Last night I got an email from Old Navy about cardholders getting 40% off, and although I think of their clothes as being pretty much the same price no matter what the sale is (this is the case with many, many stores, not at all just Old Navy), I realized I hadn’t checked their Tall Perfect Crew t-shirts in awhile, and I like to make sure I am UP TO THE MINUTE on new colors for those, because I have allllll the grey, black, white, and navy I can EVER WEAR, and every so often they offer colors other than those.
Anyway. There were no new colors on the Tall Perfect Crews, and I remembered from a recent post that the word “tunic” was a good way to find shirts that fit like Talls, so I searched tunic.
(image from OldNavy.com)
Wait. That is not a tunic. In fact, if I saw that just described as “relaxed plus-size hoodie,” I would think, “Nope, too short.”
(image from OldNavy.com)
Okay, these are also not tunic-length. My understanding of the word “tunic” is that it means “will cover your entire butt and can be worn with leggings.” I do not even want to wear that short boxy coral one with jeans, let alone leggings. And look at the side-slit! The skin of her torso would be showing if she were standing up straight.
(image from OldNavy.com)
Yes, THESE are tunics! Not available in plus-sizes, though. Hm. I will keep looking.
(image from OldNavy.com)
This too is a tunic-length top. Regular sizes only, no plus.
(image from OldNavy.com)
That’s a nice regular-sizes-only tunic-length shirt. Look at that excellent butt-coverage!
(image from OldNavy.com)
Tunic-length sweater for thin people.
(image from OldNavy.com)
Tunic-length sweater for non-thin people.
(image from OldNavy.com)
Do your legs touch at any point, even at the very very widest part? No? Then you may have a tunic. Here, this is plenty long enough to cover that embarrassing thigh-gap.
(image from OldNavy.com)
But are you plus-sized, even MODEL plus-sized, and would really like to participate in the leggings trend? I am sorry, this is what we call a tunic for YOU. Nice and short, a little EXTRA short in the tum region, with a nice high side-slit and oddly warped stripes. Also, we made the sleeves shorter, because we know plumper women like to show off those upper arms.
That is 4 million different kinds of wrong.
That is so incredibly lame.
They totally deserve to have lots of plus size overstock this season. But you know that when they do, it will only reinforce their belief system about plus sizes–that it’s not a viable market, and that they shouldn’t waste retail real estate on it. I’m done with them. DONE.
Yes!! Nothing irks me more than hearing people say “well, we made some plus-sized clothes but no one bought them!” Well. Let’s look at this more closely. What you made was a bunch of sleeveless shirts in horrible non-colours, with no style whatsoever, covered in animal prints or glitter or non-sensical phrases. It’s not a plus-sized clothes problem, it a clothes problem, in that they were all hideous. So OF COURSE we didn’t buy much of it. (We did buy some, of course, in desperation to have a clothes that half-assed fit.) Argh.
I could rant about this forever. In Canada we have so few options, and the place I used to shop (Reitmans) made a big splash recently about how they were no longer offering a separate plus-size section – it was extended sizing for all of their products, so now we plus-sized folk should be able to buy any style/item in the store. But when they switched to making all items in their “extended” sizes, they eliminated the largest 3 sizes. So now shirts are only a small-fitting 2X (used to go to a smallish 4X) and pants stop at size 20 (they used to go to 26 I think, maybe 28). So that eliminated tons of their customers and made plus-size shopping in Canada even harder.
I buy a lot of clothing through “Woman Within” tons of tunics for real women! Website and catalogue.
I like “Woman Within” as well. I think they also do business as Roamans. Not only do they have plus sizes, they have PETITE plus sizes. Now, I know that doesn’t help out Swistle with her magnificent height, but let me tell you, being both fat AND short has been a real issue for me, as many plus size retailers seem to think that if you are very wide or very round, you must also be seven and a half feet tall.
Anyway, they sell tunics. Lots of them. In tons of styles and colors. Vee neck tunics, crew neck tunics, tank top tunics, you name a shirt style and they have it in tunic length. I love them.The one thing to watch out for with WW is that they do some mild vanity sizing, so check the size charts before ordering. I wear a size smaller on their website than I do anywhere else in the world.
