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Where to Find Designer Plus-Size Clothing for Professional Women

Special Sizes· Wear to Work | · ·

stylish professional woman wears plus-size white blouse, sips wine, and shops on her computer while sitting on a balcony

This page was last updated March 2023 except where otherwise noted.

Wondering where to find designer plus-size clothing for professional women?

As readers have noted in the past, trendy, fast-fashion spots abound for plus-size work attire — so finding quality fabrics and classic styles for polished looks can be difficult. We wanted to do a roundup of high-end brands and websites that include investment pieces made of high-quality fabrics to add to your everyday workwear collection.

We’ll also note a few options if you’re in the market for a date-night outfit or special occasion.

We recently rounded up where to find stylish plus-size suits for work, and we’ve done roundups in the past for the best workwear for plus sizes as well as workwear in size 16 and up — for more plus-size content, please sign up for for CorporettePlus, our newsletter! Signing up helps us gauge interest in the project, and we promise not to blast your email more than once a week at most. (Right now it’s more like once a month.)

We also want to hear from you: What are your go-to brands or fashion sites when seeking out designer plus-size clothing for professional women that’ll last, in terms of style and substance? Here are some of the interesting companies we know of in this space — we’d love to hear if you know of any others!

Hunting for the best sweater jackets for plus sizes? Some of our favorites of 2022 include: navy / black / green / gray / burgundy (not pictured but also)

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The Best Places to Shop for Designer Plus-Size Work Clothes

In our recent post on the best places to shop for plus-size work clothes, we rounded up some of the best designer spots:

Further Notes on Where to Find Designer Plus-Size Clothing for Professional Women

collage of 5 women wearing plus-size work dresses

Some of the best plus-size dresses for work as of 2023: 1) Karen Kane 2) Lands’ End 3) CeCe 4) Calvin Klein 5) Talbots (not pictured but these also)

Anna Scholz: This brand with feminine styles is now sold exclusively at AnnaScholz.com; this pocket blouse or lace-trim tee might be lovely for work. Prices range from $25–$500.

Gravitas: Founded in 2012, Gravitas offers workwear basics in classic styles; many have a hidden shapewear component. Dresses are around $275.

Jibri: With sizes from 10–28, Jibri offers pieces that are handmade-to-order, including several wardrobe basics, a long-sleeved, mock-neck pencil dress, and full-sleeve satin flare dress. Celebrities who’ve worn this line include Jill Scott, Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes, Tess Holiday, and Gabourey Sidibe. The yellow dress pictured is $230 and comes in a ton of colors, and is “made by hand in Atlanta.”

Kiyonna: Since 1996, American-made Kiyonna has been offering multiple colors, fabrics, and styles for plus-size fashions size 10–32, particularly their popular and flattering wrap dresses and cocktail dresses. (The brand also shows up in some of the high-end style boxes, as well as on Amazon!)

Lafayette 148 New York: Available online and in department stores including Nordstrom, and at their own locations around the U.S., the high-end retailer sells blouses, suits, skirts, dresses, and other must-haves made from the finest European fabrics, up to size 24.

Marina Rinaldi / Persona by Marina Rinaldi: Part of the Max Mara family, the brand has more traditional dresses and more whimsical, casual options as well. You can find the brand at Nordstrom, Saks, and other designer stores; prices range from around $210–$1000+.

MM.LaFleur: A Corporette reader favorite, the workwear company extended its sizing last year by remaking its core pieces from scratch in sizes +1, +2, and +3, which correspond to a range of 14–22 (with a goal to add more styles). You can find tops, dresses, sweaters, and more. Pictured polka-dot dress.

navabi: This retailer (based in Germany) offers several different brands — too many to list here — that offer sizes 10 and up, categorized by work dresses, trouser suits, and jackets and blazers. You can search by size, designer, or choose a trend that suits you.

Nic + Zoe: This brand is guilty of some… bold patterns, shall we say — but if that isn’t quite your style, some of their solids are great for workwear, including their popular Twirl dress and skirt, their four-way cardigan, the riding jacket, and the “Perfect” line of pants. You can find them at a bunch of retailers, including Nordstrom and Amazon.

Of Mercer: Specializing in workwear — as they put it, “your nine-to-five (and then some) wardrobe” — Of Mercer extends to size 20 and allows you to search the site not only by size, color, and price but also categories such as “hourglass shapes,” “hips,” and “tall.”

PLVSH Style: With this retailer, you can either opt for a style box, or shop online for a range of high-end items size 14 and up. Prices range from $80–$280+.

Rita Phil Custom Fashion: Like the name suggests, this skirt designer can do custom orders, and the site’s FAQ page states there is “no size limit.” (BuzzFeed’s Kristin Chirico also gave it her seal of approval.)

Universal Standard: This line has been receiving high praise from fashion mags, blogs, and our own readers for its workwear options. They are offering an executive workwear kit that includes eight pieces where you can choose the color and size for each piece, and they do the rest.

Update: These are some of our Hall of Famer heels that come in wide widths… see our latest roundup of the best black heels for business attire here!

Some of our favorite comfortable wide heels as of 2023 include: 1) Sam Edelman 2) Naturalizer 3) Walking Cradles 4) A New Day (under $30!) 5) LifeStride (also, N.B.: the styles at Inez and Margot look great…)

collage of 5 classic work heels available in wide widths

Other Possibilities for Designer Plus Size Clothing for Professional Women

There are a number of style box options for high-end, plus-size items: You tell them what you want, and they will make it so: Gwynnie Bee, Plvsh, Dia & Co, and Stitch Fix.

Made to Measure Clothes

Another option is bespoke professional clothing — check out our previous roundups of where to get custom blouses, blazers, dresses and suiting!

Hunting for the best made-to-measure work clothes? As of March 2023, 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, eShakti, and Rita Phil (pencil skirts only).

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.

Hunting for where to buy the best plus-size maternity clothes for work?
Some of our favorite retailers include Pink Blush / Motherhood Maternity / Universal Standard / Gap / M.M.LaFleur

Readers, have you tried any nicer options for plus-size designer clothes workwear lately? What’s the number one thing you look for when you seek out investment pieces from plus-size labels? Fit? Fabric? Style? Do tell…

Social media image credit: Deposit Photos / @ gregorylee.

Comments

  1. Godzilla

    That model looks amazing in the yellow dress and this is making my yellow dress hunt even more urgent.

  2. Laurel

    Not quite designer, but way higher quality than fast fashion, White House/Black Market launched a plus size line about 8 months ago. It includes suiting, dresses, blouses, layering shells and cardigans, as well as denim and casual items.

  3. Anon

    I love this list, I can’t wait to order one of the Rita Phil pencil skirts
    I do find it funny that Of Mercer only goes to 20W and pats themselves on the back for being size inclusive. When a plus size brand goes from offering 1X to 4X to Large to 4X, nobody calls them size inclusive. Brands are by no means required to offer plus size clothing, but don’t add two sizes and call it inclusive.

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