It can be pretty cheap flying; a quick look for an example reveals Friday 4th May €2.99 return 6th May €7.99 (plus taxes...).

London's Oxford Street has all the major chains; Covent Garden isn't far and has others, and if you've time there are boutiques and markets to check out. I'm not a Londoner, but I'm sure others could direct you. Hotels aren't cheap, but as the Sunday flight is early early why not pub/eat/club until late and then make your way to the airport?!:-) On the flights above you'd only need one night accommodation, and there may be other possibilities.

The alternative is to get to know someone in London and do accommodation swaps. Have to admit I wouldn't go myself purely for shopping: it's a combination of ageing Mum visits, shopping, friends, decent beer and the like!

OK here are the contact details for the cheap hotel i was talking about. It is very central. You can probably find lots of other cheap and central hotel deals by doing a websearch etc.

London Continental Hotel.
88 Gloucester Place,
London W1H 3HN
Phone (+44) 207 486 8670

I personally would not do a 1 day trip, or even come back early in the morning as what on earth would you do with all your shopping when going to dinner/ clubbing etc etc since there are no lockers anywhere. PLus stansted is far enough out of London to use a bit of time getting there and back.

The shop i always go to for v cheap stuff (esp basics like undies tshirt etc) is Primark. v v v v v cheap! PLsu also places like TKmaxx where there are branded products for cheap, and probably particularly good if you are tall as it;s always the 'normal' sizes that sell out quickest. And i'm sure it has been said before but Clarks shoes are just the BEST!

We’ve gone from brainstorming Italian shops, to internet shopping, to packing you off to London!

I’m sure you can get a cheap ticket from Rome. Oxford street and Oxford circus are great - but busy. If you get a late or early Gatwick flight I have the low down on the hotels there.

About Primark, it’s having a lot of success lately. I’ve heard there’s a new one opening on Oxford Circus.

We could have a board trip to London. We could call it the “Clothe the Expats tour”

That is such a great idea Delina!

And for us non-British expats - it can be an introduction to the wonders of British shopping by the experts (ie you and the other British expats!)

Maybe as part of our shopping weekend we can do some other girly non-Italian stuff like going for cosmos somewhere and eating sushi.

The problem for us, as Americans with a $$$ based pension, is that the only currency worse than the euro is the pound...currently selling for $1.97! Ouch!!!

Delina and Ramona,

Maybe you should rename this thread 'London GTG' ha h aha

I lived near Gatwick before moving out here. The closest shopping centre is Crawley - not as glam as London I know, but it has all the shops we have talked about and all in a compact shopping centre. Plus you may even be able to shop without even staying over! It's literally about 10 mins in a taxi from the airport.

BTW if you can get that deal on the London Continental that is a good deal! It's not a bad hotel as I remember.

If you use Stanstead you would definitely have to stop over - it takes so long to get into London. Most people don't realise it's in Cambridge near as damn it!

quote:

Originally posted by Professoressa:
I find that most trousers cause camel toe (ugh) while at the same time being too wide around the waist.

You know, I couldn't stop thinking about this...
Is it possible that you're simply pulling them up too high? If they're meant to be hanging off your hips rather than end in your waist, this could be the answer as your hips are usually (hopefully!) wider than your waist. And we all know what happens when pants are pulled up and... ahem... wedged, so to speak.

Oh stop it now!

I must say, that I couldn't get this one out of my head for a while either. Have you read all the urban dictionary Annika, and seen the photos? - I have It helps with the understanding process.

quote:

Originally posted by Annika:
You know, I couldn't stop thinking about this...
Is it possible that you're simply pulling them up too high? If they're meant to be hanging off your hips rather than end in your waist, this could be the answer as your hips are usually (hopefully!) wider than your waist. And we all know what happens when pants are pulled up and... ahem... wedged, so to speak.

You know, Annika, I can't stop thinking about it either! I can't figure it out, because I'm not overweight and I don't pull my trousers up too high. (I hate pants that sit at the waist- they're so frumpy.) I have a sneaking suspicion it's a combination of my big bottom and thighs filling out the seat and upper part of the legs too much, putting too much stress on the trousers' front.

Now, I should say that the camel toe I was referring to isn't anything like the ones the gymnasts and women in bathing suits were sporting in those pictures. Ugh. It's more like the first one, where you notice more the creases at the top of the thigh. Actually, when I began to notice this, um, issue, I started to look around at other women (discreetly of course!) and I've noticed that there's an awful lot of camel toe in these parts. As for how the trousers can be loose at the hips and too tight in the seat, I don't get it. I don't have this problem with the trousers from home that still fit me, so I think it's a design flaw.

Someone has got to start producing trousers for us big-bottomed girls here in Italy! (Do I need to quote Spinal Tap here?)

That's weird, because I would say that this problem is most likely to occur if the pants are too small, but that doesn't rhyme with the too big waistline.

Hmmm... I need to investigate this a bit further

Often enough trousers are cut with too little room for... Uh, the back part. No room for the bottom makes the front constrictive...

It's too near to bed time for all these visuals.

