Buying dresses for the very curvy (<-- shape, not size)

[Little lady]

Hi Powder Room ladies!

I like vintage very much, I guess I probably fit the 50s to early 60s (mad men ) the best, but I love the look of the 40s too, but I'm more careful with it.
I think it is really difficult to buy anything other than circle skirts. I'd love to have a dress. There are also reproductions I find interesting, such as the Fleur dress by Heyday.
I don't really buy clothes in normal stores anymore, I have kind of given it up, unless it is super stretchy, or from a company specialising in clothes for big boobs. I now meassure up to an xl in normal clothing size charts at my full bust, but my ribcage waist and shoulders are more like a small (in fact I've had smalls that where too big in the shoulders to wear), I wear a uk 28J in bras. Also I have a very small waist when compared to my hips.

How much too big can the waist of a dres be, and it still look good? At what point will it be unflattering to wear, even with a belt?

How do you figure out what size to get for the top part, when you are as unevenly distributed as me?
I have heard that girls with smaller, but still big, cup sizes have luck with vintage, but I don't feel like I can expect the same. Is the best way to get something meassuring the same as my full bust, or is there a formula to go by? Is it possible to avoid that it gets too big elsewhere?

I'd particularly like to hear from people who have the same issues I have. Anybody who have to buy bigger sizes for their hips and can't find garments that simultainiusly have a small enough waist. If there are other j-cups or similar, here who have had luck with vintage or reproductions, I'd love to know how you do it.

(In this kind of post, it is normal to get suggestions like, go and try something on, or just return it. So I'm just going to talk about those "options" right away. I don't live nearby anything, so I have to shop on the internet, and I can not expect to return things and get my money back, because custums and other things make sending it back more expensive. I have to get it right, or keep it anyway, so unfortunately those options are not really available to me.)

Thank you very much for reading

 

[cherry lips]

I'm sure the ladies here have even better suggestions, but off the top of my head I'd reccommend that you'd buy something that fits your bust, and then go to a seamstress to have the rest altered.

 

[crwritt]

Hi Powder Room ladies!

I like vintage very much, I guess I probably fit the 50s to early 60s (mad men ) the best, but I love the look of the 40s too, but I'm more careful with it.
I think it is really difficult to buy anything other than circle skirts. I'd love to have a dress. There are also reproductions I find interesting, such as the Fleur dress by Heyday.
I don't really buy clothes in normal stores anymore, I have kind of given it up, unless it is super stretchy, or from a company specialising in clothes for big boobs. I now meassure up to an xl in normal clothing size charts at my full bust, but my ribcage waist and shoulders are more like a small (in fact I've had smalls that where too big in the shoulders to wear), I wear a uk 28J in bras. Also I have a very small waist when compared to my hips.

How much too big can the waist of a dres be, and it still look good? At what point will it be unflattering to wear, even with a belt?

How do you figure out what size to get for the top part, when you are as unevenly distributed as me?
I have heard that girls with smaller, but still big, cup sizes have luck with vintage, but I don't feel like I can expect the same. Is the best way to get something meassuring the same as my full bust, or is there a formula to go by? Is it possible to avoid that it gets too big elsewhere?

I'd particularly like to hear from people who have the same issues I have. Anybody who have to buy bigger sizes for their hips and can't find garments that simultainiusly have a small enough waist. If there are other j-cups or similar, here who have had luck with vintage or reproductions, I'd love to know how you do it.

(In this kind of post, it is normal to get suggestions like, go and try something on, or just return it. So I'm just going to talk about those "options" right away. I don't live nearby anything, so I have to shop on the internet, and I can not expect to return things and get my money back, because custums and other things make sending it back more expensive. I have to get it right, or keep it anyway, so unfortunately those options are not really available to me.)

Thank you very much for reading

My best advice to you is to find a good seamstress to do the needed alterations, or better yet learn to sew yourself. Buy the dress to fit you in the bust and have the waist taken in.

