Narciso Rodriguez at Kohl's

I love Narciso Rodriguez graphic designs so when  I heard that Kohls would carry a line by the designer I wanted to check it out. I had some time early this morning so I went to my local Kohls.

I have narrow shoulders in comparison with the rest of my body, as reference, I use a size 8 at the shoulders, a 12 at the chest and 14-16 at the waist/hip area when I make my garments. I also need to add 1 to 1.5 inches to length of the bodice to get the correct fit.

All the dresses were snug below the waist (size M) but the shoulders were too wide. I think part of the problem on me with the dresses that since they are shaped to follow ones curves they need to fall exactly in place; with my longish torso the waist was higher and therefore the hip placement was off giving me undesirable wrinkles in the waist/tummy area and then not having enough ease at the hips. Also the sleeves are very snug in all the long sleeve garments.

 The skirt (size 10) fitted fine at the waist but was too snug at the hips. Which is funny because the tuxedo pants, which I purchased, in the same size gave me a great fit.

 I tried on this dress but shortened as a top. I went down to see if the shoulders would fit better in a S, but they didn't and then the hips were tight.

 This cardigan I considered but the fit was not perfect and the fabric not very good quality, so it stayed at the store.

 This jacket/coat was available in a purple at the store, the quality of the fabric was poor, very scratchy wool.

 This top I also tried, again I had the issues of the ill fitting shoulders in sizes S and M

Looking through their website I can now see that the selection at the store was limited. I included the pieces that I took to the fitting room with me for some snoop shopping.

Because we sew we know that we can get better fitting clothes in general than RTW, but it is always fun to snoop shop and once again reassure ourselves that we can do better!