Aéropostale

Places to Shop for Bathing Suits in Queens, New York

As a Brazilian girl I always try to find the most familiar bikini for me.

For those Brazilian who live in New York summer is the ideal time to complain about the American bikinis, the panties seems Melitta Coffee filter.  Am I wrong? Ok. It is not only Americans, but Chinese, South Americans or Europeans bikinis they are huge, like baby diaper. In fact, just Brazilian women wear small bikini. Brazilians like to go to the beach stylist and beautiful, the US women are more basic and practical, they focus more on comfort. So every Brazilian I know complains about having to buy bikinis here in New York. However it has been changing and every year is easier to find a good tiny bikini. I mean, it is not that easy, but it is possible, especially in brands for young girls. 🙂

Can I say something? In Brazil bikini is for everyone, it is a democratic outfit for all, even overweight or elderly women, children, former-president, fitness muse, teen age girls… wear two pieces bikini, and nobody will stare on them with an unapproved look.

I’m not like most Brazilian, because I like big bikini, I have several huge tow pieces bikini, like vintage, retro or pin up style… On the other hand, I have minimal bikinis too, I’m not thong bikini fan, but I’m almost there.Bikini is my favorite fashion item. If you look at my wardrobe right now, you will not believe that live in New York, you will think that I’m living in Hawaii, even thought I still having many bikinis in my wardrobe in Brazil.

However, why do American like huge bikinis? Are they more modest? I don’t think so, I was impressed on the first time that  I went to a club here in New York. The girls went almost naked with transparent dresses, dance lowering up to the ground and rubbing themselves on the guys, I felt in a strip show, I’ve never seen anything like it in Brazil.

Or maybe American women want to hide some imperfections? So that’s why they would choose big bikini. In my research prove that huge bikinis are not always good for my shape. Sometimes it emphasized a defect or created a new one.  I chose black models and smaller size of the store. Generally panties are S and bras are XS. See my photos:

This is my bikini, a good design and size for my body. I took this photo in my bedroom and I used this photo as compared to all experienced bikinis.


In Century 21 I wore a Donna Karan bikini set, her panties had like a skirt that covered the bottom. Besides the horizontal lines let me fattier, the bottom left me with a straighter ass. The top was beautiful, but to be wore with another panties style, these was a set that they did not sell separately.

These panties was high waist and with wide side. The side had a wrinkled, that gave to me few pounds. These huge panties emphasized my rectangular shape. It’s more for a curvy girl, I guess. The bra had a pan inside, it was good to give me more volume. Although It was large for me, my boobs were swimming inside.

The short style model is the worst for my body type, because it emphasizes where I have the high amount of fat, between my legs and my navel. I was straight with no waist. Another thing, being faixinha style, let my butt “flat”. The bra I liked, sometimes it’s hard to find small bra the bastante.

In Kohls with the panty was a little lower, my body became more interesting, it appeared to be thinner and had waist. 🙂 The part behind was the very large as normal American panties and left me with a grandma’s butt. The bra was huge for my boobs but it was the smaller size. 😦

In Burlington the bikini emphasized my belly, I looked like an obese woman, although it was a small sized set. I wonder what kind of woman this bikini is good. The detail in the belly lured me much ass looks chicken.

Old Navy an JCPenny had very similar panties.

…But the back of these panties were too big! In this case the Old Navy I chose XS ba and S panties. I like the bra.

In the JCPenney the bra was a little smaller, and these fringes gave me more volume. Great! ❤

I swear I do not have that huge belly, and I am not a panda bear. I think the Express did not want to sell bikinis. What a horrible light in the dressing room.

The back part of the bra was very beautiful, swimming style, love it. The underwear is very basic, but it would not take this bikini felt good ridiculous because the illumination, I gained 10 pounds at least. I also have cellulite on my legs, but they did not exist… 😦

In Victoria’s Secret a smaller bikini fit pretty well. Look when I said I supposed to avoid huge bikinis, just because sometimes it is not good for me. In this time I had waist, butt and breasts. Actually, my boobs were quite big, they are not like this, good design for girls who does not like having small chest.  This bikini did not let me as a ironing board. Did I prove for you that little bikinis sometimes are better? Of course depending on of my shape. So, I would like to advice American girls who are fit to try to buy Brazilian style bikinis. You can buy it on Ebay (for cool and cheap sets) or with real Brazlian brands. Now the Brazilian currency Real is very undervalued, it is the best time to import stuff from there. 😉

These brands for high school kids are the best finding Brazilian style bikinis. My favorite set in all this research was the Aerie’s bikini.SO cute, unfortunately the photo is blurry.

