Big girls basque? (Evans)

Member Name: LouisaNott

Product:	Evans
Date:	30/10/01 (224 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, fair quality

Disadvantages: Bad range of dodgy clothes, tacky feel in the store

I think that D.H. Evans is a fantastic shop if you’re on the larger side of small. It certainly is fabulous for women like myself… young (21) and wanting to wear sexy clothes.

I hardly ever shop in Evans, for reasons that I’ll come to shortly, but I work in a shop in which there is an Evans department, and I work on it fairly frequently.

I found that I was rather impressed with the range of clothes available for the larger lady (sized 14 (in some ranges) to 32), and that if I was that large, I would be perfectly happy to wear such items.

It appears that I am mistaken. Upon speaking to several larger ladies that come into the store, I have found that many of them are unimpressed with the range available NOW, compared with what was on offer a few years ago. Apparently, Evans has become “frumpy” and “old-fashioned”. I have to agree to seeing what they mean.

On the one hand, there is a nice range of casual clothing: jeans, t-shirts, jumpers etc. Anything you’d want to laze around the house in. On the other, there is a lovely range of knitwear, and a fantastic selection of velour and sparkly “going out”-wear.

The problem that customers have, in the main, is the party-wear (that is to say, half of the “Seven” range). The tops in particular, are insulting to larger ladies. Some are 1-shouldered, and others are strapless. I am not an Evans-sized lady, and I do appreciate that there are ladies out there that appreciate clothes such as these being made in these sizes, but every time I’ve spoken to someone who’s tried such an item on, they have been amazed, and in some cases, upset, that they can’t wear these clothes. Like I say, I’m not large, and I can’t wear anything without a bra, and I’m a size 12-14. Women I speak to are a lot larger than me, and are understandably upset about this.

The designers at Evans sho
uld have though about this before they drew up the plans for these garments, and will be sacked when every last one of them is sold at a ridiculous knock-down price, because nobody above a size 12 wants to wear them…

I’m sorry, but Evans hasn’t exactly done itself proud recently, and remembering that many other shops now cater for the larger lady, I’d take my money elsewhere!

Summary: