As you know, I’m on the lookout for a knit blazer to replace my polka dot one, so I visited a few Express stores to see if they had the textured grid jacket that I showed you. Although that style was only available online, there were several other knit options that looked promising. I took the two 24″ blazers below into the dressing room.

Incredibly, the size medium fit perfectly . . . even buttoned! There was even plenty of room to move my arms freely.

It surprised me how much I preferred the striped jacket to the solid one. It made more of an impact and somehow even seemed more slimming. There was only one problem. When I showed it to Leah and Mia at the Curve lingerie trade show yesterday, they both agreed that the 24″ length was too long on me. You can see the difference in proportion side by side with my trusty black cardigan. It looks like I should try the 20″ and 22″ blazers from Express instead. For those of you who don’t have my length issue, here are the other relevant shirt measurements. For the waist, I started 15″ down from the center back of the collar and measured across the garment from the button to the keyhole end of the buttonhole. For the bust, I began 1″ down from the underarm and measured from the folded edge of one lapel to the other. Obviously, this means there is an expanse of space between the lapels that is not included in the numbers below.

In size Medium, the waist measures 35″, and the bust measures 37″.

In size Large, the waist measures 37.25″ and the bust measures 39″.

In these pictures, my waist measures around 32″ pulled snug, and my bust measures 40.5″, and I’m wearing my Fantasie 4510 in 32FF.

Can this blazer fit a larger cup size? I really want to take advantage of the variety of body shapes and sizes represented by the Hourglassy writers. That’s why I showed you the Tatyana top in large on me that you saw in medium on Leah. In this case, I wanted to see how the large striped jacket would work on a woman who wears a 32J, so I took it with me to Curve and asked Leah to snap this photo of Mia and me.

Mia’s analysis of the way this blazer fit her was eye-opening for me. It was also eye-opening to visit the various exhibitor booths with her and to encounter certain bra fitting considerations that never cross my mind. I don’t know what Mia is going to write about day after tomorrow, but she has promised to cover both of these topics very soon.

—————

A final note: this Express jacket is very well-made. The fabric is thick, the sleeves are lined, and the seams are bias bound. It costs $108 full price, which isn’t cheap. However, as I study this blazer, I doubt there is any way I could create a comparable blazer for the full bust market for the same retail price. Startups who must manufacture small amounts domestically simply cannot compete on price, but what is even more sobering is that in this instance, there’s no contest when it comes to fit or quality either. How do you think a full-bust clothing company in the United States would need to distinguish itself in order to sell a higher-priced version of this jacket? Or what should they sell instead?