Plus Sized Lolita Shopping?

[Dante Dolly]

Hello everyone. I've been lurking around Lolita fashion off and on for years now and it breaks my heart that I've never committed to something I love. I'd like to, at some point this year, start saving up for my first coord. However, I have no idea where to begin shopping.

The trouble is I'm overweight. Like, very overweight. In the past it's made me afraid to even try the style, but other lolitas have been kind to me, so I think I feel secure enough to try. I'm just not sure who sells in my size? Does anyone know of any good shops for larger girls?

I'll post my measurements tomorrow when I take them to give folks a better idea of what I need, but general suggestions would be lovely. heart

[legnanellaf5]

You are best to look for people who will do custom stuff. So either indie brands or taobao stores that offer that option. Hellolace.net has a good guide on how to use taobao. Also be very aware of how things look on you, because just because it fits doesnt mean it fits well. The issue I see plus sized girls get into is that they wear whatever they see fits them without looking at how the shape flatters them or not.

[Dante Dolly]

legnanellaf5

You are best to look for people who will do custom stuff. So either indie brands or taobao stores that offer that option. Hellolace.net has a good guide on how to use taobao. Also be very aware of how things look on you, because just because it fits doesnt mean it fits well. The issue I see plus sized girls get into is that they wear whatever they see fits them without looking at how the shape flatters them or not.

Thank you for the information! That's very helpful. I'll look into Hellolace for taobao, not understanding the site is the only reason I haven't used it yet.

Yeah fitting is an issue for me anyway because most girls my size have very large arms and chests, but I'm technically petite under all the extra weight so my arms and chest are fairly small in comparison. sweatdrop Perhaps custom is the best way to go in any case.

[infel phira]

legnanellaf5

You are best to look for people who will do custom stuff. So either indie brands or taobao stores that offer that option. Hellolace.net has a good guide on how to use taobao. Also be very aware of how things look on you, because just because it fits doesnt mean it fits well. The issue I see plus sized girls get into is that they wear whatever they see fits them without looking at how the shape flatters them or not.

i think that's an issue with clothes on everyone in general, not just specifically plus-sized women.

anyway do you have any suggestions on how to tell if something is flattering? personally i am a terrible judge on whether or not something actually looks right on me. it seems when people tell me something LOOKS good it feels uncomfortable and uh. the opposite, yk? :C

[legnanellaf5]

infel phira

legnanellaf5

You are best to look for people who will do custom stuff. So either indie brands or taobao stores that offer that option. Hellolace.net has a good guide on how to use taobao. Also be very aware of how things look on you, because just because it fits doesnt mean it fits well. The issue I see plus sized girls get into is that they wear whatever they see fits them without looking at how the shape flatters them or not.

i think that's an issue with clothes on everyone in general, not just specifically plus-sized women.

anyway do you have any suggestions on how to tell if something is flattering? personally i am a terrible judge on whether or not something actually looks right on me. it seems when people tell me something LOOKS good it feels uncomfortable and uh. the opposite, yk? :C

Its something I see that is way more of a plus sized issue in lolita. Because you will have something that like fits 100 cm in the bust that is brand, and these girls will buy it just because it 'fits' disregarding that the style may make them look bigger. Or you will get girls who buy things that barely fit them but do and they look like sausages...again because if it is brand that fits they disregard logic. As someone who doesnt worry about fitting into lolita garments, Im more willing to not buy something if I dont think it will look good on me.

I think knowing your body shape and how that applies in lolita will do a lot of the work for you. Usually looking at how other people with a similar body shape to you helps a lot since ti isnt you, but there should be a lolita specific body shape chart out there. Its things like if you have big breasts, you shouldnt be going for the 'tent' style stuff because they will hang off your breasts and go out from there and make you look way bigger. If you are apple shape you want to work on defining your waist more to give you one, so dresses with princess seams will work and you may want to look for shape wear to help.

