Tuesday, October 27, 2009

H & M Has Plus Size Clothing in Germany



I'm in Germany, and I'm happy to report that there are stores with nice large size clothing here. My friend, Andrea, took me shopping in Pforzheim, a city with a population 116,000 at the northern edge of The Black Forest.
There's an H&M here and guess what? This H&M has plus size clothing! H&M is a retail store out of Sweden and the concept is "fast fashion," meaning they offer the latest trends from the runways at affordable prices. The H&M in Los Angeles does NOT have plus sizes, so I was really curious what the clothes would look like. The billboards in LA indicate that their clothes are trendy.
This H&M in Pforzheim dedicated a corner of the store to the larger sizes. The area was small and frankly, nothing jumped out at me as a "must have." But I did like this green military/safari style jacket in cotton. Andrea and I both bought one.
European is very different from American sizing. A size 10 in America is about a size 40 in Euro sizing. My jacket is a size 52, which would be a size 22. However, in America I usually wear a size XL to a 1X in tops and a 16/18 in jackets. It's a bit big in the torso, but to accommodate my broad shoulders I got the next size up. I'll take it to my tailor in LA to move the buttons over. It's always been my opinion that cheaper clothing tends to run smaller.
You may not know that there are no standard specifications for women's clothing sizes like there are for men's apparel. A man shops for a shirt by his neck size and a pair of pants by his waist size and inseam. Not so for females. Women usually end up wearing a range of sizes, depending on the maker, the shape and the fabrication of the item.
Years ago, Anne Klein started a trend that made it seem like we were all wearing a smaller size by shifting her size chart. If you wore a size 12, you could fit into a size 8 or 10 in her collection, making her clothing very popular.
I will say this again and again, I don't really care what size I actually have to purchase, as long as it fits. It is the price tag I am more concerned about. Price of the green military jacket? €39,95 Euros. And no, that comma isn't a typo, there is a comma vs. a period with Euros!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

that jacket is super cute. my daughter and I both love it!

PlusClothingExpert said...

Those are lovely plus size clothes.