thighs and calves. I rarely wear dresses if I can size up slightly without making my shoulders look huge, and they mustn't look stupid belted. To add to it all, I'm an inverted triangle shape. I can carry on like this, there is plenty of variety in the shops. But I want a blouse or two that I can put on, without them making me looking huge ( shoulders) and having enough room so I can actually move my arms.

What are others that work out, have slightly muscular builds, doing for clothes that actually fit.
In the winter I have the joy of coats and jackets/

Sleeveless stuff is the answer. Or cap sleeves. If you have good arms, which you will if you weight train and do yoga, you should show them off and as a bonus, there’s no problem with sleeves being tight over shoulders (I have this problem sometimes: raise your arms suddenly and hear a rip from the sleeve seam!)

Michelle Obama is tall and broad shouldered (as am I) and she dresses well for her shape. Gemma Atkinson, who was on Strictly last year, is a similar build: tall and Amazonian. Look at what they wear.

I tend to go for high necked, sleeveless stuff that shows off my arms and shoulders and has a slight ‘architectural’ vibe (I.e. not clingy with interesting detail). Cotton works well in that sort of shape, and I buy tops from Cos and M&S Autograph. Very feminine, girly stuff, like cinched waists and sweetheart necklines, doesn’t suit me. I also avoid thin straps on tops, because although I am proud of my shoulders, thin straps make them look much bigger.

You don’t say why you worry about your thighs and calves. Why are you worrying? Between running, weights and yoga your legs will be in great shape. Flaunt them! Because I don’t wear low necklines - nothing to see - I wear shorts, short-ish skirts and skinny cropped trousers.

Don't suppose you've ever tried on anything from Bravissimo/Pepperberry? They have 3 bust sizes per dress size; you could try the smallest one one that's just called 'curvy' which is about D-E. (If you are doing new-style measuring that is not large.)

I have big shoulders and had always been used to them being at least one size bigger than I needed for the rest of a garment - two sizes bigger than my waist when I was really slim - and I unexpectedly found that the Bravissimo tops fit my shoulders as well as bust and waist.

Shirts can be cut very exactly so it would be obvious if not filled out up top. Their padded winter jackets don't have the same obvious darts so are more forgiving.

Thankyou both. I do wear a lot of sleeveless tops, and have a few cap sleeved t-shirts and agree they are very flattering and I like that I don't have to worry in this heat about wobbly bits, apart from my slight loose skin on my tummy.
The thing with my thighs and calves is that I can't get skinny jeans to fit unless I go up 2 sizes then they don't fit my waist and are baggy around my arse. I know that they are on their way out and other shapes are in, I own two pairs of flared jeans now, a couple of pairs of straight legs and even cropped ones. But I just want to be able to wear them. I suppose I'll have to let that go.
I mostly wear active wear now when not at work/going out. Just wanted to be able to do some wardrobe planning for Autumn and have seen a few blouses that should fit since they are supposedly loose fitting and blousey but again can't get them to fit my arms, shoulders and underarms without going up at least two sizes. I'm a size 6 and tried on up to a size 12, where it began to look just stupid.

I used to wear men's jeans when I was a muscly Uni rower and still wear sleeveless tops mainly (yoga/tennis/swim so a tiny bit muscly around shoulders) with oversized jumpers/cardis if colder

And lots of sleeveless dresses, and jackets (without shoulder pads) for smart

Lots of good stuff around at the mo, IMO, as loose fit boxy tops are "in" I have some lovely baggy/oversized but flattering merino jumpers from H&M

Forgot to say in the earlier post - have you tried getting stuff altered? I have had darts put in casual shirts to make them more fitted around the waist. Taking in a more loose fitting shape would be a different job but someone experienced in alterations will know how to do it.

If it's a question of balancing budget, a really good fit can make something cheap look more polished (so get less expensive clothes to have altered) and it's easy to be enthusiastic about wearing something that fits well when it's relatively rare you do, so you should get plenty of use out of it.

Lined jackets and coats would need more skill so it's more a question of budget and finding someone good. In a major city it will be possible to find an alterations and tailoring place with a good track record. In a smaller place, if you can't get recommendations and tend to buy expensive garments I would consider a test run using a low budget or second hand jacket.

That is a really good tip about alterations.

I sometimes buy men’s shirts instead of ladies’ because they fit my body pumped shoulders better (and are often made of better fabric also...men aren’t going to be fobbed off with bloody polyester viscose).

Welcome to my world - I feel your pain. Try combining it with blonde/blue/pale and it’s a shopping nightmare. All the strsight/dramatic/artictectural clothes tend to be dark or white which i cant wear (bright spring colouring).

The answer is sleeveless stuff thats shaped so it skims but its not fitted and stretchy cotton is perfect (saves busting armholes).

I like karen millen, warehouse, mango and reiss.

Agree on alterations. I buy large everything and then get it tailored. only costs about £30-£40 normally.