For women, not waifs (Evans)

Member Name: Bryn Pearson

Product:	Evans
Date:	06/05/03 (1840 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: excellent range, lots of larger sizes

Disadvantages: none

If you are over a size 16 and female, have you ever had these shopping expereinces? You go into a clothes shop and look around. You realise that everything on display is aimed at people who are about a size ten, and the anorexic teenage girl on the checkout is staring at you like you are some kind of freak. You eye up the lingerie - there's some passable stuff, but when the sales assistant comes over, all she tries to do is get you to buy something that looks like a tent. You find a dress you like but the biggest size they have it in is two sizes two small. You find only one item of clothing you could get into, but its vile and you wouldn't be seen dead in it. You go home feeling demorlaised.

I've grown to hate clothes shopping - never finding anything that will suit me, and being faced with marketing that says 'larger women are ugly', 'fashion and beauty require you to be thin', 'if you are over a size 16, you should be ashamed to be out in public, please hide yourself beneath this tent so as not to cause offence to our more beautiful and therfore worthy customers.' It sucks. It's horrible and stupid. being a size 16 or over means you have a female shape - you have breasts, hips, a bum and a bit of curve on your tum - you look like a woman, and this surely should be celebrated not reviled. I know a few larger women - all of whom are really lovely, very sexy and having a lot of trouble getting clothes that flatter and flaunt their assets to best advantage.

For the greater part, larger women are offered dull, frumpy clothes. But then there's Evans, and Evans is different. Rather than just scaling up the slim-bint fashion clothing, such that it looks daft, Evans have their own lines, and those lines are designed with real women in mind. If you want clothes that can show off a superb double D bust, and a figure that's all curves, then Evans can do it. They're a highstreet shop, there's plenty of
them about and occasionally their lines turn up in department stores as well, although that's not so good because you don't get the same atmosphere.

I don't know if its intentional, but unlike most clothes chains, Evans do not employ skinny girls who look like pre-teens to run the checkouts. I've been in several different Evans' and the staff are always normal looking. You never get a frosty reception, no one will look at you like being bigger is some sort of crime. And of coruse, because Evans doesn't sell anything under size 16, you don't get the skiny girls in there, which makes it a much more comfortable shopping expereince. Being an 18, I'm at the small end of the range - there's always a lot of stuff in the twenties and I believe they do go bigger. What they excelle at is making you feel normal and valued, and so we should be.

Size isn't everything - quality matters, and Evans are good on this score - lots of lovely natural fabrics, clothes that are well made with good detail, good shape - at the moment there's lots of embroidered cotten and linnen. There's a good range of styles - formal stuff, work wear, casual, and they tend to do some really good 'hippy' type clothes for those of us who are earth-mother types.

However, all this comes at a cost. You can easily pay twenty pounds for a top, and there's a pair of trousers I've set my heart on which cost £35. Bargin basement it isn't, but you are paying for something which will last.

I've had a fair few articles from Evans - I found them invaluable during my pregnancy, as even maternity gear doesn't seem to come in sensible sizes! I went up to about a size 24, and Evans was the only shop where I could find flattering clothes that I wanted to wear, rather than the ugly tent-like stuff that is normally offered. The clothes washes well, seams stay together, fabric doesn't fray or go in holes unexpec
tedly - its good quality stuff, made to last and built for use. If you are pregnant, you'll find that most maternity gear is aimed at women who started out being small, and so there's nothing much for a fuller figured woman whose developped a big bump. Evans do a lot fo clothes that, while not marketed as such, are ideal for pregnancy.

I cannot rpaise this store enough - I love their range, their attitude and their freindliness. I actually enjoy clothes shopping in Evans (Contessa is the only other shop I like as much). Its about time the clothing industry realised that small is not the only form of beautiful, that femenine women are sexy and we want good clothes and good service.

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