The bra style is curtain and had an internal cup that made me feel more confident and beautiful. The panties was small, the same size on the front and on the back, exactly like in Brazil.:)  They also had an asymmetrical ruffle, which started narrow on my right and increased on the  the left side of my body. I had waist and butt.

The Aéropostale’s bikini was is also cute. I was sad when I realized that the brand  is closing some stores in the USA, it is one of the few brands that clothes fit on me. The panties was low waist, medium on the sides but small on the butt. The top is so beautiful, I regretted not having bought it.

While making this post, I saw a picture of the model Marquita Pring wearing a top from the brand Balance Tech on the beach. I have 6 bras like that, 3 are large in three different colors that they made it, and 3 are small in three colors too, I love them much. On the other hand, I do not wear them as a bra for beach, they are huge for this propose on my opinion. It is perfectly fine to wear on the beach  but what amazed me, was that Marquita said:

“‘I usually wear small two pieces bikini, with the minimal amount of material as possible. I love to feel free when I’m on the beach.”

But this is not a small bikini at least for Brazilian girls, neither the top nor panties. Then I thought maybe it is tiny for Americans, who knows? I also have one photo where mo mother and I were wearing the top to do exercise last January.

Finally, I realized that the style of bikini is super important for my body. Not always a huge bikini will cover my defects, actually it can create new ones.

None of my photos were treated in Photoshop. My bikini I bought on Ebay.

A Tall Girl’s Dream | Being Able to Buy Cute Pants That Cover the Heels

Many people think that the dream of the tall woman is to find a tall boyfriend. It is nonsense, the dream of the tall woman is to buy a pants that cover your heels.

If you are tall you should live the same dilemma as me; buying a pair of pants that do not look incredibly short on my legs. I’m 5’11ft and I have a skinny silhouette. Here in the United States my mannequin is 2, in Brazil it is 36! So, it is even harder to find pants when you are slim, because smaller size on waist tends to be short on the legs. Why do the brands have this bias with tall skinny girls? Because they have collections for petite and for plus size, but the tall girls are completed ignored. That’s sad!

Of it is not just pants that do not fit on tall girls. Dresses become shirt, a long sleeve top is three-quarter sleeve top. During the winter I have to buy an extra-large coat, for example, to fits on my extra-small body, just to cover my wrist. I feel I am wearing a balloon. Short shorts always show half of my butt, socks over the knees, barely touch the knees. Another nightmare, there aren’t shoes at traditional stores in their number. Maillot, coveralls, rompers, dungarees or camiknickers them have never fit on them.

Whenever I complain that there aren’t pants that suits me, I listen “but I always have to fix the pants bar.” OMG! Make the bar of trousers is vastly easier (and possible) than amend a piece of cloth from the ankle to the heel. And I’m not saying that it’s hard to find pants that fit on me, I’m saying it’s impossible.

Few days ago, while I was searching for a pair of black pants in one outlet, and I was not successful, my boyfriend asked, “what king of pants the models wear?” It is easy to say, they wear the sample. Before sending their collections to production, companies make patters, so the models always follow more or less the same measures as the clothes are made to the model pattern, rather than a model in particular. So for a fashion show or a photo shoot any model theoretically can wear the pieces of the collection with minimal adjustments. That why the models clothes when they go to a commercial scale they disappear, because brands produce clothes on average size of the population.:(

Thinking about it, I went to several stores in Queens, New York and chose high waist skinny pants to try in the majority of stores. I visited two malls, Rego Center (61-35 Junction Blvd, Rego Park, NY 11374) on the first afternoon and the Queens Mall (90-15 Queens Blvd, Elmhurst, NY 11373) on the second afternoon. You can check my results bellow.

Trying the three pants, all were short, hitting my ankles and didn’t cover my navel, although the label said high waist. I like high-waisted pants, because they were good for lengthen my legs. I’m tall, and I like to look even taller.

Marshalls’ pants were quite far from the ground. A note beyond the length of the pants were that horizontal tears let our legs thicker and shorter, which makes me smaller and fatter, if little or chubby avoid it.

