Tomorrow is Relay for Life, and tonight I went to Target with every intention of buying mouthwash and band-aids and breath mints and breakfast bars in preparation. I had no plan to buy any clothes. But on a whim I wondered back to the plus size section and, lo and behold, there’s the new line I heard about just yesterday. The new line is called Pure Energy, and I will confess that when I initially heard about it I was skeptical. As a true clothing aficionado (aka “Holy crap, how many clothes do you HAVE?!?) I felt it was my responsibility, my obligation even, to do a little test drive.
The good…
-The clothes are cute. Really, sincerely cute — not as conservative as LB, not as edgy as Torrid. They are very Target-trendy.
-The prices are AWESOME. Half the price of LB for comparable items.
-There is a reasonable selection of different items, for Target at least. I still wish they would stop the rapid encroachment of maternity on the plus section, but it was better than it has been in the past.
– Some of the items seemed to be pretty good quality. This is just initial observation though, I haven’t worn or washed anything yet.
– The sizing seemed reasonably accurate. Often Target items run small in my experience, but these sizes were pretty true. They use a Torrid-style 1/2/3/4 sizing system, which I personally like, although I could see it being confusing for some people. Other items are more traditional number sizes.
The not-so-good…
-The quality on some items was terrible. We’re talking sleazy polyester and poorly sewn sequins.
-There was not a great size selection. In most items there were plenty of 1s and 2s, a few 3s, and one 4, if that. This is pretty typical of Target, at least my store.
-Some items seemed poorly designed for large women — lots of empire waists without enough booby room, for example. I am 5’6” and wear a 26, and while everything fit, the items I tried were about 30/70 on design. That will differ considerably by individual though, obviously.
-There were many, many sleeveless tops and dresses. This is my biggest concern. I have no problem going sleeveless, but I am in the minority among women, even thin ones. Just today I had a conversation with a co-worker about how she “doesn’t do sleeveless”. I really hope Target has not doomed their new line by putting so many sleeveless pieces in. I can see the clothes not selling well just because of women’s upper-arm insecurity, and then Target deciding that there is not an adequate market for the product and pulling it. It would not be the first time something like that has happened *cough* OldNavy *cough*, after all.
Overall, I am pretty psyched. Pretty clothes for pretty fatties — yay! Now if only I could help my co-worker love her arms. Oh well, one fight at a time.
My Improvisational Life 
I just bought a dress from that line last weekend! I don’t know what the right term is but it’s a long sort of tube dress…really pretty. So pretty, in fact, that I wore it out, in public, despite the fact that it has no sleeves. This is a first for me. So, maybe people will be inspired. I got a ton of complements on it.
I fell in love with one of their maxi dresses, only to find out it only goes up to a 26. The rest of the stuff I liked was all sleeveless and strapless, which I don’t have an objection to with regards to bravery (after the sun sets), but have strong objection to on the grounds of physics. If they’re going to offer me clothing, they have to stock support gear that hides beneath it. They must offer some explanation of how 40 pounds of free range tits will work in their clothing. The offerings for a 44 F/G/H in strapless bras are completely nonexistent, a fact that I want to drill into the heads of plus size clothing designers. Oh well, it looks like they failed to apply basic logic to their line and won’t get any money from me. I’m sure they’ll blame fatties when their line fails, instead of the idiots who didn’t think about the store’s lack of appropriate undergarments.
I’m addicted to Target right now for the reasonable prices. So far I’ve bought two Maxi dresses-both sleeveless. Because I am a hijabi (a Muslim woman who wears the head scarf) I usually wear a light cardigan over the dresses.
Ross also had killer plus size dresses not too long ago. Party style-with nice lining and poof appeal.
Heh. I won’t do sleeveless, even though I’ve gotten over my upper-arm hate… I just don’t want to deal with all the cultural baggage involving my armpits. I neither want to spend time and energy keeping them “perfect” looking at all times, nor do I want to deal with the nastiness I know I’ll get if I dare be seen with them less-than-perfectly-smooth.
