Searching for style as a fuller figured woman in a recession

Im a girl who doesnt settle. That can be good or bad, depending on the situation. For men, in my eyes its a good thing. That means I dont take anything less than my standards. As for clothes thats a whole other ball game.

Is it possible to be a stylish full figured (hate the words plus size) woman without paying an arm and leg for clothing???

My whole life Ive never been the skinny girl nor the average. Ive always been a bit fuller than the rest of the girls. I was ok with in HS. Then I had my first child, my body changed and I DIDNT LIKE IT. I grew a few sizes, my boobs were a whole new size and I didnt have a wardrobe to fit any of it. It took a good few years to just accept what I got. But with becoming a new size brings a new set of clothes.

The options women of my size have are 1) go through life wearing elastic pants and boxy shirts, to remind then what size they are or 2)spend a fortune on clothes to have thier style. As previously mentioned, I dont settle. Ok I admit, I did at one point in time. I didnt like myself (still dont like parts of me still) and I put all my effort into being a mom (just about every woman I know has done this in thier lives). I really didnt care about what looked good on me, I stayed home during the day and I worked at night. There was no point in my eyes to spend lots of cash on clothes that will never get worn. I went throught a stage of 'I have nothing to wear yet I have a closet full of stuff'. Im currently living the latter due to having my son back in Feb.

After realizing I dont need to sacrifice style because im a mom, I went out on a journey. I wanted to look better. I wanted to be that mom who looked very pulled together without looking like I spent hours just to get ready to go to the park. Being on a budget makes being stylish quite hard. Its possible but its hard.

Its hard being a girl my size. A good example is my recent hunt to find a bathing suit. The one I had from last year the strap for the halter broke. I checked out Lane Bryant - nothing cute, just a reminder that when your a fuller figured you have to hide you body. Then I checked out Torrid, great stuff, tad over priced but sometimes worth it. I found a suit I loved, bathing suit was $78! Im not spending that much money on a swimsuit when it prolly wont fit me next year (determined to lose baby weight and then some). So now im pretty stuck. Fast forward to yesterday. I found some suits at Walmart that were my size and only $15. Score right ! That would be a big flippin NO! I liked one but my girls would pop out, and the other one fit well but I was not crazy on the print. I walked out with no bathing suit. I tried Old Navy, good deal on thier items. Ive been wearing Old Navy since middle school. Tried on a 1pc and a bikini bottom. Nope didnt fit well. The bikini bottoms were under neath my belly so my fat would be sticking out and thats not cute at all. So now im still stuck with out a bathing suit.

Another good example is bras and panties. A girl who is smaller than I am (im not revealing my size but im quite top heavy.) can score cute bras and panties for next to nothing. Its like a total steal. Us fuller girls, do you know what we get?? We get briefs, boy shorts and maybe a thong (only if were feeling adventurous). Our bras have about 4 clasps on the back and the straps feel like they are 10ft wide. Do you know how many colors we get? 3 - black,white and beige. Yay, our undergarment life sounds so interesting. I have found a few places that sell patterned bras like our smaller girlfriends wear. We pay an arm and a leg to make our boobs look like Kilroy. Ive paid over 30 bucks per bra, yes I said per bra. Its downright ridiculas!


Its almost as if the retail business knows they can make a killing off us fuller figured women. We shell out so much for clothes, it actually makes me sick to my stomach.