–Oh, I guess there are two things to watch out for. While 90% of my wardrobe is made up of their clothes, I do feel like the quality is juuuuuuusssst a smidge lower than it should be for the price. The prices are reasonable in my mind, especially compared with Old Navy and Land’s End, but I can’t help feeling like the clothes should either be slightly better quality or the prices a titch lower, but that’s one of those YMMV things. I really think you should check them out, Swistle.
I feel like we shop in the wrong spots!! I am 6′ and plus size and everything is catered to short people! And when maternity needs were brought into the equation? Forget about it!
But! If they somehow realize that you’re not seven and a half feet tall, they lop off a bunch of the length, but they forget about the sleeve and shoulders. All shirts have shoulder seams that droop half way down my arms and the sleeves are way too long; and most of those shirts are just not long enough. Or they’re made from poor quality fabric so they just get wider and shorter every time you wash them. Argh. Clothes shopping is SO FRUSTRATING.
I am not plus-sized but I have a very hard time finding (actual, for reals) tunic-length for anyone who has curves. I’ve resorted to using short dresses as tunic-length shirts.
Same. I wear smaller sizes but I have a (proportionally) big butt, and from what I can tell the whole point of tunics is to provide coverage!! They don’t flatter me on top, so if they’re too short, they are literally the last thing I’d want to wear. Since I can’t be the only one in this boat, I don’t understand why the vast majority of them don’t have long back sides!
Target used to have the perfect plus size tunic length tee that I wore all the time. Then of course they shortened it, including the sleeve length. I haven’t found a decent basic tee since. All of these retailers suck.
This is straight up messed up. I want to use a much stronger word than messed.
You should share this post with Old Navy. Though it is industry wide, these specific examples are excellent. I can’t figure out why someone wouldn’t look at that short tunic pictures and go, wow, that’s not very nice-looking for a shirt. At least the picture saves me from ordering anything! I liked what I saw Kelly posted on twitter about modcloth, so I might try those. Mostly I just go to the shops and keep trying to find long shirts. While I am petite, I have a long torso. Add plus size and I’m always searching for nice clothes that don’t look like I’m 95. Not that there is anything wrong with being 95, I just want clothes that look like they are designed for me, not someone else. Why can’t the fashion industry figure that out????? oh wait. I’m fat, so I don’t need nice clothes??? oops, sorry to hijack your post with my own rant…
RIGHT?!?! I went into an ON store last week to find a similar type of shirt and couldn’t find a single thing in my size the right length or without a drop-waist. Then I checked online; same thing. I ended up ordering a maternity dress online instead. It was the only option that was a decent length and/or with a waist higher than my hips. So frustrating!
Totally and completely unfair. It amazes me that clothing designers can’t figure out these simple things.
Lately, I’ve been playing with making my own clothing patterns, and one thing that I’ve come to realize is that one can save a lot of fabric (and therefore money) by cutting sleeves and pants just a little bit shorter and narrower. Not that I think that IS what should happen, BUT I wonder if all the crop pants and 3/4 lengths and sleeveless tops are pushed by value engineering / business consultants who are trying to make short term improvements to the bottom line. Either way, it sucks. Grrr.
Also: solids are nice! Horizontal stripes? Not my favorites.
Why ARE the tall sizes only available in white/black/grey? Having a long torso doesn’t preclude me from wanting to wear color. I found a long shirt at Gap last month that actually fits and was so grumpy to see that none the 15-ish colours in the standard fit were available in tall.
The tunic thing is maddening. I have all of 2 that work on me and it’s not for want of looking.
I was so hoping you were going to link to an awesome and well priced tunic. I just got into the LuLaRoe leggings thing where you buy them online. And they are great, but I need long shirts to go with them. They sell their own tunic, but it costs $35 and I haven’t been able to talk myself into that price for a shirt, especially if I just get a solid coloured one.
I found 1 tunic at Walmart for $8 something that was 1XL, but they don’t have any more or any others. I looked at some thrift stores, but that seems like an impossible place to find tunics, as all the shirts are short length.
