skirtcafe.org

Basically, women tend to have smaller bodies than men.

I believe that clothes for larger-than-average women are marketed as "Plus" sized.

Caultron wrote: So it seems to me that to find a dress that fits, I'd need to know the arm length, wrist, upper arm, shoulder, bust, chest, waist, hip, and overall length measurements, at least.

Similar to finding womens tops that could fit a man.

Grok wrote:Similar to finding womens tops that could fit a man.

Yes, same problem.

Finding a skirt that fits is by far the easier half.

Grok wrote:Basically, women tend to have smaller bodies than men.
I believe that clothes for larger-than-average women are marketed as "Plus" sized.

Yep. There are shops that cater to that group, too. In general, those are the only shops that a man my size can usefully shop for women's wear in, and I am by no means near the top of the scale in the women's plus size range.

Their bodies are shaped differently too, and differently distributed for plus size women since fat tends to be the main driver for the need for plus sizes in women where height is also a factor in men's "big and tall". This makes plus size pencil skirts dodgey for me because my fat doesn't conform to the usual distribution for women.

Daryl wrote:Yep. There are shops that cater to that group [plus sizes], too. In general, those are the only shops that a man my size can usefully shop for women's wear in, and I am by no means near the top of the scale in the women's plus size range.

Their bodies are shaped differently too, and differently distributed for plus size women since fat tends to be the main driver for the need for plus sizes in women where height is also a factor in men's "big and tall". This makes plus size pencil skirts dodgey for me because my fat doesn't conform to the usual distribution for women.

I guess that's just more work than I care to do.

Plus, local stores have limited selection, and buying online leads to the nuisance of returns.

Ron wrote:not a dress as such but I do like my Caftans and Monks Robes

There may be a latent acceptance of men in robes.

The problem with ordering plus-sized dresses, as many of us have learned the hard way, is that if you find something with a sufficiently large waist size you will end up with extra billowy bits on the upper deck, because the assumption is that you will have 3+ inches more around the chest than you do around the waist. So (for example) a 42 inch waist that fits me nicely in that area will have 46 to 50 inches of billowy bits around my 40 inch chest.

Sometimes I just ignore it, and let it billow.

Sometimes I take advantage of smocked/ruched tops with lots of spandex that are intended to enhance larger breasts, but in our case stick flat against our flat chest.

Sometimes I take the time and effort to do a (very poor) patch job, basically folding the collar over at an angle to the left and right of center, sort of like this:
Here's a poorly drawn example. I will try to get pictures of a recent actual example this week.


The basic idea is to fold the left side a few inches over to the left, and the right side a few inches over to the right. This creates a bit of a pleated effect, but depending on your personal aesthetics that's not necessarily a bad thing. The fold goes from your starting point to the left or right of center collar down to the underarm point where the sleeve attaches to the bodice (or the bottom of the armhole, with a sleeveless dress). Does that make sense? I apologize for being unprepared with a photo; it's late and I was just about to head to bed after checking messages here.

In my preferred brand, I'm often surprised that Skirts are often the same price as, or more expensive than, Dresses.

jamodo, I don't know where you shop but dresses, unless they are very simple and plain, are always more expensive than skirts. But then I shop in places such as ASDA, Matalan, Primark and such. I won't pay more than 5 quid for a skirt and 10 quid for a dress, not that I have bought many dresses.

I’ve bought Cardigans from Asda: they’re well made, considering the low price.

Even so, I like Eastex. It suits my age. Full price, they’re far too expensive. On their outlet store, though, their bargain-basement prices put them on the same price level as Asda. Even here, their Skirts can cost more than their Dresses. So, it’s often cheaper to buy a Dress rather than separate Skirt and Blouse. I’ve bought many items from Eastex: very high quality at low price. For example, my Wife bought one of their Coats, reduced from £250 to just £29.

Ralph wrote:The problem with ordering plus-sized dresses, as many of us have learned the hard way, is that if you find something with a sufficiently large waist size you will end up with extra billowy bits on the upper deck, because the assumption is that you will have 3+ inches more around the chest than you do around the waist. So (for example) a 42 inch waist that fits me nicely in that area will have 46 to 50 inches of billowy bits around my 40 inch chest.

Sometimes I just ignore it, and let it billow.

Sometimes I take advantage of smocked/ruched tops with lots of spandex that are intended to enhance larger breasts, but in our case stick flat against our flat chest.

Sometimes I take the time and effort to do a (very poor) patch job, basically folding the collar over at an angle to the left and right of center, sort of like this

I do my own skirt-sewing and even with that level of proficiency I find that doing alterations to make a women's garment fit me properly is just more work than it's worth. I did an alteration to a blouse recently that took so much time I'd wished I'd never bought it (though now it is my favourite blouse).

I have been looking at web sites that discuss womens tunics. (The modern garments, not those of antiquity). These seem to be quite versatile garments: they can be worn over trousers, with shorts, leggings, or simply as short dresses. Perhaps such could be inspiration for a mans garment with similar versatility.

I am not sure where the line is where a tunic becomes a dress. I have a yellow tunic that is right on that borderline - I call it a tunic MOH calls it a dress, albeit a short dress. At what point does a long T-shirt become a T-shirt dress or a shirt become a shirt dress. Hmmmm.

I came across an online comment regarding womens tunics-if the garment extends below the knees, it is actually a muumuu

Grok wrote:I came across an online comment regarding womens tunics-if the garment extends below the knees, it is actually a muumuu

Which may well have been sarcastic.

I've seen plenty of dresses/tunics that are splendid exemplars of how to do things well that cascaded to distinctly below the knees. It's all in the fit and how the skirt portion of the garment behaves. Muumuus typically have no shape to them at all and resemble tents more than anything else; a proper dress -- or even a shirt-dress -- has definition to it. A muumuu is something one would wear to the beach; a shirt-dress can be worn to work, and a true dress to a classical concert.