Meet Margaret and her little sister Maggie...our best sellers for 2012.

Margaret

Maggie

These 2 ladies are definitely our best sellers. Maggie, being the capri version of Margaret and both have been selling in bright colors for summer...kiwi, turquoise, aqua and  fuschia are this season's winners. Both have built in tummy support to tuck in your tummy and are made in our best selling "Versace" fabric which is a rayon/nylon/spandex that stretches and molds to your body while you're wearing them. They're incredibly comfortable and many of our stores we sell say they're like wearing "air".
They have a "faux" jean front and 2 back pockets and no buttons or zippers. Just pull them on for an instant slimming look.

Check out our website to find out where to buy them at www.slimfitters.com or www.pkmaks.com.

The Fruit Basket

When it comes to body types most of us women are nothing but fruit.
That's right...apples and pears.

If you're an apple it means that your  body starts out in it's slimmest form  straight up and down (that means no real waistline) but usually "knockout" legs...slim and ready for a mini skirt and shorts. As you gain weight the excess moves right into your tummy and waist.

If you're a pear it means that your body starts out in it's slimmest form with a smaller chest area and defined waistline with a flat tummy ...ready for that bikini. As you gain weight the excess moves right into the hips and thighs.

And if you one of the rarest female forms, you'll be exempt from the fruit basket and simply be dubbed the "hourglass". That means that your shoulders and hips will be relatively the same measurements and your waistline will have a true definition. When this body type gains weight the excess is distributed evenly throughout the body.

I truly believe that all body types are beautiful and perfect just the way they are but as women, we are often times obsessed with what we were not born with...smaller hips, larger hips, tiny waistlines, smaller tummies, thinner thighs, etc. So if you take issue with the shape of your body then here are some tips for you to help achieve a more "well distributed" and slimmer appearance. 

If you're a pear...
Try to find tops and blouses that have shoulder emphasis. For example, tucks or shirring details at the shoulder or on the cap of the sleeve. This brings out the appearance of more width across the shoulder and helps to balance out the appearance of larger hips. And if you don't have or cannot find tops that do this then just try the good old fashioned shoulder pad (and bring back a bit of the 80's with you)...just  small, unnoticeable pads will do the trick. No need for football shoulders unless you're into that sort of thing.
You also do well with fitted tops which show off your beautiful waistline. No need to hide under oversized tops and tunics.

For bottoms, stick with pants that have bootcut or wider legs. For those that don't know, a bootcut legged pant slightly flairs out at the bottom. If they're really wide at the bottom they are referred to a bell bottoms, reminiscent of the good old 70's).
A wider leg pant leg helps to hide saddlebags and heavier thighs will give the appearance of a more even body shape from head to toe.
A-line skirts and skirts that flare at the bottom hem really do a lot to even out shape.


If you're a apple...
Look for tops and blouses that have waistline definition towards the center of the waist like shirring or  pleats to take the attention away from the side waist area and bring it front and center to create the illusion of a smaller waist. Or try tops that loosely cover the tummy area (no need for pregnancy tops). A little shirring or tucks under the bust can hide a whole lot of tummy. Slightly oversized or "blousy" tops will help hide the tummy, as well.


For bottoms, show off those legs! Skinny pants, pencil shaped skirts, shorts and mini skirts are your best friends. Just stay away from wider legged and bootcut leg pants. So go for the oversized tunic and skinny pant. It's a great and trendy look.

And finally...if you're the rare hourglass, have fun with it all!


For really great slimming tops that are designed to address women's body issues, please check out Slimfitters tops at www.aswechange.com.

For really great pants and jeans with built in tummy support and slimming lines, please check out my website at www.slimfitters.com or www.pkmaks.com. For instant shopping, check out Slimfitters denim at www.acacialifestyle.com.
For a variety of pant styles, check out www.bailliesbundles.com

For retail stores near you that might carry our products, please go to our website and fill out thform on our "Where to buy" page.

Color My Mood

Today we were taking end of season inventory in my warehouse.The spring/summer season is over and it's time to make room for the fall collection. It was interesting to see what we were left with and what was totally sold out. We shipped many colors this season...black, white, stone, khaki, aqua, turquoise, fuschia, magenta, coral, lime, purple, brown, olive, chestnut, grey and charcoal. And these were just the pant colors. There were even more colors in the tops.

But the colors that were left were surprising. Black, white and stone....the tried and true basics that always sell were now the season's most unpopular colors. But it's not surprising.

Color plays a huge roll in how we feel. Changing our mood can be as simple as changing our clothes. For example, if you're stressed, try wearing mint green or light blue. If you're a bit down, try wearing bright colors. If you feel a bit tired and weak, try red. And if you just feel like being left alone, try wearing beige and simply blend in. There are so many ways that color and variations of different colors can change the way we feel. And most of it is subliminal. We don't even consciously realize why we gravitate to different colors at different times or why we only will wear certain colors even if they don't look good on us.

