Spring is Coming...Plus Size Style Tips to Get you Ready!

Although it’s hard to believe at the moment as we look out of the window onto a miserable, cold, rainy scene but spring really is on its way! This always comes as a welcome arrival and as the sun begins to reappear our attention turns to the most enjoyable part of a change in season: A wardrobe update! I’m very pleased to tell you that this spring there are some gorgeous fashions emerging and, for the plus size clothes market, close attention to pattern and shape means that we can all feel feminine, confident and ready to fully embrace the season. Here at Yours Clothing we are particularly excited about our coming collections, the most fashion inspired and best value to date!

While we’re eagerly anticipating the new collections to arrive, there are some great ways for us all to prepare our wardrobe for a top-up. Here are my top 3 ways to get yourself and your wardrobe ready for spring:

1. Have a good clear out – There are certain items we all own that we simply can’t bring ourselves to throw away. This spring, many garments from last year will still be wearable with a new twist so there’s no need to be brutal. However it is important to keep your look fresh so if there are any wardrobe horrors lurking about then now’s the time to chuck them out! A good clear out can instantly make you feel ready for a little modernisation.

2. Stock up on great value staples – At the moment, while there aren’t too many gorgeous spring prints and styles about to distract you, have a quick check to see if you need to stock up on or replace some key wardrobe items. For example, us curvy ladies always need a good pair of black bootleg trousers and a pair of flattering jeans. Investing in these must-have pieces now will mean that you can treat yourself to ‘fashion’ items throughout the year with confidence that you will have something to wear them with! Check out the great range of plus-size trousers and jeans at www.yoursclothing.co.uk today.

3. Choose your style – There are some key trends which we will all be wearing this spring/summer and over the next few weeks I will be introducing you to them with some great tips on how to get the most out of the look. For the time being however, try and think about the look/style you would like to try out in the coming months. What is your wardrobe most lacking? Are you keen to progress at work and need to dress accordingly? Or, are you keen to try a completely new trend?! It’s important to have an idea of the look you are you looking for before the spring styles tempt you to buy anything too rashly.

With these simple rules, you should be ready when the time comes for a spring spree. Stay tuned for some spring trend exclusives over the next few weeks. Meanwhile I’m off to have a good clear out and a flick through some magazines for my very own new season wardrobe overhaul!

The Rise of the Plus Size Model

With London Fashion Week starting next week, once again all eyes will turn to the capital’s catwalks. Besides the most cutting edge styles that the world’s top designers have to offer we will all also inevitably assess the shape and health of the models who adorn each beautiful garment. While in recent years the ‘size zero’ phenomenon led to fashion houses regularly employing underweight models, I am pleased to say that the industry has at last woken up to the implications that this has had on the physical and mental health on not only the models themselves, but all girls across the country. The turnaround began when ‘The Model Health Inquiry’ was established by the British Fashion Council (BFC) on March 23, 2007, in response to concerns about the health of the ever decreasing size of some models.

This action taken by the BFC was supported by many of the most prestigious design houses in the world. Jean Paul Gaultier started the backlash at Paris Fashion Week by employing a size 20 model to strut down the runway in a selection of his sexiest underwear. When asked the reason for this, a spokesperson for the designer commented that "Jean-Paul wanted to show beauty can be universal…he thinks all women are beautiful and aims to challenge society's beauty stereotypes". From this moment onwards, the Plus Size Model industry has experienced something of a boom and the future is looking bright for curvaceous models. Just this week, ‘Look’ magazine dedicated their centre fold feature on the way in which five girls purposefully changed their body shapes in order to become curvier, sexier and more marketable.

Having researched this matter, I was intrigued to learn a little more about the Plus Size Model industry and how it differs from that of ‘standard’ sized models. So, who better to ask than our very own model Michelle! Not only is Michelle the face of Yours Clothing, she also runs her own modeling agency and so has experienced the industry from both sides. The point Michelle emphasised the most, was the difference in attitude between standard model agencies and specialist plus-size ones. She pointed out that Plus-size agencies tend to be friendlier and not so preoccupied with the body weight of their clients. “When I was younger, I tried to slim down enough to make it in mainstream modeling but it wasn’t right for my body shape”, she commented, “I was just told to lose more weight rather than that I was the wrong shape. Now I am a plus-size model, agencies don’t comment on any small fluctuations in my size, they just check that I’m healthy and happy. Fitness is far more important than weight”.

