Sisterly Advice

Dear Sharon,

I know that you get hundreds of email, so since I want your full attention, I'll keep this short and sweet. First of all you are fabulous!!! I need some fashion help and advice. I am 6ft tall, I weigh 243lbs,and I wear a 16/18. My shoe size is 11. Ms. Sharon please tell me where to find fashionable, cute, sexy clothes. I'm on a tight budget, but want to be fierce! Im a 30 year old single mother of a beautiful 2year old. At present, I only make close to 19k a year. Life has been hard for me, but hey that's everyone, so I'm taking it all in stride, and rolling with it. At present, I live in Baton Rouge, LA, but within the next two months, I will be moving to Arlington, TX. I need a fresh start. I'm trying to find store that cater to TALL plus size women, with big feet. I can't afford to have my clothes made, or high end designer clothes. This sister is on a tight budget, but I believe I can still be F. A. T. !!

Your FAT Sister,
(The Amazon Queen)



Dear Amazon Queen

Girl I feel your pain....I have been where you are for most of my life, so I understand how hard it is to be fabulous on a limited budget!!! I love your positive energy! And I love The Amazon Queen moniker!!!! You are already halfway there mama!!! The great part of it is that you already know that you WILL NOT be making 19k for the rest of your life....you just gotta fake it till you make it!. I am sending you some sites that I know of off the top of my head that held me down during the rough times...(And being a shopaholic myself...there were more rough times than I care to admit..lol)

Being a size 12 shoe myself, and spending most of my childhood in Buster Brown shoes or sneakers...I know from experience that there are a WHOLE lot more variety in shoe choices nowadays. Here are some of the sites I like to surf through looking for great shoes at fairly reasonable prices:

http://www.barefeetshoes.com/

Paradise Fashion http://widewidth.com/product_info.php?products_id=325&osCsid=36b091ce3400bfe996d544663ac6f9a1

http://www.thelmamorgan.com/

http://www.largefeet.com/ (Friedman's shoes)

With the birth of the Star Jones Collection Payless is now making decent knock offs...shop during the "BOGO" sales! http://www.payless.com/

Nordstrom also carries a decent selection of shoes also... http://www.nordstrom.com/

Don't fret though...with kids nowadays coming out of the womb with size 10 feet....Manufacturers will eventually have to bump up the selection and the size range to meet the growing demand of the people.

Now shopping for clothing is ALWAYS more difficult if you are big AND LONG!!! And at the age of 44 I am not interested in looking like I should be an audience member for 106 & Park. I want to look good but I also want to look like an adult. Because I have been modeling for so long, I have built wonderful relationships with designers and am used to having things made to my measurements. If you are looking for sites that specialize in tall size clothing....be prepared to spend some change. But for now you can start here:

http://www.newport-news.com/ They carry tall proportioned clothing and they are not too expensive.

http://www.igigi.com/ A lot of the big girls I know shop here and they generally carry some really cute things.

http://www.torrid.com/ I don't know if they carry tall proportioned pants & Jeans but there are some cute things on their site. The name of the game is mix and match...buy tops from here....bottoms from somewhere else.

http://www.gap.com/
http://www.oldnavy.com/

I love The Gap and Old Navy, they have very cute things, limitless possibilities and they are ALWAYS having a sale....YAY!!!!!

These are only a few of the hundreds of sites to choose from. I am only sending you the ones that I am familiar with. But if you go to Google and put in Tall Size Women's Clothing in the search box, you'll be surprised at what comes up.

Remember, "Fake it till you make it Mama", shop the sales, find out where the plus girls in your city are shopping and ask them. Working on a limited budget is hard, but not impossible.

Remember a TRUE DIVA is Fabulous in her own skin....as long as YOU feel good about YOU...that's all anyone will see and remember. Trust me.

Good Luck on your journey and let me know how it goes.

Sharon