 

[MariantheLibrarian]

Re: the big hips/small waist issue, I have all but given up on ready-to-wear trousers. I have a 15-inch difference from waist to hip (besides being a big girl) that makes it almost completely impossible to buy pants that don't gape around the back waistband. I did find one line of jeans that fit perfectly -- they were discontinued.

I starting sewing my own and altering my RTW stuff. Now I'm finding out I really prefer skirts, so I'm gradually working almost all of the trousers out in favor of skirts. If you don't sew, I'll echo crwitt, and tell you to get thee to a good seamstress for alterations.

 

[Gracie Lee]

My measurements aren't quite as extreme as yours, Little lady, but I'm a curvy hourglass (heading a little towards pear-shaped, hence my current diet), and I have a tough time finding things to fit my bust. I generally do full skirted dresses pretty well; especially casual day dresses cinch nicely with a belt. But the real problem solver, for pencil skirts, dresses, pants, blouses, everything really, is sewing them yourself. Yes, it limits the actual quantity of vintage in your wardrobe in a round-about way, but sewing for yourself is a very vintage-minded thing to do Also, I have a 1950s sweater dress that I got talked into by the proprietess of my favorite store - and she's right... it looks great.

 

[LinaSofia]

You may well have luck with 50s vintage.... you just have to do a lot of hunting on ebay/etsy and you might find something that will fit your measurements! It was the fashionable shape after all. I have seen several dresses with measurements such as a 42 inch bust and a 28 inch waist. But they aren't extremely common of course. You need to be sure of your measurements and then do a lot of searching

The other thing you can do is to get things custom made to your own measurements. Check out www.digforvictoryclothing.com, I have a dress made by her and it's lovely. It costs you £10 more to get it made to your measurements but it's worth it because it will fit perfectly! I'm not completely sure, but I think Heyday might do alterations for you, I'd suggest you email her before ordering. I think the Fleur dress would work really well anyway, because it's a wrap around style that you can draw in at the waist (it's on my wish list too!)

And yes, learning to sew yourself is a really good idea!

it sounds like you're a fabulous shape, good luck!

Edit: I personally buy dresses that are up to 3-4 inches too big at the waist if they fit my bust, and they all look fine with a belt! I personally find that 40s styles work best if they're a bit too large because they just drape down nicely. A 50s dress with a wide fitted midriff may not look as good if it's baggy. I think the trick is to look at the style of waist-line... a waist-line that is narrow (just a seam between the bust part and skirt part) or 'flowing' (without a seam running across) are easiest to wear and cinch in. If it's a 50s shelf bust which is designed to sit very tightly across your rib cage and midriff, then it won't look right with a belt as it's designed to be worn tight. Hope that makes sense!

 

[Isis]

I have a very similar shape, with a 34HHH as a bra size and a very tiny ribcage and a very narrow back, a small waist and broad hips. The good thing with it is that I keep my proportions regardless of weight, the bad, well, the fitting issue. I started to sew to be able to get clothes that fitted me. As for buying, I too buy to fit the bust and then change. Or with a bit of a stretch, but that's not exactly period, I guess. But I really love this dress from Pin-up Clothing that has the best fit a storebought dress has ever been on me.

 

[LinaSofia]

that dress does look great on you Isis!!

 

[lareine]

Wow, Isis, you look a knockout in that dress! I am very impressed that you found something to fit so well without alterations.

 

[Little lady]

Thank you for all the replies so far still looking for more of course.

Many have suggested sewing and seamstresses, I am close to useless at sewing, I sew in buttons all the time, and shorten bra straps, but frankly that's the extent of my skills. I don't know that there are any regular seamstresses here, there might be fancy bridal things or such, but if there is anything, it is sure to be very expensive. That's how it is with dry cleaning too, cost about a new skirt to clean a skirt last I checked.

