next »

[abdterp]

I'm a female grad student working on my dissertation, and although I've always dressed neatly for teaching, my clothes are mostly quite casual. Since I'm getting ready for the job market, dissertation defense, etc., I'm going to need at least SOME nicer, more professional clothes. To add to the annoyance of shopping for them, I just had a baby and will probably be wearing a size 18-20, so some stores (like J. Crew) aren't an option. Anybody have suggestions of places where I might be able to pick up some decent interview/professional clothes at a decent price?

[comp_queen]

Congrats on the baby!  Hope everything goes/went smoothly and your family is happy and healthy.

I actually started a thread on durable/well-fitting clothes because I am sick of buttons falling off and hems falling out and shirts fading and so forth.  It's in "Balancing Work and Life" and it's called "Reviving the Clothing Topic."  There was a really nice range of suggestions there, and many of them are major catalogs where I would guess you could find a good range of sizes. 

Also (and I have never been pregnant, so take this as an attempt at helpfulness even if it is a stupid suggestion)--did you buy one of those "Maternity Wardrober" packages of 5-6 items that different department stores sell, and could you still get away with wearing something from that?

You said you'd need a size 18/20 having just delivered, and again I've never been pregnant, but if you didn't wear that size before it would probably be too big on most of your body now--baggy in the shoulders, too long in the inseam, et al (or so I understand). 

My last trying-to-be-helpful-but-possibly-stupid suggestion is this:  Can you find a skirt or pair of pants in your pre-pregnancy size made in a stretch fabric and wear them with a loosely cut blazer?  These you could use now and hopefully wear later.

I probably sound dumb but I hope I gave you some ideas.  Congrats again on the new addition to your family and good luck interviewing!

[graine]

Have a look over on the Balancing work and life forum - there's a topic right now about professional clothes. You might even want to post your question to that forum too.

As a note of warning, prepare yourself for stress-related weight gain or loss as you go through the job search, so don't spend too much on interview clothes too early. And don't go on past experience necessarily, I have never in my life lost weight due to stress until the job season last year and had to go madly searching for decent pants that stayed up and leave the nice, expensive ones that didn't at home when I went to interview.

[sarahanne]

I gained a lot of weight after my babies. I understand where you're coming from. Even after losing the weight, my figure is different. Some women are lucky. They return to their pre-pregnancy bodies. I didn't. I'm a full clothing size larger.

The Fashion Bug has great clothing for full figures. And, they have a professional and evening wear too. Get on their mailing list, and you'll get notified when they have sales. They also have a clearances. I like Fashion Bug because the clothing is trendy looking, and reasonably priced. There's another store called Catherines - I don't have one where I live.

Don't overlook some fine thrift store boutiques. You'd be surprised what you can find there. Also you can save a lot of money. Personally, I shopped at the thrift stores because I was loosing weight and my clothing sizes were changing.

[sheepdog_working]

Lands End Overstocks can be somewhat affordable, and the clothes are available in a range of sizes.  It's online, or you can order from their overstocks catalog. 

[thisisanewname]

How do you feel about catalogues? I order some stuff from Chadwick's (they make it very easy to return things that don't work, just throw it back in the delivery bag and stick on the provided label; postage comes out of your refund). It's very affordable, some good looking professional wear, and frequently machine washable.
And Burlington Coat factory--constant overturn of stock, and sometimes nice suits. Sometimes not.
I live near a huge outlet mall, so I am ultra lucky. Jones New York and Kaspar, at a discount, can't be beat.

[_hoban_]

Last year when I knew I would be (hopefully) interviewing in a few months, I sucked it up and hit Macy's on the day after Thanksgiving. It was a miserable few hours, but I went early and had coupons, and managed to get a few sets of really nice suit separates (about 5 outfits total; Jones New York and the like) for a reasonable amount. I'm on the border between plus and regular sizes (tops from plus size to accommodate the ladies, bottoms from misses), so I could mix and match from both departments too, which was a lot easier than running between plus size and misses size stores. I knew I wouldn't have any interviews until January (when my field starts calling people in), but didn't want to be stuck needing something immediately and having to spend a lot for something that wasn't quite right.