This week I was in Chicago for work. When asked what I wanted to see or do, I said: The Art Institute of Chicago, the bean, and H&M on Michigan Avenue.
H&M announced earlier this year that they were going to launch a plus size collection in select US stores. Before I had this blog dedicated to fashion, I blogged at Skinny Emmie about my obsession with the H&M plus line called Inclusive that they sold in Europe only last spring. Basically, I got excited and had a friend in the UK receive them at her house, and then she shipped them to me. When I got them, they were ALL too small. Major sad face. The largest sizes (which I ordered) would probably be around a 20/22 US.
I was honestly not that excited about the new H&M plus size collection (titled, uh, H&M+) because I thought the sizes would be the same. Plus, they don't sell H&M online in the US, and there are no H&M stores in Kentucky. When I saw the official ranges for HM+ listed as 14-24, I got some hope up. When I did a search for a H&M store that carried the plus size (only a few of them do) and saw that the Michigan Ave. store was on the list, I got really excited.
Pardon the following awful photos from the dressing room, but I wanted to show you!
I ended up taking back about 20 items for the dressing room, and getting the ones pictured. None of the pants or shorts came remotely close to fitting, but I'm on the high end of the 24 spectrum, so I think anyone 22 or smaller could do them easily. Was a little bummed as there was a pair of dreamsicle-orange ankle length pants that I thought could have been cute. Some of the dresses fit fine (like the one I got) whereas others would barely go over my head.
All-in-all, there was nothing extra remarkable about the clothes except the prices. I spent $200 on 8 pieces: 7 shirts and 1 dress. The shirts are all comfortable. I think the pieces I'm most excited about are the dress, the pink and tan striped top, the silver cardi, and the lace shirt.
Of course when I go to look at the H&M+ collection on the site, they don't show most of these pieces and are showing several that weren't available in the store I was at.
To find out if your nearest H&M store carries H&M+, go to their store locator, type in your city, then select “Ladies” and then “H&M+”