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Updated: May 1, 2024 36 Comments · by

Clothes for the Curvy Professional

Body Shapes· Special Sizes· Style· Wear to Work· Workwear Stores Off the Beaten Path | · · · ·

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Workwear Brands for the Curvy Professional | Corporette

Are there any workwear brands that cater to the professional curvy woman? Reader V wonders…

I'm not plus size – but I am curvy. As in, I hate most clothing stores as I actually can't fit one size across my boobs but look matronly the next size up. I live in the UK and have recently discovered Pepperberry as a revelation (extra size options for boobs!), but the stuff does veer on the casual side (and the fabrics aren't always the best). Any other brands catering for the professional curvy girl or is it just getting tailoring?

Interesting question, V! As someone who's always been large of chest, we've talked a lot about workwear for the curvy woman — from curve-friendly blazers to bespoke dresses to blouses for the busty. We haven't done a roundup recently, though, so let's take a look. (And Reader V, consider yourself lucky to be in the UK — I've always found there to be a ton of great options there!)

Pictured: an eShakti dress with tons of customizable options; it starts at $69.95. 

Where to Find Office Pants in Curvy Cuts

Hunting for work pants if you're curvy? As of 2024, you can find them at Ann Taylor (regular and petite sizes 00-18), Banana Republic Factory (00-20, 00P-14P, 00T-20T), Loft (regular, petite, and tall sizes 00-18), and White House Black Market (00-18, regular, short, and long). Talbots also offers some options in sizes regular, petite, plus, and plus-size petites, as does Lane Bryant. (Banana Republic seems to have temporarily stopped making them, unfortunately.)

Stores for Women with Large Breasts

As of 2024, some great dress shirts for women with large breasts include The Shirt by Rochelle Behrens, Lands' End No-Gape shirts, Spanx's No-Gape Button-Front, eShakti's made to measure tops, Tradlands' “Boob-Gap Improving Button-Up,” and specialty stores like Exclusively Kristen, PerfectDD, and Miriam Baker.

white blouse
The Shirt by Rochelle Behrens
woman wears blue no-gape blouse
Lands' End
A woman wearing a white long sleeve polo top and denim short with belt
Spanx
purple blouse
eShakti

Made to Measure Work Clothes

Hunting for the best made-to-measure work clothes? As of 2024, the best options we know of are Brooks Brothers, Sumissura, Etsy sellers Heart My Closet, VigilanteLabs, and CelesteLilou, as well as smaller brands like Loud Bodies, Sharpe Suiting, IGIGI, and Rita Phil (pencil skirts only), plus eShakti.

Some of our favorite stores that offer free alterations for members include Nordstrom, J.Crew, Banana Republic, and Uniqlo (select styles). If you're crafty, you may also want to check out our roundup of sewing patterns for workwear outfits.

{Psst: 10 things about dressing professionally if you're busty}

Curvy Work Clothes to Stalk on Resale Sites

These brands have since shuttered, but they still may be available on resale sites…

Bravissimo/Pepperberry – Bravissimo is still around but they used to carry clothes, as well — even blazers! — that were bust-friendly.

Campbell & Kate specialized in white blouses — “form fitting button fronts for D cups and higher.” Nice! Prices start around $160, but don't forget to check the clearance section for a few lucky sizes. (See above for other brands specializing in blouses for women with big busts).

Carrie Hammer (had sizes 0-36! and a few jackets that match dresses) – “Work dresses and made-to-measure, custom fashion for the modern professional woman.”

DD Atelier specialized in clothes for DD+ busts.

Front Room also had clothes for DD+ busts

Saint Bustier considered itself the “premier designer for busty women,” and they have a ton of work-appropriate dresses, blazers and more.

Other Curve-Friendly Brands to Know About

These aren't necessarily workwear, but:

Swimsuits: Not workwear at all, but I thought I'd give a special shoutout to Lands' End for their bust-friendly swimsuits in sizes up to DDD — great support, great sales. (Bravissimo also stocks swim suits.)

Psst: looking for a great sports bra for larger bust sizes? As of 2024, readers love Freya, Panache, Shock Absorber, Title Nine, Athleta, and Enell for higher impact. Looking for something wire-free and comfier for lower impact workouts? Check out Glamorise or Syrokan (and consider wearing a breast support band to make any bra better for higher impact workouts.)

Those are the brands that I know about — ladies, do you know of any others? For those of you who are curvy but not plus size, what are your favorite “regular” brands? Any tricks or tips, either for sizing, shopping, or tailoring?

About Kat

Kat Griffin is the founder, publisher, and editor-in-chief of Corporette. You can read more about her here.

