Jersey Girls

Before we jump full force into our fashion week coverage (from the epic beauty of Peter Som for Bill Blass to the head scratching beauty of Marc Jacobs) were going to look at another designers foray into the plus market. Norma Kamali has introduced her first plus sized styles, available for pre-order at Nordstrom.



The collection looks promising, not much there yet but the drape dress looks great and hopefully there will be more soon. Another stylish option out there for plus-sized girls from an impeccable designer but I do have to wonder at the proliferation of jersey on the plus sized market. Granted, Kamali is known for popularizing jersey in the 80s so she's a natural fit but does anyone else feel like they're entering the local athletic supply store every time they hit the plus size department nowadays? Jersey is popular across the board but much like the millennial obsession with velour I can't help but wonder how such a patently difficult fabric has become so beloved.

Dirty is in her lover's arms, it is London in the morning

Word up, readers. A number of you have, in the past few months, written in asking for plus-size shopping recommendations in London. And each time I've lazily replied, with some hilarious comment about how I'll be sure to put up my answers on the site soon, totally look out for them, etc., etc. It took Miss J's fabulous and popular innovation, Ask TFFF, to spur me to action. That, and threats of violence.

Remember, we're weird here in the uck, as no-one pronounces 'UK', so you need to add two sizes to your US size to work out your UK size. E.g. US 16 is a UK 20. All the sizes in this post are UK.

Let's start with Zone 1's shopping hub, around the misery-fest of Oxford Circus and Bond Street tube stations...

High Street

Store: Primark
Flagship: Oxford Street
Tube: Marble Arch or Bond Street
Sizes: Up to 18/20, generous

High-street mecca for everyone because dresses cost £10! Knickers for a pound! Scarves, earrings and bags abound for a fiver! Definition of fast fashion, it's very trendy but very unethical, made by orphans in far distant lands, etc. But their stuff is totally cute, so...every cloud.

Store: Monsoon
Address: Oxford Street/London-wide
Tube: Oxford Circus
Sizes: 8-22.

Think 'Boho Luxe': lots of blouses and dresses, very silk/satin/embellished. They have lovely accessories and jewellery too, very affordable, and a sister shop called Accessorize which is (clue in the name...) accessories only.

Store: Evans
Address: Plaza Centre, Oxford Street/London-wide
Tube: Oxford Circus/Tottenham Court Road
Sizes: 16-32.

Great for knee-high boots with room in the calves. Owned by the same company as Topshop, it used to be terrible but it's getting better, though still quite polyester-focussed.

Store: Dorothy Perkins
Address: Oxford Street
Tube: Oxford Circus/Tottenham Court Road
Sizes: 6-22.

Marginally less cool than Topshop but also less expensive, owned by the same umbrella company. Cute tops and blouses, although it's somewhat mumsy -- think Marks and Spencer for old-before-their-time twenty-somethings. Uh, but you can find nice things if you have a rummage, and it's all in sizes 6-22, rather than a separate plus range. Plus Tall, Petite and Maternity ranges.

Store: New Look
Flagship: Oxford Street
Tube: Bond Street/Marble Arch
Sizes: Inspire Range, 16-26

The flagship is a walk-up with fabulous gold steps leading into HEAVEN: New Look has the BEST range of shoes on the high-street. That's fact, and not journalistic hyperbole. The clothes are so-so, but I've found some fab H&M-esque numbers there, and obviously OMG GILES DEACON!!! does a range. Walk right past the Lily Allen tat though.

Department Stores/Boutiques

Store: Base
Address: Monmouth Street, Covent Garden
Tube: Leicester Square/Covent Garden
Sizes: 16-28

Specialist plus-size only boutique.

Store: Selfridges
Address: Oxford Street
Tube: Bond Street
Sizes: up to 26 for selected brands.

Stocks Marina Rinaldi.

Store: Harrods
Address: Knightsbridge
Tube: Knightsbridge

Harrods' Plus Collections department stocks Anna Scholz (up to size 28), Elena Miro (Elena Miro also has a shop on Regent Street), Gianfranco Ferre, and Persona.

Store: Beige
Address: New Cavendish Street
Tube: Bond Street
Sizes: 16-28

Specialist boutique that stocks Elena Miro, Persona, Oui, Hucke, Wille, Elena Grunert, Alain Weiz...

Underwear and Hosiery

Store: Rigby & Peller
Address: Conduit Street (pronounced 'Cund-it', which, whilst not rude, for some reason makes me snort and chuckle)
Tube: Oxford Circus
Sizes: up to 40G

Titty galore! R&P does expensive, but fabulous, lingerie. They have a super-strict measuring service (their mission is to get people into the right bra!), without being Trinny and Susannah-ish about their titty-wrangling, and carry sizes up to 40G. It's fairly expensive but so, so worth it for their stuff, or even just to get measured right as they really know what they're doing.

Store: Marks & Spencer
Flagship: Oxford Street
Tube: Bond Street/Marble Arch

Cheap and basic bras, but a great selection: black/white/beige/nude T-shirt bras; multi-way bras, strapless, bright colours, lacy, sports, underwire-free, shaper, minimiser, maximiser... M&S is boob central, basically.

As in my last post, Marks & Sparkles also do plus-size hosiery, and lots of plus-size items. Most of their clothing is horrifically frumpy, but - and Jeremy Paxman be damned - for bras, knickers, vests, socks, hosiery, and basics, you can't go too far wrong.

Accessories

Store: Topshop Flagship
Flagship: Oxford Street
Tube: Oxford Circus
Sizes: N/A

Philip Green is an evil skeezeball, and Topshop's sizing system verges on sadistic, but daaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn the ground floor accessories section at their flagship is worth it. Handbags, belts, purses, scarfs, hairpieces, makeup, telephones and household items, earrings, necklaces, concessions and pop-up shops, everything... You'll find shoes in the basement, too.

