If my friend Ann, a 36DDD, hadn’t told me about a shirt she loves from Not Your Daughter’s Jeans, I never would have ventured into that section of Bloomingdale’s last Wednesday, and it was only because she said she loved it that I didn’t pan it immediately after trying it on. Readers, we have again a classic case of All Full-Breasted Women’s Bodies Are Not Identical.
In the picture above, Ann is wearing an XL (in numerical sizing, she usually wears a 14). It fits her shoulders perfectly, and although there may be the slightest gap at the bustline, it’s the kind of gap* she can close with a safety pin and no one would ever know. The interesting thing about this shirt is that the front panel, collar and cuffs are made of woven fabric, but the back and sleeves are made from a fabulous soft knit.
This is a casual shirt that can be dressed up. In fact, when Ann wore it under a black jacket to work, her boss told her, “You look very executive today.” The cuffs have a dressy faux-French cuff effect and can be worn folded up, as you see in this picture, or down. The collar can be stood up or worn flat.
When I tried this shirt on in a Large, it didn’t work. If I had tried to fix the gap with a safety pin, it would have been obvious, and the shoulder seams of the Large were almost an inch down my shoulders. I knew the seams in the XL would be worse. It’s a good thing I didn’t stop there and post a review of this shirt because, based on Ann’s experience, it will obviously work for some of you. With it’s versatility and $80 price tag, I wish it worked for me!
*I’m against all gaps on principle, but we know there’s a scale of gaps we can work with and gaps we can’t. From a 1 (no gap) to a 10 (no way), this shirt on Ann is probably a 2.
