FashBlog.com

By Brandi M. Seals

As a teenager with a brand new driver's license I got myself a job in my local mall as a cashier at department store to pay for gas. I worked there part time for over two years before I went to college. After that I worked there full time whenever I was home on breaks (that way I got to keep my associate discount). At one point or another I worked almost every department - men's, women's, junior's, lingerie, missy's, home furnishings, and children's. During my 5 years there I saw many things that make you stop and think - for example 25 to 40 year old women shopping in the junior's department - and not for their daughters.

Maybe the fact that I grew up in and around rural Michigan had a lot to do with my experience, but I cannot tell you the number of women I saw trying to squeeze their curvy size 12 bums into skin tight, butt-squeezing stretch jeans designed for teen and preteen girls that have not developed hips yet.

The clothing in the junior's department is designed for young girls with barely any body fat and no curves whatsoever. Granted you can squeeze curves into the pants, but they do not look good. Go over there sometime and check out the jeans. I bet they are mainly flare cut. Want to know why? It is because the flare cut narrows at the knee and gives the illusion of curvature to an otherwise flat hip. That is why they look so unflattering on someone who has developed their hips - the hips are emphasized so much that they are all that can be seen.

So we have established that the cut is less then desirable for shapely women, but what about material? The jeans are mainly stretch - though for some strange reason that seems to be a trend over in the women's and missy's departments now. The dress pants are ridiculously thin. If you have one iota of fat or are not as smooth as you would like to be, you can bet that the pants will cling to ever single peak, valley, dimple or whatnot that you are trying to hide.

Dressing like this does not make anyone look younger, it actually ages them quite a bit. Think about it, if you have two things together that do not belong together the eye automatically focuses on it.

Women need to learn to make the transition to the missy's department. It is the same as when you were little. You go from the children's department over to juniors. At first it looks like nothing is your style, but that's because you are not used to it. Missy's is not for the 30 plus crowd, it is for the 20 plus crowd. It is hard to acknowledge that at some point you just get too old to do something, but it is better to grow up gracefully than to get stuck in a rut and not know how to get out of it.

While working in the children's department I came across a woman in her 30s that had never made it out of the section. I know you think I am kidding, but I'm not. She was a small framed woman that stood maybe 4'11". I guess since juniors clothing was always too long for her she never progressed over to the petite's department (which let's face it, is often where ugly clothes go to live). Rather than get clothing altered to fit her, the women shopped from the little boys pants. She did not like the flare legs on the girl's pants.

Luckily I have noticed a trend in department stores over the past couple of years. They are finally stocking the missy's department with some young looking clothing. There are great tee shirts, cool jeans, and great little jackets for women to transition into. The petite's and women's departments however still lag a little behind. They have a few young things, but it seems that in order to find any real selection people with different size needs must shop at stores that specialize in larger sizes or petite clothing.

Ironically, as I write this I am currently wearing a pair of little girl plus sized exercise pants. Don't worry, they are just something left over from my days as a children's department cashier. I've never worn them in public.