But here's what I discovered about how, as a country we're feeling right now. In doing the numbers of what colors actually not only sold but reordered the best there were two that outsold every other color...and you might be surprised. The first was turquoise. OK...not so surprising  as a summer color. Turquoise is about optimism, hope, fun and frolic. It's the color of the ocean at it's best. It's how we like to feel in the summer. And it's typical for summer. But then there was the second #1 color for spring/summer.....Brown? For summer? It's completely atypical for the season. But it makes sense. Brown is the color of security, particularly financial security. It's what we wear when we need to feel grounded and safe. It brings stability and normalcy and a sense that it's all going to be ok. And isn't that where we're at as a country today? With elections around the corner don't most of us need a little more reassurance that things are going to get better in our world?

We choose colors to wear based upon how we are feeling both consciously and unconsciously. It's both personal and collective...meaning that, we not only subconsciously choose color based on our own mood but also the mood of the world around us. And since our physical bodies and how we've chosen to "adorn" them for the day is one of the first things people notice when they meet us, wouldn't it be beneficial to pay attention to the color or colors we choose for all to see?


So when you go to your closet to select what you're going to wear for the day remember how we subconsciously choose color to define our feelings at that moment and ask yourself if  what you've chosen to wear will help serve your day in a more positive way.

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The hottest fashion in confidence!

When I was in my twenties I went to a trendy new restaurant in Beverly Hills with my mother. My mother, walking tall and proud had a least 50 extra pounds she was carrying around and I was young, thin, dressed to kill and still trying to figure out who I was. We went to sit at the bar to wait for our table and found it was a serious "meat market". So of course, being young and single I started flirting with all these gorgeous guys...but something was wrong. All those "hottie's" were ignoring me. They all wanted to talk to my mother who was having the time of her life laughing and joking around with them. I didn't get it. I was so busy in my mind designing the wedding gown I would wear when I was married to one of these hot single guys that I didn't even get that what these guys were really attracted to was confidence...something my plus size mother had in spades. She had no clue she was heavy because she had been skinny most of her life and still saw herself that way...and guess what...so did all the guys hovering around her. And give me a break....she was old enough to be THEIR mother!

But confidence is everything and image is nothing when it comes to how others see us.

It's not really what we wear that makes a difference in our lives but how we FEEL about what we're wearing. And when we put something on that makes us feel slimmer, younger or sexier or all of the above we feel more confident...and that's the ticket to success!

Everything I make is designed to help a woman feel better about how she looks and feels. I first make sure that the stylelines are  flattering on most body types. For the tops, I then add a built in body shaper to help reduce bulges (nothing worse than having a muffin topper!), give more shape to the body and slenderize. For the pants, I build in tummy support panels to help flatter the profile and give a slimmer look. It sure beats having to buy separate body shapers to wear under your clothes ( I call them body armour) that are not only costly but are a  constant reminder that your just too fat for your own clothes. Talk about a loss of confidence!

I would love to hear from you about what your body issues are that keep you from feeling confident in how you look. Let's see what Slimfitter's can do for you.

How Slimfitter's came to be

People always ask me how I went from being a high fashion designer to designing slimming clothes and the answer is really simple...I needed them! Motherhood took me from being a tall, skinny fashionista to being a  tall, skinny woman with a bulging belly. Menopause took me from  that to being a tall, slightly overweight woman in search of her waistline! What happened? 

Age happened but also something more than that. As I began to age I truly wanted to enjoy life without all the restrictions I had imposed on myself to stay skinny (meaning never ending dieting and deprivation). I wanted to eat, to enjoy life and for the first time I was actually learning how to live in the moment. And so I did....

But as the eating began I started seeing myself in the mirror resembling someone that looked more  like "Yabba the Hut" than myself. 

During this time I had opened a retail store where I designed and sold my own line of clothing. For the first time in my career I was hearing first hand not only how customers felt about my clothing but more important, how they felt about themselves...and it was a real eye opener! It seemed that I wasn't the only woman who likened herself to good old "Yabba". This was an epidemic. Almost every woman that walked into my store thought she had serious body issues and at least 10 lbs. to lose. Gorgeous, fantastic women picking themselves to pieces and loathing the beautiful bodies they had been given.
And they all resembled myself. Something had to be done!

As I was maturing and my body was changing I started becoming a "master of disguise". As a designer, it was easy for me to figure out how to dress and look slimmer and so it just seemed natural for me to start designing and developing clothing that would create a slimmer look for all women...by using stylelines, proportions and inner construction that would help create this as well as creating a contemporary, youthful and fun look.

And so, Slimfitters was born.

It's been 12 years now and each day I feel so blessed that I can continue to help women feel better about themselves each time they put on my clothes. And feeling better about how we look helps us feel so much better about ourselves, others and the world we live in. And so I say, if we look great we feel great and if we feel great the world is ours to own!