I haven’t shopped at Target in a long time after deciding that I didn’t want to keep spending my money in a store that offers more maternity selections than they do clothes my size. I tried to give them a chance, I sent emails and letters of complaint, offering suggestions and such, but they were roundly ignored.
I think its good that they’re making some kind of plus-size effort, but c’mon…. sequins? sleeveless? empire waist? oversized boobie cups? None of those appeal to me or flatter me in the slightest. I wear a size 16, but I am a B cup. I hate my upper arms because of the extra skin I have left over from rapid weight loss and an empire waist just makes me look pregnant. And I own nothing with sequins on them. Do they offer these same clothes in mainstream sizes? Why does Target think that fat women have different style tastes than thinner women?
I too was thrilled to find this new line of clothes. I got one of the double V t-shirts (there were only two total out of all the colors in my size) and a hot pink cotton dress that ended up being a lot more low cut than I realized–but a cami remedied that situation. I really like both things a lot. But, I agree, most of the clothes were too poly/sequined/not attractive on me (I actually tried on just about every item!!).
I never quite understood the upper-arm obsession. I fully admit to being self conscious about the double-chin, belly hanging over jeans, and hips of doom, but I could never work myself up about my upper arms. It makes me happy that Target is starting such a line, but will be sad if it goes away because people are so concerned with their arms.
This makes me desperately want to go to target now. I love sleeveless shirts, especially in the summer when I’m going to be going outside. My mother used to tell me not to wear sleeveless shirts because my upper arms were ugly. She really just thought that because they looked like hers, and she didn’t like her upper arms. After I moved out I decided that I never wanted a farmer’s tan again. It has taken me a few summers of severe radiation burns on my shoulders to finally get around to buying some sunscreen, though. The upside of all that blistering and scabbing is that I have a lot of cute freckles on my shoulders now, and I want to show them off! Also my armpit hair is the bomb and I think everyone, deep down in their heart of hearts, truly wants to see it.
Hey Rachel, I think part of the problem is that they are assuming we have the same tastes as thin women right now. 😛 There is a lot of ugly, sequined, empire waist (which I personally like but is not for everyone, and the way it is being done now is frequently hideous IMO) sleeveless crap out there in all sizes right now. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, but I just wanted to take the opportunity to complain about the bewildering array of craptacular women’s fashion over the last 2 or 3 years.
As far as sleeveless, I love cardigans and own tons of them, so I don’t have a big problem with it. It’s nice to wear a tank top with a cardigan, then have the option to take it off if where I’m going is ungodly hot. I also try to think of baring my upper arms as “showing off my guns,” and then I feel pretty good about it. 🙂
“If they’re going to offer me clothing, they have to stock support gear that hides beneath it. They must offer some explanation of how 40 pounds of free range tits will work in their clothing. The offerings for a 44 F/G/H in strapless bras are completely nonexistent, a fact that I want to drill into the heads of plus size clothing designers.”
THIS is my biggest complaint. I just spent $55 on apparently the ONLY convertible bra in a 42DDD on the entire internets last night. Will it fit and be comfortable all day? Who knows. Sad thing is, the shirt I need it for was only $30.
How about built-ins? A shelf-bra, even? Every time I see some maxi dress or tank top with spaghetti straps and no built-in support, I wonder if anyone even thought about what they were making. Strapless bras at this size have a discomfort factor that far outweighs its gravity-defying abilities. I know that not all fatz have racks o’ doom, but enough of us do that support considerations in plus-size design should be a given.
I am back to report I got 3 sleeveless dresses in a size 22 out of this line this weekend, one on clearance for $14. The tops of all of them are basically cut the same, and they have a wide enough strap to wear a bra, though I’ll probably add a camisole for work. I’m quite pleased.
[…] ***Update: A review by a blogger here.*** […]
Ugh, the empire-waist outfits without room for the BOOBIES OF DOOM are a pet peeve.
Show me how to love my upper arms and I will love YOU forever!
I just got a cute dress there last night. I don’t do dresses since not only are my legs chunky but they are whiter than paper but this dress is perfect to be chopped into a long shirt. It was on clearance for $14 and I’m surprisingly happy with the fit and quality.