Being able to buy 3-4 inches bigger than my waist, certainly gives me more options.
However I haven't found it to be so simple as to buy the meassurment of the full bust for the bust. I bought a vintage slip some time, and it actually meassured less than me, I took the chance because the material had some stretch. But the sides under the arms stuck out oddly, and not in a small way, the bust room in front, really only covererd half of mine, it was tight but didn't hurt, and the back shifted to sit higher but that didn't matter so much. Normally I also get a lot of issues with excess fabric in the back, and the shoulders, sometimes the neckline because it is made for someone wider. If I had a semestress to fix it, it would be a lot more than just the waist that needed fixing. And this is what puzzles me, I have come across one or two dresses with not really far from my own meassurment, but there is no way of knowing where the room is, if it's under the arms or the back, I won't get the room where I need it. I do have a breast shape with very little on the sides under the arms, and most of it in front and forwards. This could be a contributing factor I guess. Since everybody seems to rely on sewing,
is there no way to solve it witout?

I have tried pin up girl clothing before, but it was not successfull for me at all, I had severall fit issues with their dresses, all over. I despise their only way of shipping, so I probably won't try any of their tops, though I otherwise would have. And probably the swallow dress too, after seeing Isis in it

The Fleur dress I did send an email about, and was suggested the medium, which is impressive, but I didn't feel sure that it would fit. It was too much money to just try, maybe if there's a sale, or I feel really desperate. But I hope to come across some kind of review that would make me more certain.

 

[crwritt]

Here is a site I found that might be helpful to you http://carissarose.com/

 

[Little lady]

I am familiar with that site. It is an example of where I usually buy stuff, but I have not used that particular one yet, the size chart and prices tells me other places will be better.
I normally have issues with these clothes as well, such as my hips being too big, and very often short torso things, but the big boobs issues are less, sometimes completely fine, sometimes it is too big other places than the boobs, and sometimes the boob area isn't quite big enough. It is a lot easier than figuring out what size to get on etsy, I know it has a reasonable chance to be successfull (at least after adding some more buttons to the neckline), but isn't the same as vintage :/ Sometimes there are things that have a lot in common with them, such as this: http://www.bravissimo.com/pepperber...es-dress/duck-egg-blue/bl95de/?show=16&sort=1 and I do get excited about those.

 

[Isis]

Thank you all!

Little lady, I'm familiar with the issue with a bust size that ought to fit. I think it is because the measurement doesn't take into account that a big bust doesn't have to mean a big body. I haven't worn a shirt in years becasue if I can button them nicely, then the back is way too big. I'm very tempted to order a made to measure shirt from this place:

http://www.tailorstore.se/

If you are in Norway, perhaps then it is something for you too? Not exactly retro, but there are some possibilities to give the shirt a more retro look.

 

[Little lady]

I have not seen that site before, thank you.
Here is a link for you to Biu Biu http://biubiu.pl/ they have shirts as well, many stretchy tops, and some dresses too in different styles. It is probably the site I've come across tailored for big boobs, that is the cheapest, and they might also have a very good size range, people who are the smallest sizes often find the other brands too be too big elsewhere, but have succes with biu biu. Site is currently in Polish, but it is comming in English, soon I believe.

 

[Little lady]

I had to split my post, because it was so long, hopefully it'll work in 3 parts.

I thought maybe I should share my experiences with you, about vintage repro things I've tried, recently but also from way back. I'll try to include everything I've tried so far of repro clothing.
I have put everything underneath the name of each company or store, so you should easily be able to scroll through till you find something you want to read and skip whatever is not relevant to you I mention fit, shipping, customer service, sometimes missleading website images and the like.

 

[Little lady]

I am 40-42" bust (UK 28J) small shoulers short torso, aproximetely 25" waist (short) and 42" hips.

Heyday! http://www.heydayonline.co.uk/default/
I have only bought one thing, the Fleur dress in a medium. I was amazed at how well this dress worked, it doesn't stretch, yet it fit me nicely. I did have to more the button in the back, or get lots of unflattering bunched out wrinkling fabric in the back, but that's not truouble at all, just one button. Great colours and print, the picture on the website seems to have shown it accuratly. The size I bought was the one Heyday reckomended me, so I feel extremely positive towards this company.

