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Tall Friendly Clothing at Express

If you’ve been hanging around our blog since the inception you know we don’t love to talk about mainline retailers. We prefer to get you news on tall businesses, not necessarily “tall friendly businesses.” However, we’d be lying if we ever said we only shop at tall size only shops. I think we’re all in agreement that although there are more options than ever, it’s still peanuts comparing to what the average size woman has access to. So today we’re sharing one of our favorite places to shop for tall friendly clothing at Express!

Express is probably also familiar to you already. A: they are a national retailer. B: if you’ve been around then you might remember that I used to work for them! This was after I was done playing college basketball before I graduated college! Another fun fact is Caitlin and I distinctly recall spending hours scrolling their clearance section for our first major purchase. We’d both tell you our addiction love for shopping was born of our success there! 

So while we have had strike outs on their clothing for the obvious reasons of being much taller than average; on the whole we’ve continued to shop with them because a lot of their options are still a good fit! I think you’d be surprised if you don’t shop there already, how much tall friendly clothing you’ll find at Express. In particular their blouse section has been pretty unmatched for their variety of styles for our work wardrobes. 

Your work apparel doesn’t have to feel boring! We used to feel unenthused about dressing when we started working in corporate America. Our wardrobes were borrowed from each other and/or our Mom, so not a lot of availability to express our personal styles (pun intended). As I worked at Express and utilized my discount, I got more and more joy out of dressing as I found the pieces I could feel confident and excited to wear.

Although Express does trendy pieces, and does them well; they excel at providing classic yet current work blouses. As a larger retailer that also allows them to provide a wider range of color choices as well. For a while I really went far and wide with snatching up different colors to get a rainbow of choices. As I’ve matured, I realize it’s ok to have color favorites! It makes mixing and matching much easier as well as creating a cohesive wardrobe. 

So if you’ve felt like you can’t shop at a mainline retailer, we’re here to encourage you to still test them out. Our advice would be to maybe start with perusing their site online. We look closely at how the sleeves fit the model if we’re shopping for long sleeve options. Typically we like making a list of items of interest and then hit up the store for a try-on session. Obviously things are a bit differently currently with COVID. We haven’t been doing in store visits. But under normal circumstances we still love getting a chance to check out clothing in person. 

If you’re down for it, you could just fill your cart and place a big try-on order at home. They have an easy return system that you can either bring back to the physical store near you or return/exchange by mail. One of the things we still look forward to is receiving packages in the mail and deciding which items to keep and which to return!

This post was basically inspired by doing a closet inventory and realizing what we wear the most. Hopefully it helps you some today or inspires you to step outside of your shopping box and check out a store you’ve admired but avoided. Good news for us and you is that their entire store is 50% off today! Click here to browse! As always we appreciate it greatly when you use our links. Look back on some of our other Express posts here, here, and here.

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Mix and Match Tall Moi Workwear

Some of the sparkle and luster has gone out of shopping these days. Have you noticed it for yourself as well? It dampens the experience when there is no end in sight for the pandemic and you’re questioning why you’d even buy something if you have nowhere to wear it. Luckily you can shop smarter not harder, by checking out Tall Moi’s reversible workwear. We introduced you to Tall Moi a couple of months ago, check out our original post here.

We’re all about making our pieces stretch further these days, especially when you know the office rotation doesn’t overlap people. Therefore no harm in showing up the next day wearing the same pants but reversed! Especially with the sudden shift to no sunshine while we’re getting ready in the morning. We’ll take those extra moments snuggled under the covers, knowing getting dressed can be a breeze. 

Tall Moi asked us to style their pants and their dress a couple of ways for “back to school” or wherever you happen to work. We said, “challenge accepted!” 

We love to make our pieces work hard in our closet. No freeloaders here! Which is why we encourage you to check out Tall Moi for your reversible workwear needs. Not only is everything reversible, but it’s also a ponte fabric that is both flattering and super comfortable.

The Brooke pants have a subtle herringbone pattern on one side and are a teal on the other. I wanted to make the pattern pop a little more, so I grabbed a navy popover top I’ve worn to work for many years to bring a polished look. I finished it off with some oxford navy shoes and it was all tied together!

For my second look, I wanted to reimagine it for the cooler months. I knew that means layers (for me). I’ve gotten so much use out of this reasonably priced ASOS white button up, another piece we recommend adding to your closet. Lastly I finished it with this amazing neutral duster from Amalli Talli. We both love the versatility of this duster and have worn it casually and to work. 

Caitlin wanted to start by simply reversing the Geena Sheath Dress to its navy color. You’re not going to find a better work dress option than one that can be navy blue or black! Two of the most classic colors means endless styling. First she wanted to rock it with her favorite Seville pumps from Coix Shoes. Whoever said you can’t wear blue and black together is a little misguided.

Her warmer weather styling option was to add a white button up underneath! It ups the chic level and the buttons line up perfectly with the v neck. It looks like they belong together! So if you have a larger collection of button up shirts than we do, feel free to reverse the dress and throw a different colored option underneath as well. It makes for easy packing on a business trip. 

Below are our original stylings of Tall Moi’s pieces. Let us know in the comments which is your favorite. They are running a 25% off everything promotion right now, so perfect timing to try a piece or two. Also curious, what type of clothing you prefer to wear to work?

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Tall Statement Pants with The Sixes

It’s celebration AND introduction time today! You’ve probably seen the name The Sixes and their stunning collection of tall pants pop up on the blog already, as we included them in our breakdown of where you can shop aside from LTS click here to see that, as well as them making the black owned business list click here. But today we’re excited to be helping The Sixes celebrate their 1st birthday!