In Sears I tried Bongo pants . They covered my ankle bone, but were far from my heel. These pants also had a bad stitching on my right leg (left in photo), weird right?

Again the pants was abundantly short, showed my ankles bones and navel. They were missed about 15 cm of cloth, I was very disappointed in Kohl’s.

I tested three more brands and still frustrated. Levi’s rwas really high waist, covered my belly button. However, they were quite short. The others didn’t hit my heels neither my navel.

I loved these pants Levi’s in Century 21. They were the highest waist pants that I found during this project. However the pants were very short, and showed my ankles bones. So sad, I almost felt in love. ❤

TJ Max was super messy and it was hard to find my size, I tried these pants that have lower waist and the bar was short, very short. These definitely would not be pretty me me in any way, only if I cut and make shorts.

Although the model of Free Heart in Burlington almost touched my navel, the length is very bad. The price was so nice, $ 12, I was tempted to buy, but better not …

Three more pants and still frustrated.

I liked the waist of these pants, although they were not really high. However, the trousers bar was above the ankle bone. – Very strange.

I loved the tears of these pants. But there was a lot of extra cloth on my hips. In addition, the trousers were short in height and showed my ankle bone. Express sells longer legs sizes online, but when googled it, the size 0 was sold out.

The pants in Bebe was very, very short. I believed the bar was about five centimeters above my ankle bone. A shame because I loved her tears.

Then I proceeded to search the pants that could reach my heels, but as you can see, I continued unsuccessfully.

I really liked Macy’s pants, but they had two major problems. In the Queens Mall store the lowest number was 4, my number is 2 for this brand, then they were wide. Could buy online, paying $ 15 of shipping fee, the price of the pants was 25! Another problem was that they were extremely short, I looked like “Beetlejuice”. These department stores discriminate tall and thin women, it is almost impossible to find pants that fits on me.

Aerie didn’t have high waist pants in my size, I wear size 2 at Arie. So I got a legging pants, that’s why they were almost on my knee. Too bad.

Aéropostale pants were very good on my waist. As I expected, they had the same bad length as all the other pants …

J.C. Penny was another store that didn’t have small number. These pants number were number 4, and they were too loose at my waist. I found these design very beautiful, but they were also too short in the legs.

After two days in two Shopping Malls, I finished my pants research. I didn’t find pants that fit well on me, because I am size 2 and 5’11ft. Some brands had long legs pants, however I had to buy on line, paying shipping fee. As always, I felt exhausted, and abort my mission.

Inside of Fitting Room| How Can Lighting Have An Effect On Decision-Making?

How many times have you seen a beautiful dress in a shop window, and when tried it on, ouch! It was a big issue? This has happened to me, and probably to you too. Sometimes we are lean, tall, top-model style, but the problem is not us, it’s the fitting room, believe me.

A lot of brands still neglect the dressing rooms, that are often “hidden” in the store’s background. Maybe they have the expectation that the customer may buy clothes without trying them. Here in the United States it is simple to buy without testing, because in most companies we can return the product without any explanation, and getting the money back. 🙂

Going to the dressing room for a woman is a therapeutic ritual, that can make us very happy when we can purchase something wonderful, or make us very frustrated… Especially with white lights coming from the ceiling. This powerful light is always attenuating my defects such as cellulite, dark circles and pimples .

Why do we need high intensity light? What is the reason for such clarity? Are they recording a TV show? Hope not! Thankfully we do not have this bad light even at home. In fact, I would suggest that white light is good only for beauticians, dentists, doctors and kitchens; in real life, we do not need surgical light. We should have a smoother and harmonious vision of myself.

Thinking about it, I did a study here in New York on well-known stores. I went to two malls, Rego Center (61-35 Junction Blvd, Rego Park, NY 11374) on the first afternoon and the Queens Mall (90-15 Queens Blvd, Elmhurst, NY 11373) on the second afternoon. I visited several fitting rooms with my own outfit and photographed with my phone through the mirror. I did not made any correction in lighting or in my body, the result you can check bellow:

In the dressing room at Marshals’ I am definitely more beautiful among the three photos. At Sears’ my photo was overexposed and at Kohl’s dark circles appear on my face. Let’s see those problems with more details?

Marshalls – The fitting room was clean, without queues, good lighting – the light comes behind the mirror. It did not evidence cellulite! Inside of the cabin, they put a comfortable with the bench! The dressing room had an adequate size, with a good amount of hooks to put clothes, and three of them to separate the clothes. Marshalls had an outfitter to count the number of clothing that I have and to control customer entrance.