Freddies of Pinewood http://www.heydayonline.co.uk/default/
I bought the Rebecca top in two colours, they stretch (not all of their tops do, so I'm sure the fit will be really different in those that don't), and I bought them in medium or 36, and I chose it mostly by guessing. They fit quite well too, a bit loose and wrinkly on the underbust and waist, but they still look nice, and most often I'll wear a well fitting skirt on top, so it doesn't mattter so much. Soft to the touch, good colours.

Sophistikitten http://www.sophistikitten.net/
I've bought the Dora skirt in black, custom meassurments. It fit's great, everything about it is great, and the contact I've had with the company has worked really well too. She is not taking orders at the moment though.
I am not sure if this'll make sense, but they run small, in the waist at least. Since it's a custom meassurment skirt, it sounds odd to say that, but you know sometimes you order something vintage or repro in for instance a 25 to 26" waist, and it'll be quite big, maybe bigger than you intended or thought, I ordered my sophistikitten skirt to be with a 26" waist I think, and it fit's much tighter than many of those things. Most often I buy for 25" waist elsewhere, sometimes 24" also works. The fabric on this skirt seems sturdy.

Rocket originals http://www.rocketoriginals.co.uk/default.asp
I have bought one sweater, that I have not worn yet, just tried on. It seems very warm, though it only has short sleeves. I really love the look of their sweaters. I bought mine in a 38, it doesn't fit as well as the freddies of pinewood tops, it seems less stretchy in the boob area, and it is bigger ore bulky elsewhere (apart from maybe the sleeves, they might run small), so it doesn't look as good on me, but I do like it anyway. I haven't seen the kinds of sweaters they do done by any other repro company. I am more sceptical of ordering from them than Freddies of pinewood though, because of the fit being less good and the prices higher. The sweaters are obviously well made and it's probably a fair price tag, it just doesn't seem less fair when the fit isn't there.

Trashy Diva http://www.trashydiva.com/
I have only barely tried them, I have the Audrey top in a size 6. This was a bit of a fail, and I don't really considder them to be so curve friendly anymore. I will try the 1940's dress sometime, when they get a fabric I like the colour/pattern of and that can be hand washed (many of the latest ones was listed in their blog post about washing trashy diva items as something you should never try to wash). The 1940's dress is their most curve friendly style, with the most extra room in the bust.
The top fitted pretty badly, it hurt over the boobs it was very tight, the seams hasn't ripped yet, but they might. The shoulders where too wide for me, and it made ugly looking bulks of extra fabric in the neckline, lots of it, totally destroying the look. Because it was so tight over the boobs, it also cut in in the back where the openings for the arms where. The waist fitted fine, I might be able to go tighter, because it wasn't tight, it all depends how much tighter a 4 is. I haven't worn this top yet, not sure I'd be able too, and it probably wouldn't be a good experience. It's really hard to contact this company. Most emails, don't get answered, I think maybe they just have a really strickt spam filter or something. I have managed to get through once, so maybe you'll get an answer, but don't count on it.

