Where to Find Plus-Sized Vintage Style Clothing, Part 1: Rose Wholesale

         So, if you’ve already read my blog post, *Turn and Face the Strange* you must already know how and why I turned to vintage fashion at the not-so-tender age of 36.  Obviously, when you are a patron of plus size boutiques, this can impose a lot of issues in finding cute outfits in your size.  (As if it wasn’t hard enough to do with contemporary attire!)  It took a lot of digging, but I have managed to find some places to buy things online.  One of the most affordable options is a site called Rose Wholesale.

         Personally, I have bought most of my vintage fashion wardrobe from there, and as of the date of this posting, I should mention that they are NOT paying me for this review.  

Here a few things that I have learned about shopping at Rose Wholesale:

1.    They have most of the same clothing as the websites Rose Gal, Gamiss, Dresslily, and other similar sites.  You may have seen their ads on Facebook or Google.  They all have the same webdesign, models, and clothes, so I would imagine they must all be owned by the same people.  Of these websites, Rose Wholesale has the lowest prices I have seen.  I should mention that all of these websites have come under fire in the past for their lower quality and misrepresentation of goods.  From what I can see, they are doing better at the latter, but the former has not changed. See point #3, “You get what you pay for.”  Buzzfeed.com and DailyMail.co.uk are among the sources that have written articles about cons of purchasing from places such as these.  There is even a Facebook page where unhappy buyers express their disappointment and post pictures.  Be aware that ordering does come with a risk.

2.    Shipping.  You are paying for them to ship your order directly from a warehouse in China, so the shipping will be high.  I would suggest slowly building your shopping cart over time until they have a special for free shipping, which is often enough.  Do not expect your order to come neatly folded in a box. Rose Wholesale with put each item in its own zipper bag and pile all the items together airtight inside a thicker plastic bag with layers of packing tape to seal it.  It will come to you after many weeks, sometimes in separate increments weeks apart from each other, in the form of an amorphous brick. So, yes, items will come to you wrinkled and need to be hung up or ironed before the first wear.  If an item ships alone, it may become lost in the mail.  When this happened to me, I was able to get a refund from Rose Wholesale.

3.  You get what you pay for.  Do not expect the fabric, stitching, or cut to be of high quality. In fact, I would rate clothes bought at Wal-Mart as being far better made than this stuff.  Much of it is that same polyester material that they make cheap Halloween costumes out of.  This is fine for warmer weather or people who feel perpetually hot.  The stitching often leaves loose threads hanging that need to be carefully trimmed (Do NOT pull the threads!  Bad things can and will happen!)  The cut of the fabric can be a tad bit off, with asymmetrical waistlines and shoulders, to lop-sided sleeves, and excess fabric in weird places.  Some of this you can fix yourself if you are handy with a sewing machine or even just a needle and thread.  Also, watch out for decorative buttons!  They are often sewn on very, very loose and you will need to reinforce and/or replace them.  For myself, it can still be worth my while for the money I save and being able to find something that fits…  which leads me to my next issue.

4.  Chinese Sizing/Fat-Shaming Sizing*. In U.S. sizing, I tend to wear a 2X or 3X, with numerical dress sizes of 20 or 22.  At Rose Wholesale or any of the similar sites I mentioned, I can wear anywhere from a 4X to a 6X, depending on the measurements.  ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS look at the measurements for each individual piece and order accordingly.  I personally order according to the largest section of my torso, which is my 50-inch bust.  ALSO, have a bit of caution when ordering something with sleeves.  Most of the items that I have ordered have just fit my upper arms.  However, it has also happened at least half a dozen times that the sleeves have been too narrow, and I could not get my arms through.  Obviously, a lack of fabric means that this is not fixable even by the craftiest person with a super fancy sewing machine.  Which takes us to…

5.  Returns.  Trust me, DO NOT BOTHER to return any of this stuff.  They charge A LOT of money in return shipping (sometimes more than you paid for it), as it has to go back to where it came from in China. Instead, sell it to a trendy resale store, give it to a smaller friend, or just donate it to a charity or thrift shop.

Have I scared you off yet?  Still on the fringe?  Well, I have included some pictures of myself in the ones that fit. I still do buy a lot of clothes from there in spite of all of the above-mentioned risks.  I’d say that about 80% of what I ordered was either wearable as is or with minor modifications/repairs.

     This sweetheart neckline shirt was in need of no repairs. The neckline is cut extremely low and wide, so I need to be mindful of what bra I wear with it.  The sleeves are a little snug, and sometimes my upper arms get sore from wearing it, but I am optimistic that the fabric may stretch in time. The buttons are sewn on tight enough, and have not fallen off after many wears and washes.  It is a size 5X. (The culottes are from Lane Bryant, the sunglasses from Kate Spade, the shoes are Josef Seibel, and both the necklace and flower clip are from Amazon.)

        The striped shirt fits very loose around the middle and more snug toward the bottom.  It was offered in a variety of colors to accent the black and white stripes around the bust, so naturally I chose purple.  There are six buttons placed in two vertical lines down the abdomen to give the shirt a vintage nautical look.  Originally, these six buttons were the same as the two you can see on the right shoulder.  They were loosely sewn on and drooped terribly, spoiling the desired effect.  I replaced these six buttons with large 4-hole buttons purchased at Wal-Mart for about $2 a pair. It looks much better now.  I bought this shirt in a size 5X.  It pairs well with a pencil skirt or capri pants.

         The last items I will review today are this dress with the purple cats on the skirt and the black petticoat which they called a "party skirt.”  The dress has long sleeves, but they go to about ¾ sleeves on me.  The sleeves are a little snug in the upper arms, but they don’t cause me pain.  The fit of the body of dress is very loose below my bustline, so I usually wear it with a belt.  The back is cut pretty low, and sometimes shows my bra, which is why I am pictured wearing it with a jean jacket.  The petticoat/party skirt came with a string of LED lights loosely sewn in, which I removed so that I could wash it.  It adds volume and flair to many of my other dresses and skirts. It has an elastic waist and a silky slip layer under the tulle-like material.  The stitching that holds each layer of the tulle-like fabric together is not as strong as I would like it to be, as the seams come loose in spots and I have to mend it regularly.  Still, for the price it costs much less than similar petticoats you can buy online.  The dress is a size 5X, while the petticoat/party skirt is a 4X. (These are the same Josef Seibel shoes, another Amazon flower hair clip, a vintage scarf from a local thrift store, the belt is from Target, and the embroidered jean jacket is made by Max Jeans.)

         I will end by posting screenshots of the items that I have ordered this far.  PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ASK ME ABOUT ANYthing I orderd from rose wholesale IN THE COMMENTS BELOW.  Out of 30 items: 5 of the items had such narrow sleeves that I could not get them on at all**, 4 of them required mending, 2 had decorative buttons that fell off immediately, 1 of them had to be taken in at the back, and 1 of them (red dress with white polka dots on the skirt) was lost in shipping.  Given that I regularly wear 24 out of the 30 items, it is still worth it to both me & my budget to continue shopping at Rose Wholesale.  That comes to exactly 80% as I had previously guessed.  Damn I’m good!

*Have you ever been shopping for formal wear at a bridal boutique and been informed that you will have to order one or two sizes up from your usual size? That is most definitely the case here.  I call this sizing method “fat-shaming sizing” as opposed to the opposite, which is “vanity sizing.”  

**I gave these away, as they could not be fixed and the cost of shipping them back was too high.