Since they took a stance in the whole restroom controversy, I have made a point of shopping at Target. I still prefer smaller, independent stores, but now I don’t feel so guilty when I end up shopping there. The fact that they just opened one a block from my house doesn’t hurt either. But I had never bought clothes for myself there before.
In my very Spanish mental frame, clothes and apples don’t mix well.
But the other day, looking for a birthday present, I run into a fantastic dress. I had already seen it, as it is part of the highly advertised Victoria Beckham capsule collection. And although I had already decided on an outfit for my sons’ school auction, that dress and a coincidence totally changed my mind.
The outfit I had chosen was a beautiful sequined BCBG flapper dress that was probably 20 inches too short for any respectable woman (not that I am trying to be one) to wear to a catholic school party. But I loved it, and it was already paid for, as I had used it for a previous occasion. However, that was a dress designed for skinny girls. Let’s just say that I am not one of them.
A few days before, during an emergency run to Nordstrom Rack, I accidentally bought a pair of gorgeous purple Italian shoes, with no use for them whatsoever. It has happened to all of us, right? I’ll have to blame this one on fate, because as soon as I saw the VB for Target dress their purpose became clear.
Very few brands design dresses for the unskinny. And the ones that do tend to design clothes that are boring, tent like pieces of fabric that end up hiding your whole self instead of complementing your body type. Decent ones are so hard to come by that I give up and keep buying dresses that only look good on 20 year old models. I guess that my problem is that I wasn’t always unskinny. I arrived to this country as a size 2, but something that the foreign life, particularly the American one, has inflicted on me are pounds. Many of them. But since I am ok with that fact, my brain hasn’t caught up, and I keep trying to wear the same clothes that I could pull off when I was twenty three, mainly because I don’t like boring clothes. But even being optimistic, I can tell that the results are mixed at best.
So today my admiration for VB has grown, since a big part of her capsule collection is geared towards the unskinny.
I have always kind of liked her, as she always surprises me in interviews, where she shows a kind of self deprecating sense of humor that you would never expect from her always serious demeanor. Plus she does David Beckham on a regular basis and that gives you big points in my book.
The dresses in her capsule collection for Target are pretty, comfortable and cute. Many come in bright colors, and they are the exact right length to be able to dance while wearing them without worrying about wardrobe malfunctions. And they freaking fit without wearing twenty five layers of armored scaffolding underneath. Coming from such a skinny girl as she is, that is even more appreciated. Of course, you can tell that the material is not precisely silk, but when your intention is to party in them, even that is an advantage. I don’t think I would either dance or drink as carelessly as I did last night if I were thinking about the 450 ways in which I am going to ruin my outfit. At this point in my life, if I am reading a label, I will take “machine washable” over “cashmere”any day.
Going back to my scalloped asymmetrical LBD , I don’t think I have ever received so many compliments on a piece of clothing as I did last night, compliments that turned into giggly surprise every time I cheerfully and proudly answered with a “I got it at Target!”.
So, for thinking of all of us, the almost non standard sized, I thank you, Posh Girl!
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