To introduce them further, meet Franci Andrea. This stunning Harvard Business School MBA graduate knew she wanted to give tall women FASHION FREEDOM. I know if you’re reading this and you’re not tall, you might be thinking “dramatic much?!” But not really, unfortunately. You might be tall if you have a running monologue in the back of your head while shopping that goes something like this. 

“Ooh that is SO CUTE!” “The sleeves look kind of long on the model.” (Checks models height and sees that they are 5’8. Bitterly recalls all the moments people told you, that you should be a model.) “Uh yea, nevermind. I’m not wasting my time shipping this to me when I’m six inches taller than her. Thank you very much!”

That’s just one iteration of the constant doublechecking that happens when we shop whether it be in person or online. It’s not a pity party at this point, it’s a fact that we as tall women are an underserved market. Franci noticed that long before becoming a designer. Her detour to fashion took her to Europe to play professional volleyball. I can recall even as a collegiate basketball player being extremely disgruntled with the length of our team apparel. That was all I lived in and I still had to slouch it halfway down my butt. It felt like betrayal to me that the only place I was “supposed to fit in by society’s standards” couldn’t even make clothing to fit me. 

That’s why we don’t take these tall small businesses for granted for one second. Often, they know the struggles firsthand like Franci, and are equipped to take on the design challenge of fitting tall women’s bodies. This is certainly the case with The Sixes collection of tall pants. 

Whether you’re into a fitted slim pant or a wide leg, The Sixes has tall pants options for all. They somehow manage to keep it classic while also keeping you looking unique and fabulous! When you order, you choose your size, but they give you an inseam range from 33-40! That is the full range for tall women to have options. Caitlin went with a 36” inseam at 5’11 and I went with a 39” because I have a feeling I would want to rock this stunning pants with some heels!

As for sizing, you know we’re between 10/12. We read through their size chart and chose a 12, which was spot on for us! The pants have a zipper up the side to keep it looking streamlined, and they have just enough stretch to ensure your comfort while making you look like the fierce tall goddess you are. The rise is nice and high about your belly button, so you could do a crop top or really a ton of different styling options with these pants. 

I think we were most pumped about getting these pants because your first instinct might be to think, oh I don’t need a pair of statement pants. Honestly though, if you pick a color that you’ve already integrated into your closet we easily came up with three outfits each just to begin and that’s not even trying! They can be either dressy for a boss babe look or wear the pants casually for brunch with friends on the weekend. Tall women often are relegated to just the basic options when we’re included in a big box retailer. We are here for all of the incredible unique designs by Franci and The Sixes and we know you’re going to love it too!

Sign up for their email list and you can get $25 off your first order! We’re already eyeing our next pair and it’s a toss up between the denim and the Jennifer pant with the sheer panel. It’s still so important to keep supporting small businesses during this difficult year. Check out The Sixes here!

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Figleaves: The Bra is Back

I think we can all agree we’ve reached the LMNOP part of the year, aka where the days start to fly by and the months are basically blink and you miss it. Although there seems to be no sign of the end of this pandemic at the moment, it is strange because life continues to move forward. For us that means still going back in to work a couple of days a week. The normalcy and the extra organization it brings to my in-office visits are always appreciated. It also means putting on regular clothing a couple of days a week. Enter Figleaves who have proclaimed the bra is back!

If you’re still sitting at home you might be thinking to yourself, why bother? We feel you on that! The online browsing has definitely shifted into eyeing some seriously cozy pieces like joggers and sweatshirts. While that has been great to get rid of some of my grungier sweats that should have been tossed long ago; there is still nothing like the feeling of “putting yourself together.” 

Especially after we wear sweats for so many days and realize our pants fit a little tighter. YIKES. Nothing like finding out you gained the COVID 20 the hard way. Obviously this year has been absolute trash so definitely cut yourself a break and do what you can with prioritizing some self care. We’re all just trying to get by, especially as the days start to shorten and we face down a long Winter of potential quarantine… 

Luckily we’re back on track with our month long membership to Burn Boot Camp in Whitefish Bay. That has been amazing to get the endorphins pumping again and to have someone encouraging you every step of the way keeps us coming back. We totally recommend Burn Boot Camp if you have one in your area and are happy to discuss our experience more if you have any questions!

All of that to say, we know what makes us feel better about wearing “normal” clothing. First is moving our bodies regularly. The mental/emotional effects cannot be over exaggerated! We can tell we’re more irritable on days we don’t do something physical. It’s harder to sleep at night as well. Really there are numerous effects, and you might have felt them yourself but weren’t able to pinpoint the why behind it!

The second part to feeling good in normal clothing is having a great bra underneath your clothing. Really that can mean anything, like a fun lacy number, a bralette, or even a nice push up demi option. Figleaves, our go-to for tall one pieces invited us to test out some of their bras. If you’re in need of an update or upgrade you need to check out their options. 

A lot of times when bra shopping, I get frustrated by the cost of a bra. $50-$60 dollars?! C’mon I barely like to spend that on denim! Plus it’s something that most people won’t ever see. Of course you want to feel good for yourself but I know that there are great budget friendly options. I just can’t believe I didn’t know Figleaves was one of them!

They have a wonderful guide to trying bras on at home. We know this can sound daunting and hard because bra sizing can be so all over the place. Both of us used the guide ourselves and not to brag but we nailed it. Okay, we realize we can’t actually take credit but we can follow directions if nothing else!

The one upside to being stuck at home (according to memes haha), was being able to go bra-free. I am all about having some bra free time, but sometimes I feel so much better with some light support. And if you are craving comfort as much as we are you can have as much support as you want with Figleaves many many options. Plus they have a wonderful size range to cover all our girls. 

If you haven’t checked out Figleaves yet, you’re missing out on some great well-fitting bras that are also budget friendly. Check out their site here!

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