Where can I buy plus size clothing for women in Australia? I have been
unable to find any information regarding stores in Australia that sell
such clothing. I am a British size 28, which translates into around a
size 26 Australian size I think. I don't want to shop online as don't
have a permenant address at present. I have access to the main cities
such as Melbourne and Sydney, but would be willing to travel to buy
clothes. We have Evans in the UK that sells quite trendy plus size
clothing, is there anything similar in Australia?

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Request for Question Clarification by tlspiegel-ga on 14 Jan 2006 21:47 PST

Please let me know if the following sites are helpful for you.  If so,
I'll repost in the answer box.

http://www.bcl.com.au/shop/womens-clothing-plus.htm

http://www.biginblack.com/

http://www.fashionplus.com.au/page/page/2724798.htm

http://www.takingshape.com.au/index1.htm

http://www.abfab-australia.com/bras.html

http://www.bigtimeclothing.com.au/

You really shouldn't be having such trouble. Larger ladies are very
well catered for in the clothes department here in Oz. Myer/Grace
Bros. stores have excellent BIB (Big is Beautiful) departments and
you'll find everything there  -- leisure wear, formal, casual,
business -- they're fabulous, trendy and reasonably priced yet
upmarket. Plus there are the My Size stores in many shopping centres
-- and there's a factory outlet shop in Richmond VIC with oodles of
clothes at very reasonable prices. Plus there are shops like 16/26
which are an offshoot of the Katies Stores which you'll find in most
shopping malls. Even Big W, Target and KMart have very good plus-size
clothing departments. Then there's the Table 8 shops which used to
have a great range of larger sizes. Dale and Waters in Perth do a
catalogue/mail order business which my mum used to use. Go to
Myers/Grace Bros and I'm sure you'll find plenty to please you.

I have to second stressedmum's opinion here - you have HEAPS of options!

I was a size 20 to 24 for most of my life up until three years ago -
thanks to Weight Watchers I am now a size 12. But I still remember the
YEARS of looking for clothes that would not only fit, but suit me as a
younger person (I am only 33 now) --- back in the day, if you couldn't
afford to buy BIB from Myer ($130 a pair for jeans back when I was in
Uni!) you had to go with the older-looking styles of K-Mart and
Target.

These days however it's a different story - as stressedmum said,
Katies has it's own larger sizes range called 16/26, and even Rockmans
has it's BeMe range which is lovely. Target also has a great, trendy
and affordable range for large sizes - so much so that sometimes I'm
sorry they don't have the same styles in SMALLER sizes now!

But don't disregard one FABULOUS source for larger clothes - EBAY! I
had a wonderful collection of pieces, many quite expensive, all classy
and well-kept - that I sold on Ebay as I lost weight. I still remember
selling all the size 20 up clothes - then the size 16 to 20 - and now
I have a pile of 14's to get rid of too. I cringe when I think of some
of the prices I paid for those items and then what I sold them for...
so you can really get a bargain. Just be sure to ask for measurements
of waist, hips etc before you buy. But if, for example, you know you
fit into size 24 Target jeans, then you'll ALWAYS fit that size in
that brand - so that can help...

Good luck and don't lose hope - us bigger ladies (I still don't feel
like one of 'them' yet, those skinny ones! LOL!) can be just as
gorgeous and find just as wonderful clothes as the skinnier ones - we
just have to try a bit harder. But that's a WONDERFUL challenge - shop
till you drop! :)

~* Schylaar *~

P.S. I used to live in the States and the absolute BEST large sized,
trendy clothes to be found ANYWHERE come - in my opinion - from Lane
Bryant in the US. You can find them online at www.lanebryant.com to
check out their range. You can't buy from there, but if you don't mind
paying a little bit for shipping then go ahead and do a search on Ebay
for their stuff - I've gotten some wonderful things that way! Just
remember that the US sizes are different AGAIN to the UK and Australia
- I think their 22/24 is a 26/28 in Aussie sizes, but google that and
check it for yourself. Good luck!