So now I have 3 pairs of very fun leggings and only 1 shirt to wear them with. I can do some dresses and skirts, but that’s not as fun.
Clothes shopping is total bunk. I hate it. I am not trying to be obnoxious, I promise, because I absolutely know and understand this is not an appealing solution for most people, but this is EXACTLY WHY I starting sewing my own clothing. There is a big list of reasons why this would not work for many people, among the reasons being the massive learning curve involved which is why I have worn a lot of ill-fitting clothes, but WOW it feels good to stick it to the man.
I have a literal small boatload of self-made tunics OF PROPER LENGTH. Any darned color I want. But yeah, it’s a total pain in the rear, especially because I don’t even like sewing.
“Sheer-patterned tunic” lady’s legs must be photoshopped, right? Right??!?
I’m so happy that this post wasn’t actually about how you found the PERFECT tunic at ON, because then I was going to have to reconsider my vow to never buy anything from their stupid plus-sized-discriminating operation ever ever again. But nope, it’s just that they suck in yet another way! Whew, what a relief.
The trick I live by is a tunic length tank/cami under the shirts. Target makes awesome ones. I own half a dozen in black. They are tight and slimming with spaghetti straps and cover past my butt. They look intentional and make any shirt with leggings look totally put together. I usually wear with black leggings so you can’t even tell I’m wearing the tank unless you look close (and most people don’t) but if I wear another color leggings, a black cardigan pulls it all together.
Same trick, except I like white. I’ve gotten one I love at kohls, and need to invest in about forty more. They look good with skinny jeans, too. Plus, I like to wear a Cami under shirts, regardless.
All I have to say is UGH! I can’t find clothes that make me feel good. This is just another example of the man.
Yes! Why all the short and wide plus size shirts. Who does that look good on? Drives me crazy.
I can’t even believe this!!! I mean I can, but I can’t! Have you heard of LuLaRoe? It’s the current clothing craze and they have leggings and tunics for kids through size 22. Super comfy clothes!
At Old Navy, tunic apparently = comes up slightly at the sides. Length doesn’t seem to play much of a factor.
Oh my gosh this is so well timed as I had an awful shopping experience last week that primarily included ON, but other stores as well. My biggest complaint though is that when I do find a longer top that will cover my bum, it is usually cut so boxy that my boobs create a waterfall/tent effect and it hangs inches away from the rest of my body making me look twice my size. I could practically hide circus clowns under these shirts! Do the designers just assume that heavier people want to hide their body so a tent with zero shape is desired? Are all of their models just flat-chested? At first I thought it was just the design of a particular top, but now I’ve tried on enough to know that a long top that lies smoothly over curves and covers my butt is like finding the holy grail and I’m sad to report that I have not found it yet. I’ll let you know if I do!
A-stinking-men to this. Based on the t-shirt thread, I ordered some tall tees from Eddie Bauer and JCP (St Johns Bay) with mixed reviews. Both are thinner and clingier than I would like but I wore the JCP one all day this weekend and got over the clingy factor pretty quickly.
Another thing I don’t get is uneven hemlines on tops. WHY are so many shirts longer in the back than in the front? I guess it’s probably for butt coverage, but why not just make them that long all around? I have several shirts that are adequate tunic length in the back but regular-shirt-length in the front. Whose idea was this?
Good golly, Old Navy. This is strange.
I can’t remember if I suggested this in the original post, but I recommend asos.com. They’re not too well-known in the states, but you can easily mail order their things. They have an awesome selection of sizes and price points, but you maybe have to dig a bit. E.g., I just tried to see what sort of tops they had in plus sized. I had to search “plus” then refine by “women,” “tops” and “t-shirts,” then brought the price range down to under $40 or so. It looks like they have quite a few over-the-bum shirts (even ones not called tunics! some cute patterns and button-downs!), but you have to sort through a LOT of cut-out shoulder tees, for some reason!
You can probably fit old navy’s regular sizes XXL Tall. That’s what I do. Im usually a 20/22.
I know I’m late to the party, but have you ever looked here? http://www.hanes.com/justmysize
Some are Not Tunics – but a few really are! And they’re all decently priced!