The other day I decided to take the plunge and get rid of a Primark dress I've had for a while but not worn much. It cost me £2 and is a sort of cotton shirtdress, blue with white polkadots. In theory something I'd like to wear. In practice too short, too small in the bust. No problem, it cost £2 and fits my flatmate fine.
On Friday I thought as part of my experiments in treating myself I'd go into town and buy the blue & white polkadot shirtdress I'd seen at H&M. I've got plenty of dresses from there and this seems like a winner, longer than the Primark one and hopefully in a better size. So I went in and tried it on. No good. A size 16 (top end of what I'd consider "my size range") was too tight around the bust and snug on the waist. So, find a bigger size? Nope. This is "Divided", the sort of younger persons' section, they don't go beyond a 16 (in fact it's rare to find bigger than 14). So... no dress for me.
Not too big a deal? Well actually I was quite pissed off. I know I'm a bit squidgey around the edges and have a bit of a bum on me, but I'm not *that* big. I'm average height with a modest 36D bust, and at age 21 well within the target market for this range. I'd say I'm probably average-sized, so it really grates that a big high street chain don't make clothes that fit me.
H&M are generally pretty cheap and cheerful and obviously have a lot of different suppliers (the discrepancy in sizing is a pretty good indicator) and I'm prepared to always have to try things on in there, but when they just do not make something big enough it's another matter altogether. Imagine how many sales they lose because an item simply doesn't come big enough. Imagine how many perfectly normal-sized women with less robust self-esteem than me can't face H&M again because they've effectively been told "you're too big to shop here". Ugh.
I had a similar experience a while ago, which I think I blogged about, with an Apricot dress. I tried on an L but found it a bit snug, could see only XS, S, M & L in the shop and decided to look online, whereupon I found that XL simply didn't exist, despite there being an XS at the other end of the scale. The feeling of irritation at the size not being available was turned into one of dismay and almost rejection by the size not existing. Ouch.
I'm obviously still bitter about my dress, otherwise this post wouldn't exist, but I did buy a rather nice cardigan while I was there.
Same spots, different item, the 14 fitted fine. (lucky since it wasn't in stock in a 16)
I thought availability of sizes was meant to be a pro of shopping on the high street vs. in charity and vintage shops? Let's just say I'm not in much of a hurry to go back to Broadmead.
