My long sleeve tees are developing holes in them. Given that I've had some of them since high school, this is probably not surprising. I could just order more long-sleeve tees online, except I like nice dress shirts and would like to get more of them but that would mean the horrors of Physically Shopping.
I was introduced to a comic about busty girls called, appropriated enough, Busty Girl Comics. These are obviously not issues that I have, but I have friends who do have to deal with these and we have talked enough that I am not unfamiliar with some of the issues (at one point in my life there was a very long discussion regarding underwire) (and then I recalled an episode of Detective Conan where underwire + anatomical knowledge = murder weapon so that was kind of cool) (oh God I think I actually have enough anatomical knowledge for this now).
Then there're people like me. I'm fairly flat-chested, always cold, and prefer loose clothing. This means I can actually forgo bra something like 90% of the time. All I have to do when I want my body to look more androgynous in fitted clothing is to wear a tank top that's one size down under my shirts. However, there are actually fairly feminine tops that I'd like to wear but I can't because for someone my size the neck line is inevitably too big and the chest area too baggy. I don't even need to bend over, just lean over slightly, and anyone can look down my shirt. A lot of nicer fitted shirts, on me, also look ridiculously baggy in the chest area, and the rare shirt that fits my torso will have arms that are a little too tight to be comfortable. There's actually more than one reason why I keep buying shirts from the boy's section (boys, not even men because men have shoulders and are just in generally bigger all around) (not that those fit either -- they just fit better than women's blouses), besides the obvious. (I buy jackets from there for a different set of reasons, some of which overlap.) Heavier winter jackets are easier because people expect you to layer under them so the general shape is a lot more tubular.
(Yes I can buy from the girl's section. I have friends my size or smaller who, in fact, do. This will fall under the "actually more than one reason" category.)
(From where I'm standing, though, I feel like my curvier friends are suffering a lot more than me....)
This is not even taking into account the fact that there's this trend / obsession with tight clothing. Or the rants I've heard about swimsuits.
25 years into my life and I've finally reached the stage where I like and appreciate my body. It'd be nice if there's some kind of positive reinforcement for this kind of revelation instead of the constant barrage of "no you are shaped wrong / you are too fat / too skinny / too tall / too short" that I know many of us have struggled under. In general, I have yet to meet a woman who can claim that the off-the-rack clothing fits her perfectly. (The assumption our subconscious reaches is that off-the-rack clothing is tailored to fit the masses, so if it doesn't fit you, your body is shaped wrong because your body is not shaped like everyone else's.) (Subconscious is not always logical, I am sadly aware of this.) (This is not taking into account the modeling and photoshopping brain-wash.) Tailoring is expensive, so that's out. But some women genuinely like shopping so maybe what I should be doing is asking, instead, for the secret that makes cloth shopping enjoyable.
(As opposed to, you know, frustrating.)
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