Wednesday, January 21, 2015

AVA & VIV - a skeptic's take

Target is launching a new plus size line, AVA & VIV. They've "recruited" (in this sense, probably meaning "paid a lot of money to") some fabulous plus size bloggers - Nicolette Mason, Chastity Garner, and Gabi Gregg - to advertise preview the line for them.

Here they are, pictured in some clothes from the new line:
L-R: Gabi, Chastity, Nicolette

Now, I know my fashion sense differs from these ladies.' Heck, I'm a thirtysomething and I'm generally content with classic fashion pieces rather than trendy ones, though I do like to be at least somewhat in style.

Here's my take on these 3 outfits. The outfit on the left: no, no, heck no, a million times NO. (Insert Grumpy Cat face here.) I felt uncomfortable and self-conscious wearing a crop top when I was an in-shape size 10. As an out-of-shape size 20? Hah. I only wear tops if I can be relatively sure they will cover my waistline when I lift my arms. As for the pants - they're sheer. Who wears sheer pants?! Who should wear sheer pants?! (In my opinion, no one!)

Middle outfit: better, but still no, not for me anyway. The black shirt has oddly slanted sleeves that show off the upper arm, and that's fine for others I guess, but it's not me. If the whole sleeve were cut to the same point where it lands on the upper arm, I might wear it - I just don't want the emphasis on that upper arm. My upper arms are flabby. It's fine if you're proud of your upper arms and want to show them off (do most plus size women actually feel that way?), but I don't wanna.

The skirt is actually a really beautiful piece - it's a "tulip skirt" with a cool overlapping hem. I would totally wear it in black or a solid color (purple, please?), but in the stripes, it's like "WHOA! HIPS!" OK, hips are nice. Hips are beautiful. I don't want to emphasize mine. Are we sensing a pattern here? (In case it's not self-explanatory: I do not like emphasizing how big I am unless I'm writing about it! LOL.) Also, the place where the stripes overlap at the stomach? Yeah, it would take serious Spanx to get me to wear that with anything tucked in, and uh...I refuse to wear shapewear so it's not gonna happen. (Well honestly, I don't wear most things tucked in anyway because I have a really short waist and huge boobs so it just looks silly IMO. But I'm getting off topic, sorta.)

Outfit on the right: beautiful. Seriously, I can say nothing bad about this outfit. It's very tasteful and looks great on Nicolette. I don't think it would look nearly as good on me, but I'd at least try it on. The v-shaped stripes on top and vertical stripes on the bottom are very flattering. If I tried to wear this, it might even create a waist on me, which would be nice. I like the cardi and would definitely wear that, at least. I'm curious about what kind of sleeves the dress has.


Now, on this page, there is a "behind the scenes" video in which the bloggers talk about the line and how great it is and how Target is taking their suggestions and stuff. Yeah, it's an ad. Also, what's with all the jewelry and accessories shown? I want to see the clothing! I can wear "straight size" jewelry and accessories! Are they going to have an accessories line, too?! If so, WHY? If not, just show us the darn clothing! That's why we're watching. /rant

Anyway, they show us a few more pieces of clothing in the commercial video. There's a frumpy-looking blue shirtdress, and a coral t-shirt that looks like it's probably too thin (just like Target's usual plus size t-shirts). I am not too impressed, in case you couldn't tell.

I am giving them the benefit of the doubt, though. AVA & VIV will be available online starting February 22, and I am going to ignore it there because I've had such bad experiences ordering plus size clothing online from Target (ordering 10 shirts and having to return every single one of them, for example). However, it will be arriving in stores in mid-February through March. I will watch out for that. If there are pieces that are nice enough to try on, that might possibly look right on my petite plus size frame, I will do so. If I find anything worth blogging about? Hooray!