Comments

  1. L in DC

    I look for ponte knit dresses with darts in both the front and back so that the dress is tailored through the middle. Ponte knit tends to be thick and have a little stretch, so the tailoring doesn’t need to be exact the way it does with wool. Classiques Entier has some lined dresses in this style that work well for the office. If you search Nordstrom for “ponte”, there are a lot of options that come up.

  2. AM

    I’m plus-sized and often struggle with the same question.
    I definitely would NOT recommend the eShakti custom-fit option. I ordered 3 dresses with the same custom measurements and ended up with one absolutely enormous and the other two oddly sized. They also dont offer refunds for the sizing fee and there is a cost for shipping and I believe for return shipping as well. All in all, a very poor experience :(

    • anon who sews

      On the other hand, I’ve ordered from eShakti many times & used the custom-fit option with success. Precise measurements are crucial with any customizations (really, with all online ordering IMNSHO). Get a friend to measure you, wear your best-fitting, most supportive undergarments, follow instructions carefully (bust point is a very specific thing, & your waist measurement may not be you think your “waist” is), & be honest about your actual measurements. No vanity sizing.

  3. KT

    eShakti is a nightmare. The custom sizes are a joke-they come however they feel like cutting them–one was huge, other too small with the exact same measurements. The quality is also awful.

    Their customer service is the worst too.

  4. Jennifer

    I have the exact opposite problem- Just once it would be nice to NOT have to get very expensive alterations to jackets and tops so I don’t look like a little girl playing dress up in adult clothing.

    • Ellen

      There should be a thread for svelte peeople with larger then normal tuchuses. I would love to be abel to find dresses that fit me b/c my tuchus is to big for a size 0, but I still need a size 0 for most thing’s. If they made a size 0 dress with a size 4 tuchus, I would be in tuchus heaven! YAY!!!

      • Anonymous

        Yep. That’s what I think “curvy” means too. A lot of people do. But it is not our blog.

  6. Front Room

    Hi All,
    We launched this summer, tops and dresses for curvy, busty women. We like to say we’re “Style Made for the Top!” Everything is designed, cut & sewn specifically to flatter, but not flaunt, the girls!!

    • heatherskib

      Cool! Thanks so much for doing that. I just wish you had more dresses, but I’m eyeing the silk blouses.

  7. Andromeda Yelton

    I have the same issue, and I’ve found Calvin Klein and Ann Taylor dresses are more likely to fit me than other brands. Also Michael Kors, sometimes. Super-tailored styles generally won’t work off the rack, but things with more flexible fabric, seam placement, etc. often do. (I trust as a fellow busty woman you know what I mean here.)

    If cardigans are workwear for you, and you (or someone who loves you very much) knit, may I recommend one of my software development clients? CustomFit (http://customfit.makewearlove.com/) will generate sweater patterns for your exact body measurements and design preferences. Of course you still have to make the sweater :) but it will actually fit you properly, and you can make it out of whatever sort of yarn you want. And the code works fine with an enormous range of body types. (Can you tell I’m really psyched about the code I’ve written for them? :)

    • Anonymous

      Oh, that’s really cool! I do knit, maybe I’ll make a sweater a project this winter. Thanks for the tip!

  9. lost academic

    I am confused. I thought curvy denoted more than just busty? It seems that that’s all that’s being referenced in the post, and the links seem specific to large busted women’s clothes. What about those of us with hips to accommodate, any recommendations there? (FWIW I didn’t think busty was even part of the ‘curvy’ descriptor but I suppose it is…)

    • Shopping challenged

      I think of “curvy” as being about the difference between waist and hip size, about having some junk in the trunk, maybe about having an hourglass figure. But I’ve read this blog for a while, so I’m familiar with them ignoring the bottom half of the curves and using it to mean that a woman has large breasts, regardless of shoulders, rib cage, or those classic curves.

    • Anonymous

      To me, curvy is busty and hippy/bottom-y. I think the reason that busty gets more focus here is that it is the more significant constraint. I’ve found a tailor can take in the waist to make a skirt/dress/pants work, but with a blazer or dress it either works or it doesn’t.

      • Anonymous

        +1; curvy means hourglass/super hourglass to me- small waist, but busty and hippy or busty and booty

    • S.E.

      I agree. Busty is only part of curvy, and some of us are curvy but not busty. I have wide shoulders and hips, but small bust and waist. I have issue with shirts and blazers being too tight to move my arms but boxy and long if I size up, but there are so many discussions about how to accommodate a large bust but none about the rest of the curves.