From Michelle’s observations and the article in Look magazine, the common factor seemed to be that the plus size models were all relaxed and content to be promoting plus size fashion and plus size clothing for women with curves rather than struggling to be an unnatural, unhealthy size. This is an outlook that we should all adopt when we buy fashion. Let’s stop worrying what size our label says and start concentrating on our health and happiness while also representing beautiful, fashionable plus size women all over the world.

Plus-Size Style, From Yours HQ to Your Computer - Part 2

Last week I began to tell you all a little bit about what goes on at Yours HQ within our website team. Having explained the design, planning and photography process, I now come to the dispatching and customer service aspects. Perhaps the most crucial part of the online process, especially from the customer’s point of view, is making sure that the correct items arrive to your door in good time and with as few complications as possible.

Claudia is the girl in the know when it comes to all parts of the online ordering process. Having worked at Yours Clothing for over three years, what Claudia doesn’t know about our stock and the details of how the whole operation works, isn’t worth knowing. When an order comes in, Claudia and her team organize the acquisition of each garment and arrange the secure payment and notification for each customer. Next, the garments are wrapped and packed ready to be handed over to our delivery service and sent to your front door.

From then on, your queries, questions and comments are in the care of our customer service department. We all try to get involved with customer interaction as we are keen believers in listening to feedback and trying to provide a personal service. The main man in this area however is David. Some of you may have spoken with David on the phone or had some email interaction with him. If you ever have any issues with our service online or in store, David is more than happy to help out and answer your questions. Similarly, if you have any suggestions regarding the future of our company, please let us know! We love to hear from you!

Having explained a bit about the internet department and who fits into what role over these past two weeks, I guess I should give you a brief overview of where I come in to it all too! Obviously I am in charge of writing this blog every week in order to provide you with some extra interaction and hopefully some interesting plus size fashion tips. The blog runs along side the weekly newsletter which gives you a first look of key fashion trends in the plus size clothing industry and what Yours has to offer each week. I also update the product titles and descriptions to provide an overview of each garment whenever a new item is ready to be put onto our website. As with our customer service team, I too am always interested in your comments so please get in touch.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this behind-the-scenes glimpse into Yours HQ. Over the coming months I hope to introduce you to more members of our team and continue to update you with company news and forthcoming events and promotions.

Plus-Size Style, From Yours HQ to Your Computer - Part 1

Over the past year Yours Clothing has been constantly expanding and evolving in order to bring plus-size fashion right to your finger tips through our great website. While it may seem as if our new ranges appear magically onto our site every week, it actually takes a lot of planning, co-ordinating and hard work by our fantastic internet team. In order for you to put a few names and faces to the people who make all this possible, over the next two weeks I am going to give you all a sneaky peek into how it all works!

Before we even start photographing the clothes for the website, we have to gather together our new lines from the warehouse and create up-to-date outfits to show off our garments at their very best. This involves meeting with the buyers and discussing what’s hot in fashion and the looks we want to promote. Usually myself and our talented photographer Marzena will decide on these outfits before each fashion shoot. When we’re all ready to go Michelle, our regular model who no doubt you’ll all recognise, comes into our photographic studio and we accessorise and perfect the looks before taking the crucial shots.

While this is perhaps the most visual aspect of our website production, the work certainly does not end there. Marzena then takes dozens of further pictures of each garment so that we can offer you clear and precise pictures of the shape, material and details of each and every piece of plus size clothing. These are then sharpened and edited for maximum clarity before being added to the site.

After adding stock, we try to promote the website and our new items through the weekly newsletter (which you can sign up to on our homepage) and through these blogs. To further display our best selling lines, we often take our models ‘on location’ in order to take some promotional photographs in natural settings.

Having put in all this work planning and maximising the aesthetics of our products, we eagerly await the online orders to come in. It’s always rewarding when we see that certain items are as popular as we suspect they might be during the website development process. Once your orders are processed, we turn our attention to ensuring swift delivery and great customer service. I’ll be divulging more about this aspect of the process and the team members who make it all possible next week in part 2 of this behind-the-scenes blog….