from haute couture to stout couture

[caddyman]

For the past few days, Cardinal Place, the plush new development on Victoria Street, which I mentioned a while back, has been partially opened to the public.

Much of it is still boarded off, but even behind those boards, where the last bit of building work is being finished, several recognisable stores are fitting out. Boots have moved in there, as have Specsavers, and an eaterie called, er, Eat. Fitting out is a tapas bar, a branch of Thorntons, and around the front, on Victoria Street itself, a new branch of Lloyds TSB.

All new and increasingly efficient ways of helping us unload our salaries each month.

Of particular interest, despite all the chain’s recent problems, is the appearance of a large Marks & Spencer which is good news as I shall no longer have to bimble off up to Oxford Street to buy stuff. M&S might not be everyone’s cup of tea these days, but for people like me, who couldn’t give a stuff about high fashion, and want to buy Oxford Twill shirts at a reasonable price in lardy-boy sizes, there are few better outlets.

Of course, there is something wrong with the average off the peg M&S suit. They do sell them in my size, but you have to search like crazy. Unsurprisingly, the range of ‘average’ sizes is very large, and their definition of an ‘average’ size is comparatively generous in comparison with some places.

What is odd however, is that someone in the M&S hierarchy clearly seems to think that it is the clothing store of choice for legion upon legion of dwarfish bank managers. Marks & Spencer is the only general high street clothing store I can think of where a man can buy – if he is so disposed – trousers with a waist of 50”, and inside leg measurements of 24”. Moreover, these odd sizes are available in abundance.

Maybe the Gnomes of Zurich fly in at night to stock up on pin stripes before siphoning off Nazi war loot to unmarked offshore accounts.

Comments

[keresaspa.livejournal.com]

Ah, I thought that was just my imagination about the trousers in M&S. They seem to see the world in terms of tall thinnies and little fatties. A pain in the proverbials for a tall and tubby like myself.

[irdm.livejournal.com]

For the full figured man-about-sofa, Tesco (extra) has a selection of (a) cheap and (b) getable-in clothing.

[fractalgeek.livejournal.com]

I have reached the stage in M&S now of ordering, as they always have 29 and 33 leg trousers but rarely 31.

I have never forgotten an assistant telling me a particular shoe size sold out quickly - "and then because it is an unpopular size, we don't order more". "Why is it unpopular?" "Because we never sell any after the first week or two"

Thus they rule(d) the High Street.