[infel phira]

i've been looking around for some stuff and i found a tumblr specifically for plus-sized lolitas that seems helpful

but i don't have experience buying so i unfortunately cannot vouch for anything

http://gorgeouspluslolita.tumblr.com/post/24961743751/shoppingguide
that's a general guide, it lists some etsy shops

http://gorgeouspluslolita.tumblr.com/tagged/plus-size-brand-photoset
i guess it's plus-size burando

http://gorgeouspluslolita.tumblr.com/post/41738471060/taobao-lolita-shops-that-offer-custom-sizing
taobao shops that offer custom sizing

also there's this from the egl plus community but it seems to be a bit out of date.
http://egl-plus.livejournal.com/771749.html

[Dolce Roulette]

I'm a plus-sized lolita myself waist wise since most of the JSK I want are for super thing girls. I usually buy my stuff from Fanplusfriend. I bough one JSK from from Bodyline.
There's also CLOBBAONLINE but the weight is really long. Both Fanplusfriend and Clobba
due custom sizes.

[Princess JessieKate]

Dolce Roulette

I'm a plus-sized lolita myself waist wise since most of the JSK I want are for super thing girls. I usually buy my stuff from Fanplusfriend. I bough one JSK from from Bodyline.
There's also CLOBBAONLINE but the weight is really long. Both Fanplusfriend and Clobba
due custom sizes.

Has Fan+Friend gotten any better about custom sizing, though? In the past they've gotten horrible reviews on their custom sizing, making things 10 inches off and refusing to refund, sewing things lopsided, etc

[Dolce Roulette]

Princess JessieKate

That I'm not sure. I've been able to find certain things in my
sizes. Hm, I am ordering another skirt from them I'll get back to you
when I get it. I didn't know about their bad sizing D:

[mboarder]

sunlovegirl

Plus size cheap Lolita dress from highqualitybuy to order is a good choice.

mrgreen

That site is just marked up taobao, you can get the same dresses (even the ones that are "on sale" wink cheaper elsewhere. Plus it has lolita under the cosplay section which is like stressed

[you-aholic]

sunlovegirl

Plus size cheap Lolita dress from highqualitybuy to order is a good choice.

mrgreen

Don't buy from them like mboarder said. Not only are they a Taobao reseller but they look like an affiliate/clone of Milanoo, a site notorious for their low quality items, poor customer service and creating sockpuppet accounts to create positive reviews.

[tehrin]

you-aholic

sunlovegirl

Plus size cheap Lolita dress from highqualitybuy to order is a good choice.

mrgreen

Don't buy from them like mboarder said. Not only are they a Taobao reseller but they look like an affiliate/clone of Milanoo, a site notorious for their low quality items, poor customer service and creating sockpuppet accounts to create positive reviews.

They're not an affiliate/clone of Milanope. This has been debunked eons ago. The markup is about the same as Clobba/Qutieland etc. Basically, you're just paying for the convenience rather than going through a shopping service.

If you're worried, just look through the established taobao brands and of course, avoid anything that's labeled "Replica". You can search by "Tailor Make" too in order to find things that can be custom made to your size.

[operakitty]

Princess JessieKate

Has Fan+Friend gotten any better about custom sizing, though? In the past they've gotten horrible reviews on their custom sizing, making things 10 inches off and refusing to refund, sewing things lopsided, etc

I just received a custom made f+f blouse actually and it was a little large on me, but nothing corset lacing won't fix. I think for certain things f+f is iffy, but their Neo-Ludwig line at least is about the quality you'd expect from some of the nicer taobao storefronts and I was pretty pleased with the results.

The main issue with f+f is that if you're over a certain measurement -- arbitrary, apparently, since it's not mentioned anywhere, they will charge you an additional fee on top of the one on the website (as some of us discovered when we placed this order as a group a couple of months ago). I don't want to say "hidden" but I guess it is since again, there's no indication anywhere on the site that you should expect to pay more than what you agreed to on the order form. So if you do purchase anything from them and you're plus size, assume that they'll email you after the fact to ask for about $10-15 more per item than the website tells you, and budget accordingly. (Obviously this fee doesn't apply to things like accessories, just dresses, skirts and tops)