Pinupgirl clothing http://www.pinupgirlclothing.com/
I tried two dresses the Paris dress and the Glamour dress both xs, and both stretchy. Both where bad. Paris dress stretched to fit my boobs alright, but it was very low cut, also the hips very small. I had a lot of petite issues in it, the waist fell on the wrong place, and I looked like I was playing dressup. I had wrinkles, bunched out fabric in the waist and back, back in particular. The shoulders and neck of the dress thought I was taller, and would stand up from my actual body. The dress altogether was unflattering. The Glamour dress was terribly small in the boobs (and I had only 28G cup boobs at the time), it didn't seem to stretch there. Had to just get it off right away, and there was definitely a danger of something ripping, I am not sure if something did or not, pretty much couldn't breath. They both seemed to run big in the waist, I think.
The only successfull clothing buys I have from them yet is a cardi, and the feather print doris skirt (the latter I got through Mondo Kaos http://www.mondokaos.dk/ on sale , mondo kaos's service isn't superb, I only got answered I think half of my questions, but the package arrived in my mailbox, and quickly too I think(but Denmark is quite close)). The skirt is a small since it has a wide waist band. It works nice, it's not a lightweight fabric so it doesn't blow away in the wind so easily. Love the print and colours. And I can wash it without trouble, pretty much no wrinkling happening. It's a really nice skirt, I do reckomend it.
I might want to buy a full skirt dress in the future, since that might fit better than pencil dresses, (for instance the annalise swallows dress, which is said to be one of the best for big boobs, and I just think I dislike wearing thin stretchy fabrics that cling on my bottom half , but don't mind it on the top), and I might get some tops because I like the look of some of them, but I do worry the neklines will be to low for any of my bras. The customer service from pug is sort of good, it's very available, but they usually just advice to go with your biggest meassurment, since I have really small shoulders this doesn't really work well at all, it would be stupid for me to get an xl. The shipping they use (fedex) is awfull in my opinion. It's so expensive, and I don't like a single thing about it. I don't like getting packages at my door, I don't like to have to wait for my bill for months after receiving the package. Other companies are not less reliable in my experience, and other companies are not particularly much slower (but I don't mind waiting). So if I want pug stuff, I'd rather look for it on a different site, with better shipping options, but of course this is different for everybody, many people like fedex very much.

My Baby Jo http://mybabyjo.com/
I think the shipping wasn't so cheap here either, (not sure I remember correctly), but it arrived at the post office as usual. Also I believe it was marked gift, so I didn't have to pay to recieve it. I have bought a petticoat from them, a bok, and the zsa zsa skirt (Tarantula clothing, I think). All good, though I didn't love the Zsa Zsa skirt, and the petticoats are probably not great for svery small waists since they come in few sizes and are kind of loose there. The Zsa Zsa skirt looked kind of 80's with the really long waist, and the folds gathering the big skirt at the bottom of the waist, but hopefully I can alter it a little myself to make it more to my liking. I bought it on sale so it didn't cost much, and I was looking for a skirt in a warmer fabric since it's getting cold, and it seems it might be a hit haven't worn it yet). Bought it in xs, the skirt itself was very big in the waist (definitely way bigger than regular xs's!!), but the belt was very small, qite an odd combination. It can be hard to zoom in on pictures on their website, so I wasn't completely sure how the pattern would look close up.

Tara Starlet http://www.tarastarlet.com/index.php
Bought the dancing skirt in coral, size 10 (this was what was reckomended for me, due to my hip size, and I do beileve that because of my hips I couldn't have gotten a bigger size on, without making the opening bigger). This was a fail, in many ways. It was very loose in the waist (getting a 10, I didn't expect it not to be though). Itdoesn't look good with any belt I have. The colour isn't coral, it's orange. And the fabric is a linen, terrible choice for this skirt, it looks odd and it doesn't fall nicely. Probably won't use this skirt. Customer service was alright, I guess I wished they had told me about how loose it would be in the waist, or that the fabric the coral skirt was made of was listed on their site (some items have fabric listed, some don't). Shipping was not great, and I would avaoid ordering direcly from their page because of it, but it wasn't fedex. I also think the price was too high for the product I got, definitely not worth it. If I had been at a store, I would not have bought that skkirt at any price, but I do think some of the other options for the skirt are going to be far better, I'm sure some of the colours are nice, and not all are made in linen.