Sears – The dressing room was too old, it needed to be renovated … but it was clean! It had only a hook on the wall, which was bad for those who have many clothes. There was also a chair and a little shelf where I put my phone and my sunglasses. Lighting was on the ceiling and was the same in entire store! There was not a person to assist me in the fitting room, but it was organized! However, it was difficult to find the changing room, it was hidden and without signaling, I had to ask a clerk it was.

Kohl’s – It had several dressing room in the store and they were so cute! In front of the cabins had a hall with TV and bench to my companion wait. Inside of the fitting room It had a 3D mirror, that I could see the front and the sides of my body, – very cool. The bad point was the lighting (as always), which was the same throughout the store! The lighting created a big shadow on me. The changing room also had hooks for us to separate my clothes easily, like at Marshalls. Kohl’s didn’t have a person controlling the dressing room, by the way, I really like their system, because I could do everything by myself.

Continuing my research, the Century 21’s fitting room was tight, my clothes (both the ones that I would test and my own clothes) were bumping me. TJ Max had an acceptable changing room and Burlington had a huge dressing room, but totally without light!

Century 21 – At Century 21 I found one of the most inappropriate fitting rooms that I visited for my study. The cabin was small, narrow and uncomfortable! I am 5’11ft, so I was hitting myself in everything that I had inside. The lights were behind the mirror, it had a simple small stool and little space to hang the clothes. Changing my outfit was a challenge, so I did not try all my clothes; I gave up, too much work. I used the handle as clothes rack; the cabin did not have enough rack! I know the square feet in New York is super expensive, but the stores have to think on costumer comfort. The fitting room needed to be restored. At the entrance of the changing room a girl was checking my clothes.

TJ Max – The Changing room was great. TJ Max took care of place. It had a reasonable size and hangers are in good number. The lighting is next to the mirror! A woman checked my clothing, but she was friendly, the most friendly in all research, for example, she always makes a good comments about what I am buying or me. I am an old costumer from that store, so I know well the salesperson policy. The store also had a clean bathroom for customers, it’s a rarity in NY!

Burlington – A mess at the entrance of the dressing room! They had a woman to count the clothes, but she did not look at my face! Fitting room was archaic, full of clothing from the other customers. The cabin was big, equipped with a large bench. The worse defect in the cabin was that it did not have light! The light came from the passage.

Look how I gained weight and how I looked tired at Old Navy;s fitting room. My picture at JCPenny was extremely bright and at Express I’m a zombie, panda bear… I swear I’m not so ugly personally.:(

Old Navy – The changing room supposed to have a girl to check clothes, but she was not on her place when I arrived. It was chaos. People were trying to open the doors clothes were thrown everywhere. The cabins were apparently busy, because they were locked! When a customer came out from a dressing room, I got into. The place was very messy with clothes thrown on all over the place and trash on the floor. The lighting was on the ceiling and it was the same in every store, so it showed dark circles around my eyes and belly! The finish of the walls and doors was ridiculous, like wood for construction, it shouldn’t be in a clothing store!

JcPenny – Fitting room didn’t have someone to control it, as a result it was so disorganized, full of clothes spread to all over the cabin. I was afraid to lose my own clothes in that confusion. The lighting was on the ceiling. It was the same in the entire store. It had two racks, and a chair that was already occupied with other clients clothes! How could I sit to take out my shoes? Another annoying detail it the fact that the smallest jeans size was four, I looked at teen-age section and I did not find any small jeans! And some people say that fat ladies suffer bias, I don’t think so, they can at least buy pants, being tall and skinny is terrible to buy clothes.

Express – I went to the fitting room and there was no one there. All the doors were closed, so I had to wait. I waited, waited … until a seller come to open the door. The dressing room had dirt on the floor. The size was good. Modern, great number of racks and large bench! The problem was the surgical lighting. I was like a zombie in the picture, how evidenced was these dark circles around my eyes. Without doubt the worst lighting all!

TThen I went to the Pink (the younger Victoria’s Secret’s sister), the dressing room needed some repairs and furnishings. In Bebe I got a good result and Victoria’s Secret I was so red!