As I remember from my long ago design course, the measurement you are all talking about is the rise. This is the measurement from your waist down to your crotch at front and back. If the back rise is too short - if you have large buttocks for example -the cloth at the front will be pulled back in compensation. However, too much rise means the crotch of the pants ends up around your knees. As I am guessing we are all buying ready-to-wear, the rise will be based on an average woman, and unfortunately not many of us are! It is one of the most difficult measurements to judge in clothes, along with armholes! HTH End of lecture!!

Apart from the odd Max Mara, I have stopped buying clothes in Italy. Can't get the sizes, and I refuse to accept that my size 12 figure is considered 'large' or even 'extra large' according to Italian sizes! Quite frankly, Italy does not seem to have a High Street concept that offers decently-priced, quality clothes for women. At least, nothing that can match the UK. Everything seems so tarty. I note that Pinko has recently launched in London but I think it's strictly for the youngsters.

Obviously Nara Camicie is great for shirts, and high-end stuff is good. Max Mara is a good place to look in the sales and for quality items but I still have problems with trousers, especially because at the moment they seem obsessed with skinny-cut and low-rise trousers that just don't suit me at all.

Even my suocera comes to London now for a twice-yearly stock up at dear old M&S - she loves it.

quote:

I refuse to accept that my size 12 figure is considered 'large' or even 'extra large' according to Italian sizes! Quite frankly, Italy does not seem to have a High Street concept that offers decently-priced, quality clothes for women. At least, nothing that can match the UK.

Agreed. I too am a UK size 12. This evening I bought a t-shirt top from Oviesse. I had to buy XL! ie the biggest size they had! It made me wonder... Am I the biggest person around?! What do people bigger than a UK 12 (Italian 44-46-?)do?

I'm a UK size 12 (US size 10) too! I have a couple of XL t-shirts and sweaters in my wardrobe. When I lived in the US I was usually a medium.

I see lots of people fatter than me here -I wonder if they have to go to special shops to buy clothes?

I am a UK size 10 (US 6 or 8) and i have to get the L, XL etc clothes here too. My particular problem (in addition to being tall) is i have broad shoulders, so i end up having to get enormous clothes here to fit and then they need to modified at the waist. At Nara Camiche i have to get the biggest size shirts. Lately I have been thinking about getting some mens clothes; maybe they would fit me better?

Ha! I'm a size uk 16 top (those shoulders too, Vanessa) and a size 14 bottom. I could probably lose a little bit, but I'm reasonably fit (just got in from football training). I do see people fatter/larger than me, and I've also wondered about where some people shop.

I've probably got enough clothes at the moment - in fact, just about to get the summer stuff out - but I'll do some selective shopping when I'm back in the UK in May. I've yet to buy any clothes here, but I suppose the manufacturers know their normal market (although here I think I'm being generous!).

Here in Sicily most of the people seem to be pretty short. And very slim, or else the older ladies who are often quite bulky (but still short). The clothes for the slim (mainly young?) women are of the teeny bopper style and for the larger sizes generally more sombre, although in general bigger all over (which are the ones i inevitably end up getting). There doesn't seem to be much of an inbetween, which is why i do my clothes shopping in London too.

However, sicilian friends of mine have commented they think this generation is actually a lot taller than previous ones, so maybe (fingers crossed) the clothes will be too... Then i'll be able to buy bigger sized clothes with all teh sequinned sparkly stuff all over them....

Anwyay, in the meantime I am surrendering to a friend who is such a clothes horse. She reckons she can take me shopping and get me sorted for clothes no worries. We shall see.

BTW did i metion that i am SO sick of tops that only reach my belly button!

http://www.thetipsbank.com/clothessize.htm in case there are more than me that get confused by the different sizes discussed

UK size 12 would be medium here (where people are, I assume, bigger than in Italy), while 16 would be large. Please note that in this chart the Italian and Scandinavian equivalents for UK size 14 have switched places.

Yeah, I think height and lack of boobage is the issue. I'm not overweight but I'm 177 cm tall (5'10") and have boobs! Here, everyone is really short and they seem to have no boobs (or shoulders).

I've only met one Italian woman who is as tall as me and she is from the North. So maybe it's different up there?

It's so great to hear that I'm not the only one with this problem. I was beginning to feel like a giant!

PS - it's also the same for men's clothes. My boyfriend is about 6'1" (181 cm I think?) and not overweight and he takes a size L or XL here too. He was truly amazed when he was in the US and he took a medium in shirts and a much smaller jeans size. Also here everyone says he's "sooo tall" but in the US he was pretty average.

You're just in the wrong place. There are all-sized and all-height women here in Umbria.

Miss Italia has sometimes been over 6 feet tall. I am definitively so far the shortest woman among my friends, but that's not saying much because I was in the US, too.

Those shrink wrap tops are part of the youth oriented thing and if you want to avoid them, you have to take your chances with taglie comode, which start at 44 usually. Pants are the real problem, because crotch length is just as important as leg length, making skirts much the easier choice for longer females. Or men, too, if they are very brave.