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Big & Tall, Middle Eastern Style

Saudis a source of more than oil for some U.S. consumers

By Penny McCracken
ConsumerAffairs.com

May 16, 2009

• Big & Tall, Middle Eastern Style • Newport News Complaints

Do you know that Newport News clothing is part of the former Lane Bryant, now called "Woman Within" and by several other names -- Catherine's, and many others? I have repeatedly told them to remove me from all future mailings. They keep right on coming. I just threw out a Woman Within catalog today.

I have called them "infected and diseased" with regards to their fashions. I am a TALL, plus-sized lady. (5'10" and size 24/26. (Yeah, I know -- before being sidelined out of my career by Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Fibromyalgia, I was a scuba diver and mountain hiker in CA.) But even when I was skinny, I had trouble buying clothing that fit.

These people also do a strange thing in pricing. If you go from a 1X size to a 2X, they charge you $5.00 more! For about 3" more fabric. If you go from a medium shoe size to a wide, it typically jacks up the price by $5.00. for half an inch of leather or, these days, plastic. So when you see a blouse or sweater you just MIGHT like to buy, it will say "As low as $4.99." But if you take one size larger, suddenly, it is $5.00 more!

They often offer what they call "floats" or "muu-muus" or "caftans." But they only make them to 52 or 53 inches in length. My long garments need to be SIXTY inches long! They don't offer anything for the taller woman. (Oh, yes, they do have some talls, but they stop at size 18!) These wonders of fashion usually offer gaudy prints, purple or gray colors, and usually involve huge flower patterns. The last thing a plus-size lady needs is horizontal stripes, right at the widest part of her hips!

I also cannot buy bathing suits for a longer torso, long-line bras, pajamas with long pants, long nightgowns, and when it comes to the "dressy" fashions for the Holiday seasons, I can buy tops, but the only "dressy" slacks they offer come with a 28" inseam. I need 32" inseams.

Now, here is the irony: Because I am primarily homebound, I want comfortable things to wear. Sitting around all day in street clothes is uncomfortable. If I wear pajamas, that is for sure the day somebody shows up at the door!

A caftan from DesertStore.com

I cannot buy what I want from the above catalogs. But I can buy absolutely GORGEOUS caftans from a company called DesertStore.com. In a country where women are not supposed to have much freedom, I can buy whatever I want!

The first question they ask me after I click on "buy" for one of their caftans, is "How tall are you?" That means I get to swoop around the house feeling incredibly feminine, in gorgeously embroidered caftans, and not only are they as long as I need, they are also sold as short as another woman might want -- so she doesn't have to HEM everything she buys!

Our American vendors could take lessons from these guys! For very close to the same price as for one of the purple horrors they keep trying to foist off on American women, I can buy a gorgeous caftan, heavily embroidered with fantastic patterns and colors, from a place in Saudi Arabia!

Go have a look -- got any abundant ladies in your life? Are they tall or short? Are they sick of never getting what they want, or sick of having to hem garments or sew ten inches of lace on the bottom of them? The caftans are made of a wonderful Korean-made silk called Kashibo silk. The garments do not have to be dry cleaned, or even ironed.

As for the financial problems consumers have had with Newport News -- well, that's SOP! I once had a $19 credit with Lane Bryant, sent for some shoes, got two ugly sweaters instead, fired them back, and a few years later, they started telling me I owed THEM $19! Eventually, they 'wrote it off" and damaged my credit.

Go check DesertStore.com. Click on caftans, tunics, and formal evening gowns. You'd be amazed at what Arabic women wear beneath those black Abayas. And if you are a Daddy with a daughter going to a Prom? Go easy on your budget, and give your daughter a gown you will NOT see on another teen! She can be the belle of the ball, and all the other gals will be amazed or downright jealous!

Some of the caftans are not to my taste. But I use the ones with the white embroidery over white silk, as pretty nightgowns. I'd rather shop in my own country. But the stores and catalogs in my own country, aren't catering to me. I'm tired of feeling "left out" or "other than" or "not OK" -- when I can buy pretty stuff somewhere else.

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