My employer very kindly gave all their employees a voucher for £5 off when we spend £25 or more on clothes in store before the end of October. Great, I want/need a new winter coat which I can wear with smart clothes. The only coats I have are my waterproof, fleece and puffy jacket (which I can’t get over my suit jackets). So, while I was shopping today I thought I’d have a look at the nice smart wool coats and see if there were any I liked at around £25-£40 (I don’t have a lot to spend at the moment). Anyway, I found one in lots of different colours and tried on a size 12, that is my top and jacket size after all, it was too small. Admittedly, I was wearing my hoodie but if I can’t get it on over my hoodie I’m not going to get it on over my suit jacket or be able to drive in it. So, I decide to give the size 14 a miss and go to a size 16, still too small around the arms – if I lifted my arms as if driving I’d have split the back seam! In the end I bought a size 20, 4 sizes bigger than my usual size! I have trouble with clothes anyway – my hips are 2 sizes bigger than my waist and chest but the size 12 coat fit over them, it was the arms and shoulders that were the problem!
Why can’t clothes manufacturers make coats which you can actually wear over your winter clothes? It was the same when I bought my puffy coat 5 years ago, that is a size 16 but I don’t want to wear that over a suit jacket the most that goes over is a t’shirt and sweatshirt/hoodie with the hood sticking out. Am I supposed to either just wear my blouse or t’shirt under my coat and then change into my jacket when I get to an interview or job? If don’t want to have to carry an extra coat or jacket with me, I want to wear both if I’m cold. You don’t take off a jumper or sweatshirt to put on a coat, you have it as an extra layer so why can’t I do the same with my work clothes?
OK, rant over. I bought the coat and it is nice and pink! And I got my £5 off together with my staff discount so shouldn’t complain really. I can always cut out the label if I don’t want people to see what size it is, afterall it is just a number and I know that I’m not really that big 😛
Fi's Mutterings 
I always buy coats two or three sizes too big for that very same reason; and cardigans – otherwise size 10/12 are too tight around my arms / chest and I don’t like that. I think that sometimes clothe manufacturers forget that we wear coats / cardigans over the top of other clothes. Well – a majority of us do. x