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.

Legs & Co.

Legs are leg - wait for it - endary!

To quote Mrs Doubtfire star Sally Field: "You like us! You really like us!" Who would have thunk, when harsh taskmistress Miss J issued a clarion call for your questions, that we'd be so inundated with responses? Did y'all have nothing to do this weekend but consider your sartorial dilemmas?

Luckily for our readers, here at TFFF Towers we have an entire troupe of trained minions -- Oompa Loompas, actually, on the lend from Johnny Depp -- whom we send a-scurrying to research the answers to your every fash-related question. (In addition to their day-to-day tasks, which mostly consist of fetching caffeinated beverages, and baking us apple crumble on our whim.)

The wee Oompas' first question comes courtesy of reader The Dowdydiva, who this season will be taking inspiration from childhood favourite, Rainbow Brite and the Colour Kids. She asks, "Whither wouldst one purchase tights/pantyhose/hosiery in Fire Engine Red or Royal Blue, rather than Neutrals In The Theme Of Grandma?" Adding, "I'm tall, in the manner of cool hepcat Allison Janney, so tights with tallness, please."

Here's what my favourite Oompa Loompa (Montgomery J. Penthouse) uncovered:



1. 60 Denier Bright Tights, £4 from M&S. Available in Purple, Teal, Pink (shown), Apple Red, and Black. (UK delivery only.) M&S, despite Jeremy Paxman being a hater, also have a grool selection of other styles, including lace, leopard-print, ribbed, and zigzag. Available in sizes S, M, L, and XL (up to skirt size 24).

2. Cotton Footless Tights, $11 from Hue. Available in Black, Coffee, Grey, White, Apple Red and Pink; and in sizes 1, 2, 3, and 4 (100lbs to 250lbs). Hue also have leggings, fishnets, capris and socks.

Finally, like Vanessa Williams, we saved the best 'til last:

3. Solid Colour Tights, $8 from We Love Colors. They're not kidding with the title: these babies are available in 45 bright colours, and in sizes up to 330lbs/over 6' tall. Plus the online store has footless tights, metallics, leggings...

Plus-Size Streetstyle Resources

Sometimes its nice to see clothing worn by real people out in the real world. Seeing things in stores and on celebs/models is nice but nothing compares to seeing actual people wearing the outfits, there is just something a little bit more personal about seeing how normal folk put together their clothes, it can be quite the catalyst for creativity. I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone wearing something on the street who has influenced me. A constant stream of impressive street style is one of the great perks of city life but not everyone lives in NY/Paris/Milan/Tokyo/Helsinki, etc. and sometimes it can be hard to find images of people outside of the glossy pages of a magazine.

As such I've put together a list of my favorite streetstyle destinations on the web with special love for those that show women & men of different sizes.


Wardrobe Remix, The Sartorialist, HelLooks

The Fashion Spot Plus Size Streetstyle Thread: The Fashion Spot knows streetstyle, they have a whole subforum dedicated to just about every kind of streetstyle around the world from scene kids to couture dandys they have got it covered. The Plus Size thread is devoted entirely to girls and boys with curves and showcases the best of fashion on bodies ranging from small to large.

Fatshionista Flickr: The Fatshionista Flickr is the all photo version of its Livejournal cousin Fatshionista LJ. The members vary in styles and size so whatever "look" you prefer from preppy to punk it is here.

Wardrobe Remix: With over two thousand members there is something for everyone. All the latest trends are here and before they even have a chance to become trends. Members come in all sizes male and female and the clothing commmentary lets you know just where they found their coveted items.

Hel Looks: Helsinki is clearly the most fashionable place on earth. HelLooks has some of the most interesting fashion combinations I have ever encountered all in one place.

The Sartorialist: I don't think you can do a streetstyle post without mentioning The Sartorialist. He's the undisputed king of the genre and on his site you will see people of every age, gender, race and size dressed to the nines. His eye for fashion in incredible, whether he's making note of unexpected pocket square folding techniques or covering the latest store opening, it is always entertaining.

What are your favorite streetstyle websites / resources?