AA support group

The love I have for American Apparel clothes puts me dangerously close to hipster territory, and jeopardizes my bank balance on a fairly regular basis. However, even for the sake of my reputation, not to mention my retirement account, I cannot stop.

A new and related addiction, spurred on by Karen, is the website. Careful though, americanapparel.net is NSFW. A Victoria's Secret catalogue looks G-rated compared to some of the product/model shots on AA. You can (and by "you," I mean, "I") spend hours reading the conflicting comments of both satisfied and unsatisfied customers. The same item could have a number of comments that claim the item will run small, followed by an equal number of comments that claim the item runs large. The worst is when a girl will leave a comment about how she's 5'8" and 100 pounds and will they please make it in an extra extra extra small. Barf. But, the comments are really funny and entertaining, too. People leave intriguing clues about their lifestyles and outlooks in these comments capsules, which are supposedly only about a t-shirt or a pair of leggings.

The other day, when examining a super discounted t-shirt dress with Cindy, I came across the following comment by AA customer, and my new hero, "kiwi":

I’m kinda bony with a buddha-belly (5'5'' and 125 lbs) so there were pros and cons...a medium is just a scoce small so I'm afraid I'll forget, stick it in the dryer, and end up with a toddler-sized shirt...It's very flattering from the front and back, makes me look curvaceous and even gives the illusion that my double a's are more like b's! But the side view is a little challenging - it's very tight on my rump, and doesn't flatter my poochy tummy much. So I suck in and hope that people will be so distracted by the front and back view the side won't matter :) I've worn it as a shirt or a dress...it does ride up a bit, though, kind of creating a ruched look in front, but making the dress a few inches shorter than it first appears...about four to six inches above the knee on me, I'm a 30 inseam. It looks like it won't last forever...cheapie fabric and iffy construction...but for 19 bucks, I bought a few extra. A cool idea! I just wish they had it in large so I didn't have to fret about the dryer, and made it a few inches longer so I wouldn't have to be the office slut.