 

[Little lady]

Heartbreaker http://heartbreakerfashion.com/
Really like their style, kind of casual vintagy, and they have a cute website. I struggled a little with communication, but I think that really was only because it happened to be during their vacation. I believe all my questions where answered, so that part of it worked well. Shipping was not expensive, but not cheap, I think, it was just fine. I bought an A-line skirt. And I am very happy to report that requesting a different fabric or colour (as long as it is something they already have) in a skirt is no trouble for them to make. I got mine in a plain navy blue. It also was okay for them to make my skirt with extra hip room (they won't do this with dresses, they have too many customers, and they won't make the zipper in the skirt longer unfortunately). The waist was a size small, this turned out to be big. I did not intend to buy a skirt that was tight on the waist this time, it was kind of an utility skirt, but I do think I made a mistake getting it bigger, it seems their sizes run big. I am thinking about making the waist smaller myself, the issue is that with a smaller waist, I'm not sure if the zipper is going to be long enough for me to get it on. The skirt is otherwise very nice, it's a nice lenght, it falls nicely, colour is what I intended it to be. The fabric is very light, but I guess they probably have different fabrics. It's a great everyday skirt.

I'm pondering getting the Beverly dress sometime in the future, I really like that design. I am worried about the fit of shoulders, waist and particularly of course boobs and back. Has anybody well endowed tried this dress? I assume I would need a large, but of course that's kind of big on my size xs shoulders, I also don't want my waist to dissappear, it does have a tie, but is it enough? I'm nervous about it since it's a non stretch thing (i don't like to go around in stretchy things all the time, it just makes fitting a lot easier). I always hope to fit into a medium rather than a large, it tends to work a lot better, when it works that is

There are other places that I am wondering about trying some time in the future, though I have no idea with most of them if they are curve friendly or not. Maybe some of you reading this know something about how the items from any of these companies fits.

Viven of Holloway http://www.vivienofholloway.com/,
Bettie Page clothing http://www.bettiepageclothing.com/(or through blue velvet vintage http://www.bluevelvetvintage.com/),
Mode Merr http://www.modemerr.com/,
maybe Bernie Dexter clothing http://www.berniedexter.com/rockabilly-clothing.html,
Big Beutiful Barbra Brown http://www.bigbeautifulbarbarabrown.com/index.html,
Putting on the Ritz http://puttin-on-the-ritz.net/

I have also come across these places doing vintage repro in custom sizes on etsy. I haven't actually ordered a custom sized clothes yet apart from the heartbreaker a-line skirt I mentied earlier, and the sophistikitten pencil skirt. I don't know if these places are good, and can make clothes for all kinds of body shapes and will be able to make well fitting clothes for less known boob sizes. I would be very interested to hear if anybody has experience with them, if they can do this.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/heartmycloset
http://www.etsy.com/shop/timemachinevintage?ref=seller_info# http://www.etsy.com/shop/jacksdaughter
http://www.etsy.com/shop/allureoriginalstyles?ref=seller_info

 

[C-dot]

Viven of Holloway http://www.vivienofholloway.com/,
Bettie Page clothing http://www.bettiepageclothing.com/(or through blue velvet vintage http://www.bluevelvetvintage.com/),
Mode Merr http://www.modemerr.com/,

I can help you with these three:

Vivien of Holloway fits well around curves, but there is little to no give in their fabrics, so buy the dress with a waist two inches bigger than yours (ex. if you have a 24" waist, buy the 26".) I've done this with my trousers, skirt, and dress from there.

Bettie Page Clothing fits well all around with a good amount of give - So well made! I have this dress and I adore it.

Mode Merr has a peculiar fit in my experience - The skirt I ordered fit much more loosely than on the model, even in the waist. If I were to order from them again, I would consider getting a size smaller.

 

[Land-O-LakesGal]

I would suggest Betty Page clothing as it has lots of stretch. Doris May Day is the Manager here at our store and though I am not a curvy girl I have heard her having conversation with and about being a curvy girl and how well she think their line can work.

 

[Grant Fan]

I am not big busted but I have a 38 inch bust 28 inch waist and 42 inch hips. Yup a 14 inch difference in a matter of a few inches. I am infact a very extreme hour glass. I buy things to fit by hips and get them altered to fit the smaller parts. Or I go for full skirts I know that won't help with your shape but a good tailor is key. And stretch is you best friend it makes things work and fit like a glove.