Thursday, November 09, 2006

My New Jacket
A Moral in the Mirror

Here is the new jacket that arrived in the mail on Friday. As you can see from the catalog picture (Making It Big, if you should wonder [makingitbig.com]), it is reversible. It is lovely! I am wearing it everywhere I go and feeling very snazzy indeed. If I lived further north, it would be an autumn jacket, but here in Juneau, it is a winter jacket. On really cold days, one of which we had Monday (14 degrees), I wear it over a sweater and I'm warm as toast. On other days, a cotton blouse will be good enough.

I love this catalog because it shows models my size. This one is smaller than I am, but she is the smallest one in the catalog. One of the sad things about catalog shopping, if you are large, is that mostly they show clothes that don't come in a size smaller than a 14 on a size 8 model. Even if you are a 14, that doesn't tell you how you are going to look. If, like me, you are substantially larger than a 14, it is brutal. I look at the garment and I know it won't look like that on me, but somewhere in my subconscious that is the image which is saved and counted on. Then, I try the thing on, it fits, it looks great, I look fine -- but when I look in the mirror, I compare the rotund, short, 64-year-old Granny with the lean, tall, 19-year-old model that I saved back there and feel dreadful disappointment. But, when I buy from Making It Big, when I look in the mirror, what I see is what I expect to see. I feel good about my new clothes. I feel attractive. I like seeing me.

To me, this catalog personifies truth in advertising. It speaks of the value of being who you really are, of not pretending to be anything else. I have never been disappointed with a garment from these people (who sell only clothes made in the US) in all the years I've been a customer. Because they tell me, right up front, the truth. They don't use skinny models.

I wish that other people, politicians among them, were as honest as these people. Wouldn't it be nice?

11 comments:

J said...

I think it's great that that company uses real models so that you can see how the clothes will fit. :) I also am sometimes dissapointed at how I look in something, since I'm not 5'11" and 17 years old with legs up to my neck. And Maya tried on something the other day that she had seen on a model on tv....looked horrid on her (in my opinion, it looked horrid on the model, too, but that's my old mother opinion, to be ignored by 10 year olds. )

Susan B said...

I love that jacket!!! I'll bet it looks gorgeous on you. MIB has some of the prettiest clothes out there.

Cuppa said...

Great jacket! I bet you look and feel fabulous in it. It is so nice to have something that is comfortable, looks good and lifts your spirits all at the same time.

I have a jacket made out of a woven tapestry blanket and I love, love, love it. It is fifteen years old now, and looks as good as the day I bought it. It is soft, warm and oh so comfortable but best of all, it makes me feel great. I get comments on it everytime I wear it, and that is a lot of fun.

Butterfly and I went out shopping on the weekend, and in one store I took the jacket off and laid in on the counter so the saleslady and two interested customers could see how it was constructed. What fun!

Autumn's Mom said...

Very snazzy indeed :) I watched Oprah the other day and they had a plus size model. Oprah kept asking, since when is a size 12 considered plus size? I'd like to know the answer to that as well.

When and if I ever get to a size 12, I'm going to consider myself MODEL skinny!

Rain Trueax said...

That is a great looking jacket. I like things that I can layer also. Reversible would be a plus. It amazes me when they do that with the models not remotely real people sized and a problem to some degree to any sized person.

Ms. Mamma said...

Very adorable jacket. I think you said it all.

kenju said...

I have never seen that catalog, but I am looking for it online right now!!

Lorna said...

great jacket, great catalogue.

Mary Lou said...

I sooo know what you mean. Lane Bryant is terrible about that! I too just bought a new winter jacket, and I love it!!

I am going to have to check that site out!

Anonymous said...

thanks for writing about "ourselves and our sizes." the jacket looks great! just got an XL blouse from eddie bauer-- too small in bust. but sometimes petiteXL works. recent newspaper stories report that even the teeny women find sizing a challenge.

now let's talk about shoe styles for women long past stilletoes.

jay lassiter said...

you go girl!