It seems like plus size clothing retailers are always asking we, the
fatties, what we are looking for from them. When we answer with a
unanimous "WE JUST WANT THE SAME CLOTHES YOU OFFER THIN PEOPLE," they
apparently think we are joking. There are companies that do this (Dorothy Perkins and Evans come to mind immediately), but they are few and far between. This situation is quite aggravating, as I strongly believe ALL people have a right to on-trend clothing and the pursuit of personal style, regardless of size.
When the lovely folks at eShakti contacted me recently about reviewing a
dress for them, I jumped at the chance! I have been wanting to try
them out for a long time now, so I was ecstatic that they chose me to review one of their beautiful products. For those of you who don't know, eShakti is an online boutique that carries their entire stock (of their own designs only) in every size from 0 to 36! (Not to belabor the point, but I simply do
NOT understand why every clothing company doesn't do this.) And not only do they carry basically every size, they do CUSTOM SIZING as well (for free the first time, then for a small and
very reasonable fee from then on).
I am not a size that exists on the rack, at all. Ever. Anywhere. As I have mentioned before, I am super unproportional (thanks to my gigantic boobs). A classic inbetweenie. Most of my clothing is actually rather ill-fitting, and I do what I can to hide that fact. I have long dreamed of owning a simple, but dramatic, very structured dress. I really thought the only way I would find what I'm looking for was to make one for myself. Turns out, that is not the case. For under a hundred bucks, eShakti will custom cut a dress, blouse, skirt, or jacket for you. Can you imagine? A ready-to-wear garment created just for you.
Their business model is really cool, and makes a whole lot of sense. To keep costs to the customer low, and cut down on overstock, they don't actually "stock" any sizes. Every single dress is cut and made to order. eShakti takes their products very seriously, and if something does happen to go awry, their customer service is top notch.
Now, I'll show you how to order.
First, pick whatever the hell dress you want. Cause guess what? THEY'RE LITERALLY ALL YOUR SIZE. With are so many choices, I suggest you make an awesome one.
Second, if you're lucky enough to be an industry standard size, you can use the 'standard size' tab. But if you're all over the place, like me, click on the custom size tag. All of these measurements are ones you can do yourself, save for the shoulder measurement. For that one, I would recommend either asking a friend, or measuring across the shoulders of a shirt or dress that fits you well.
Now, possibly the most fun part of this entire process- the styling! You can style the dress in whatever way you see fit. These aren't even all the options. Each dress has different styling options. I opted for the elbow length sleeve, with the above-knee length skirt. I'm a sucker for an elbow-length sleeve, and all of my dresses are too short.
When I was first writing this post, I was going to warn you guys that most of their dresses are plain and require a lot of accessorizing. But I have just gone back and checked the site, and I have to say that they have really stepped their game up! There are SO many ridiculously cute dresses on there now that I absolutely must have. I am just so pleased with the way my dress came out, I honestly have never been so emotional over a dress in my life. It's a magical feeling to put on a dress and have it just hug you perfectly. It's so comforting. I basically want to live in this dress, and it does have pockets, so I think that it might be possible...