Pink – I hit to the dressing room and no one was there. The doors were closed! I went twice to the dressing room, and in both times I waited about 5 minutes until someone comes over and open the door for me. The fitting room had some racks broken; I sat on the floor to put the shoes! Lighting was in a chandelier in the middle of the dressing room, but the idea was better than strong light coming from the ceiling, as I saw in most stores. It really needs an urgent maintenance!

Bebe – The seller was behind me and take my clothes to the fitting room! That bothers me a little; because I did not feel comfortable, I just wanted leave the store sooner as possible. I did not have a chance to check all the collection, and when the sales representative started to assist me, I just wanted to run over of the annoying situation. The fitting room was large, but with curtain, which let me a little worry. I am afraid that someone can open the curtain while naked, or even worse, when I am fighting to fit in a skinny pair of jeans. The lighting was beside the mirror, so I was illuminated equally, which gave me a more delicate appearance.

Victoria’s Secret – The store was packed everyone loves VS. Many people was in the dressing room at the same time, but a girl quickly solved the problem!It was a charming dressing room, with half-light! The smooth clarity gave me a sweeter look. It showed some lines on my stomach, not emphasizing the my fat. The mirror had two light spots on both sides, but one was burnt, so the picture was somewhat dark. The vendor accompanied me until my dressing room.

Continuing my survey visiting New York’s fitting rooms, I went to Macy’s, it was so old. In Aerie (or American Eagle) the yellow light behind the mirror gave me a slight appearance, my cheeks were up roses and I had waist. And in Aépostale I met into the most beautiful wall of this journey, great to do ‘selfies’.

Macy’s – The dressing room was hidden and with a difficulty access, because it had a rack full of clothes at the entrance. All right, the square meter in NY is expensive, but do not overdo it. Besides, it needs reform, very old, like an office in 80’s. The lighting was on the ceiling, the same as the rest of the store. A woman helped to find a vacant cabin. The floor was dirty. It didn’t have pants for tall and thin women, the smaller size was 4!

American Eagle – Aerie – The fitting room’s queue was huge, but walking fast! The place was so cool, I felt in a bang-bang movie. The lighting was yellow and is behind the mirror, resulting in a harmonious picture. There was a button to call the seller if I wanted assistance to change the size of my clothing, for example. By the way, the seller asks my name and put it on the door, along with the number of pieces that i had! It was the first time I saw a kind of bikini Brazilian here in America!

Aéropostale – Very few fitting rooms for the size of the store. Consequently, I had to wait on a long line! The worse thing about this dressing room was that, a curtain, which took off my privacy, closed it. While I was changing my clothes, a sales clerk opened it suddenly. The cabin had a very cool decoration, a reasonable number of racks but the lighting was on the ceiling.

Forever 21 was another store where they have a strong light on the ceiling; it gave me belly and showed dark circles around my eyes. H & M had light in the mirror and an indirect light on the ceiling. Where did I look better?

Forever 21 – It had a long queue to use the dressing room. I could not try the bikini that I chose, it was prohibited! Really, do I have to buy it blindly? The fitting room was very small and uncomfortable. There was not a chair inside. I did not try the pants that I was carrying, because I would have to sit on the floor to take out my sneakers and as I am tall, would hit the other cabin with his legs. 🙂 The light was too powerful and on the ceiling, the worse combination because showed all defects. There was a woman barring people, checking clothing and pointing out the available cabin.



H&M – Another store with a long line to use the fitting room. The girl who checked the clothes was hysterical, fighting with all costumers on queue. The cabin was tiny; I think it was the smallest in my research. It was so small that I had difficult to take a full body photo. It had a curtain, and the fitting room was unisex. 😮 Inside of the cabin, it had a small bench, and tow mirrors, so I could see the front and the back of my outfit. The light came from the mirror and had a light spot on the ceiling.

In conclusion, fitting rooms with lights next to the mirror in yellow shades created better images, because it didn’t over expose the costumer, showing the defects or creating new imperfections. Dressing rooms with strong white lights on ceiling make the client fatter, create eye shadow (dark circles) show pimples, cellulite, stretch marks and it is a nightmare for any woman.

The doors of the changing room must to be heavy enough to give a sense of privacy. Cabins with curtains or doors that does not close well, make the person to change the clothes very quickly, because they are afraid that someone can open the door at the wrong time, as happened to me at Aéropostale. Therefore, I suggest that brands should invest more in this sector because it is very important to purchase.