FFFWeek Day Three: Lane Bryant Blogger Conference

On Wednesday, I got up early to head down to Lane Bryant‘s flagship store on 34th street for their blogger conference. I was very excited to go to this event because I knew a lot of blogger friends would be there and Lane Bryant had really made the event exciting by doing a style off for us bloggers. In the style off, each blogger/stylist received $200 to spend at LB to create an outfit, and I LOVED seeing what everyone did (read more about that here). At the beginning of the event, we were able to venture around their flagship store, which was gorgeous, and look at what style they wanted to eventually roll out to their other stores. They served breakfast and we had a good amount of time to chat and meet new people.

View from the second floor: The bottom floor had the Lane Bryant Collection at the front and then their regular line of clothing in the rest of the space. There were displays of accessories and everything was displayed really pretty. It was a really comfortable and fun place to shop, and I’m excited for LB to bring this kind of store experience to their other stores. My local store is nice, clean, and organized, but doesn’t have as much space for outfit displays and styling ideas.

 

View of front entrance: This is what I REALLY want at my store. I do not think my local store currently has their Collection line. I’d love to be able to try it on and have it located all together like their flagship store.

Upstairs was LB’s Cacique line, loungewear, and activewear. Just when you think the section has ended, there’s another room with even MORE choices. My local LB has a great Cacique section, but again I was impressed with the amount of space to show off the items and displays.

Beyond the layout of the store, they also had updated mirrors that allowed you to see what the outfit looked like in different settings, like the office or evening light. Yellow lights are definitely my friend. Olivia obviously was totally into the dressing room technology :).

I really enjoyed talking to Marcy Guevera, who is the host of Lane Bryant Fashion TV. She is very bubbly and easy to talk to, which I appreciate since I am pretty shy!

 

Olivia, Hanna, and me

I loved meeting back up with Georgette of Grown and Curvy Woman.

I met Jenny of Babblings of a Mommy at the event and had a good chat.

(photo courtesy of Jessica T. of tinyredshoes)

I also met Jessica for the first time (how cute is her romper?!) and talked more with Mouna and Dani. It was interesting to hear all of their stories and how they related to plus size fashion. For instance, Jessica wasn’t always plus size and didn’t necessarily know all of the resources available, and she lived in another country for some time and dealt with that country’s attitude toward plus sizes (sorry, I can’t remember which one she said!). Mouna didn’t have access to plus-size fashion when younger and grew up shopping from the men’s section. She still doesn’t have many local options. These conversations remind me how much more we have now (for some of us–especially those able and willing to buy online) and how much we still need. Plus size teenagers now have a lot more options, and a lot of us missed that since these options have mostly become available in the last 5 years or so. I do sometimes wonder how different I’d be if I could have found clothes that fit that was young when I was actually young. I started shopping at LB when I was probably 13 or 14, and it’s amazing to see how much the brand has grown and plus size fashion in general has grown from that time.

After breakfast and hanging out at the store, we headed back to the Affinia Manhattan to learn about Lane Bryant’s upcoming lines. On our way we found a guy showering outside of Madison Square Garden. He was a giggly mess. So funny.

Once we got to the Affinia, we were able to learn about their fall sportswear line, Cacique line, and their philanthropy work. I, unfortunately, am a bad, bad blogger, and my camera AND phone both died soon after arriving. I remember taking more pictures than what I ended up with, so who knows what happened there. All I know is their Cacique line up is really exciting and very pretty. They are coming out with more trendy and special pieces for their fall line. Lots of bold colors, prints, and new focus shapes, like the pencil skirt. Bloggers did not hold back and asked questions about getting more body conscious cuts, correct sizing, and more up-to-date fashion options. Some of these Lane Bryant is already working on (they have a new sizing director), and some they are wanting to slowly integrate into their lines (more body conscious cuts). We also learned that if you have issues with their Cacique bras, you can bring them into the store to have them send to headquarters to figure out why they are malfunctioning (for instance if the wire pops out).

Because I did not get to document this part of the day well, here’s a list of bloggers who captured the second aspect of the event much better. Check out their posts: Curvy Canadian, StyleChic360, DIY Fatshion, Curves and Chaos, Everyday Runway, and Estrella Fashion Report.

I wore this Lane Bryant beaded dress, which I loved. I find that dresses like this that are very open in the shoulders and sides of bust need to bought in the size of your top rather than hips, so I got this in a size down from my usual (bought in a 22/24). You can find the dress here.

I had a great time at the event and enjoyed the style off. Thank you, Lane Bryant, for the good time and for showing us all what you have in store for the Fall line. I’m excited!