Store: Liberty
Address: Regent Street/Great Marlborough Street
Tube: Oxford Circus/Piccadilly Circus

Liberty is lovely. It's like Tiffany's. It can do no wrong. Be soothed by designer handbags, inordinately expensive perfume and lovely, lovely things on the ground floor, before tripping up the fabulous staircase to the shoe section... Plus you can have Champagne & oysters there...yum.

Vintage and Ethical

From Liberty, stroll through Carnaby Street (ignore American Apparel and check out shoes in Office and bath things in Lush) to Soho, which has a bajillion adorable little streets where porn shops/sex cinemas sit cheek-by-jowl with little boutiques/vintage shops. Do try not to mix the two up.

West London: Rellik (vintage), and From Somewhere (ethical).
Soho and East London: Beyond Retro (vintage), and Junky Styling (ethical).
Victoria: Cornucopia (vintage).
South: Radio Days (vintage).

Apparently London has all this other shit, like Buckingham Palace, the Queen, Royal Parks, the Tower, Dungeons, museums, galleries, theatres, and shit. But who cares, right?

Readers' Recommendations

Don't forget to check out the comments to this post, which is full of personal recommendations from fashionable Brits: including suggestions for larger-sized shoes, a couple of mentions for excellent lingerie company Bravissimo, which I shamefully forgot to include, and other tried-and-tested outlets.

She's a total Betty!

My favourite luxury sportswear brand, Sweaty Betty, has just launched a new plus size range, in UK sizes 16 to 20 (approx. US 12 to 16): B.Betty. Excellently, the range consists of the most popular items from the standard collection, re-cut to fit the fuller figure (rather than the usual practice of selling totally different stuff from the rest of the store).


Rose rolldown pant, £45; Razi V-neck Tee, £38; Ruth Plunge Vest, £35, all B.Betty at Sweaty Betty.

If you head to the Sweaty Betty website before 19 December, you can get an awesome 10% discount off the B.Betty plus size collection. Just type B.Betty in the box when you checkout.

It's raining, it's pouring, it's a Monsoon

I'm very busy and important, but I just have time to tell you that as I was sprinting along Oxford Street in my horrifically high heels (sort of like a better dressed and less irritating Carrie Bradshaw - now with 100% less whimsy!), I spotted something ne'er before seen on the high street, did a double take, and nearly broke my neck. I'm so coooooooooooooool.

Said spazzmoddery was caused by seeing, writ large in hot fuschia lettering across the window of Monsoon, "Sizes 8 to 22 available in store".

!!!

Okay, it's not 'Storming of the Bastille'-level of important (and why that should pop into my head as a 'scale of importance reference' I don't know), but for a moderately expensive upscale high street chain to not just stock plus sizes, but -- gasp -- announce it, brazenly, in hot pink lettering, is kind of unusual, non? Especially since most shops, as we've learned, prefer to keep their bigger sizes online and away from sensitive customers, in case they catch fat, or something.

(See how I pulled it all together after the random Bastille reference by writing 'no' as 'non'? C'est professional fashion writing!)

In celebration of Monsoon's out-and-proud sizing policy, here's some bits and pieces from their current crop:

Clockwise: Suede baker boy hat, £25; Olive embroidered blouse, £40; Gold sequin bag, £28; Herringbone jacket, £95; Plum leather boots, £75; Lace-up shoe, £70; Sequin detail tunic top, £50.

I sort of want to have sex with the Herringbone jacket, it's so fab. Is that weird? I couldn't help but wonder...

Rachel Pally Plus Sizes

Another fashionable designer is doing plus sizes! So-Cal designer Rachel Pally has teamed up with Nordstrom to produce a plus sized line.

From WWD
Rachel Pally, the Southern California contemporary designer who believes that well-cut jersey flatters all women, is teaming with Nordstrom to launch a plus-size line filled with Empire-waist dresses, wide-leg trousers and her other signature looks for the fall.

A taste of Rachel's signature style
I've really enjoyed Rachel Pally's clothes for awhile now they have that great laid back vibe that L.A. designers just seem to inherently possess. Her clothes also have a reputation for being incredibly comfortable which is always a plus. Nothing is worse than a pretty dress thats a pain to wear. I'm hoping that the Nordstrom's collection will be high quality and full of colorful options just like her straight-sized line.

Thanks to Medina for the heads up about this!

Long Live The Queen: Latifah's Curvation Line

Celebrity clothing lines are a dime a dozen and everyone from J.Lo to the Olsens has jumped on the bandwagon with varying degrees of success. Some lines are as inventive and original as their high fashion counterparts. I for one think that L.A.M.B. (minus the logo print sweatshirts) is a creative representation of Gwen Stefani's personal style. The clothes actually look like something she would wear and some of it I'd wear too, particularly their cute rasta inspired draping tops. Other lines span the range from horrific to regrettable. Sorry Kimora, I know you're fabulous but I've yet to see a Baby Phat item that doesn't instantly remind me of the dollar bin at the sketchy outlet mall. Ease up on the bedazzler honey!



The latest celebrity to launch a fashion collection is Queen Latifah, a star whose signature style has always been distinctive, from her days as a pioneering female MC to her current position as an actress/singer. The Queen has long been one of the most visible plus sized women in Hollywood so its wonderful to see her stepping into the world of fashion. Her Curvation line is comprised mainly of basic, casual, mix and match pieces suitable for work or weekends. There are some very stand out pieces within the line as well as a few "what were they thinking" pieces but so far so good. I'll be very interested to see where they go with this and its always nice to have another collection designed with plus sized women in mind. Personally I just love the purple silk blouse, I could see myself wearing that everywhere.

View the entire Curvation collection at Curvation.com