First up, this Zac & Rachel blouse in XL for $15 at Marshall’s. It uses low quality fabric and a plastic zipper, but after I saw this photo from the dressing room, I had to buy it. The princess seams give me shape, the zipper precludes any gaping (and as an added bonus, it doesn’t smash me flat either), and I actually don’t need a cami when I wear a nude bra. I do have one giant reservation about this blouse, however. Can you see what it is?
Yep! Two inches of cleavage. Since I don’t work in an office environment, I may just pretend the shadows disguise it and wear it out. At the very least, I can use it as a sort of jacket. In fact, as I write this I’m wearing it open over a turquoise tank top above a black pencil skirt.
Edit: By the way, the neckline falls at 10 inches from my shoulder seam. My apex is 11 inches down. My niece and I just finished entering all the neckline depth survey results into a spreadsheet to analyze, and I’m looking forward to sharing the results with you next week!
Next up, the Jackie O dress from Black Halo, featured in today’s Wall Street Journal. According to the article, it has these amazing features:
- “slightly draped chest with an asymmetrical neckline . . . roomy enough for women with larger busts”
- high waist makes legs look longer
- pencil skirt style creates curves from waist to knees
- seaming camouflages at midsection
Some stores, like Norstrom, offer it up to a size 14. However, after culling the reviews from women who consider themselves busty, it looks like some of us are going to have to try this dress ourselves and report back!
- I’m very busty but I didn’t feel like it was screaming “look at my chest!” at all. Very flattering for this curvy girl
- I am normally a size 4-6, am a D-cup, and had to order this dress in a size 8 to fit my chest. The top fit (barely), the waist was a tad loose, the hip was just really big. The dress is also very long and went about 2-3 inches past my knee and I am 5’6″. But I like this dress so much that I kept it.
- I am 5’6″ and weigh 130 lbs. I wear a size 32D bra so I am not tiny. The top part of the dress was way too big and the bottom pretty tight. It is made for someone who is tiny on the bottom and big on top.
Also, some women disliked the strange armholes.
Evidently every celebrity in the world wears this dress, so I tried to find it on Sofia Vergara and Christina Hendricks. No luck, but I did find them wearing these Black Halo dresses. Again, it looks like we’ll just have to try their dresses ourselves.
About that shirt…
I found an interesting tuxedo style button down at Ross -Signature by Larry Levine. The top has stretch panels in the sides so it actually fits an hourglass shape, and stretches to allow the front (buttons) to not gape. Miraculously, the underarms aren’t seamed at my waist, too! I saw the same design at Kohl’s in lavender.
This may be it…only mine is white, size XL. Looks rather unimpressive but I was amazed to discover it fit.
http://www.kgstores.com/shop/pd_zac-and-rachel-burnt-orange-blouse_11153_10053_60113_-1_59967_300123334__WOMEN%27S+PLUS+SIZE
This is great to know, Widecurves! I found this same shirt while looking for mine online, but I didn’t pay any attention to it because of the buttons. Knowing that it has stretch side panels makes a big difference.
It made ALL the difference. While most are amazed to find a button-down that doesn’t gape I was more amazed that the sleeves weren’t attached at my waist. I just kind of stood there for a few minutes, staring. Seriously.
I think the blouse at Kohl’s was made under a different name, and the fit was slightly different. I didn’t buy it since I’m not a lavender girl and already had the white one. Mine definitely says Signature by Larry Levine.