      • Allie

        +1

        I have a terrible time finding clothes that fit … Same issue, hips much larger (proportionally) to waist and bust. I feel like my clothes are hanging on me on top and are tight across my hips. Tailoring works, but to get literally every dress, skirt and top I own tailored is unrealistic.

        Pants give me nightmares too. They never fit properly and I haven’t had success to date finding work appropriate pants that have stretch.

        Any suggestions on brands to try for my fit would be much appreciated since I’m in the market for a new work wardrobe.

        • Amy H.

          This is me, too. For pants, I have had good luck with Banana Republic’s curvy fit — Jackson — and very good luck with the old Gap Perfect Trouser, which was quite wide-legged and sat low on the waist. I could also buy up a size and have the waist taken where I wanted even wider legs because the frequent sales meant paying for tailoring wasn’t as painful. Unfortunately, they completely changed the sizing this year — to what sounds like nearly universal dismay.
          BR Jackson still fits reasonably well, but the problem there is that they are making fewer and fewer work-appropriate trousers/clothes generally.

    • Tomagonist

      Agreed! Also with a small upper body and waist, but wide hips. Would love to hear more about pants and skirts that don’t gap at the back without tailoring.

      • Curvy on the bottom

        I swear by Talbots curvy pants — they don’t make them in all styles, but most of my suits are pant suits and the pants are their curvy style. All other pants I have to alter the waist.

    • Curvy, Slender, Tall

      There is also the confusion that “curvy” means plus-sized. You can be a small size and be curvy. I am 34D, 23″ waist, and 35″ hips (not to mention a 36″ inseam!). I obviously can’t buy anything off the rack and have it fit. I end up just having everything taken in in places where needed. And that isn’t always the same place on everything.

  10. Shopping challenged

    So sorry to hear that about E-Shakti! I recently columbesed them and thought they were going to be my answer–for me and for gift-giving.

    This is a nice round-up for a body type that is often mentioned. Could there also be similar round-ups of styles for other body types? I’ve only recently begun to need professional attire, but my body has made a shift many women’s go through. I have an “apple” belly, a pancake butt, and my breasts are probably still a B. It takes me forever to find anything to buy. It used to be I could go to the sales rack, try on a handful, and walk out with all or all but one of the selections a few minutes later. Now it takes me a very long time, and is very stressful, because I try on so many things, on sale and full priced, before maybe getting to one that fits. I realize that this figure doesn’t have the cache that “curvy” does, and know that a young mother isn’t dealing with this, but I bet many of us are. Any chance you’d show us some love with a post of our own?

    • Anonymous

      You just described my body-type exactly. I never even know how to describe it because I feel like most advice for apples also assume large-busts and I don’t have one of those. I also don’t know how to shop for it – but I have a million pairs of pants I don’t wear because it order to fit my stomach, the butt is ridiculously saggy with extra fabric.

    • anon prof

      Me too! I gradually shape-shifted from being a pear to an apple in my early 40s, and getting dressed is a whole new challenge.

  11. Marshmallow

    I had a truly horrific experience with Sumissura. I ordered a custom suit and the sizing was WAY off, plus the skirt was actually irregular. If you laid it down flat you could see one side was curved more than the other. They strung me along with their tailoring guarantee, then when my tailor told me it was unfixable (they actually made her sign a written letter), whipped out their policy on no refunds after 30 days (never mind that I requested a refund at about 14 days and was told to bring it to my tailor first). Bottom line, I had to file a fraud claim through my credit card company. The company ultimately found Sumissura committed fraud and I got my money back, but it was not a fun experience.

  12. Lishan

    Ureshii (ureshii.org) is a small company that makes a lot of incredibly comfortable, well-fitting made to measure clothing in natural fibers (mostly in super soft jerseys, but they’ve started working with wovens recently). A bunch of their stuff you can get away with wearing to work. I’ve ordered a few things from them and have nothing but positive things to say.

  13. Jana

    Hi everyone!

    I’m an uni student in my last semester and I just started working in an office. The dresscode at the office could be described as business casual, most women are wearing trousers, blouses, sometimes also dark jeans.

    But the thing is, I don’t like wearing any types of trousers at all, since my legs are on the shorter side and my waist-to-hip ratio makes it really hard to find fitting jeans, I’m pretty much all year in skirts and dresses. But it feels like nearly everything in my closet right now is not fitting for work.

    So now I really want to build up a working wardrobe. How to wear skirts and dresses in a business casual office, a jeans skirt would be underdressed, but a skirt suit on the other side would feel overdressed.

    Help would be really appreciated, thanks!

  14. Najmah Kirby

    Let’s collaborate. Give me a call 919 327 7644 or shoot me an email…

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