Back when I was wearing 5-7XL shirts, I had very little choice in the type of shirt that I wore. I lived in a smaller city with very little option for clothing that large. In fact, my wardrobe was at one point 100% sourced from Mark’s Work Warehouse (now just Mark’s).

To me now, that fact sounds incredibly embarrassing. I cannot believe that I got all of my clothes from that one place. From Jeans Fit For An Elephant to the subject of this blog – plain old coloured T-shirts.

All I had for many many years, were disgusting plain coloured shirts. I hated them more than I did my own body for quite some time. They were so boring, and just made me look even larger than I already was. I had an orange shirt at one point because orange was one of my favourite colours. The problem is that in this shirt, I just looked like a big fat orange blob. There was no possible way to miss me.

Here’s an example from my 18th birthday:

That used to be my everyday style, because I had no choice. As time went on, I started shopping at very different places once my hate for plain shirts got too much to bear. I would go online for 5-7XL shirts with graphics or logos on them just to have some variety in my life.

I would shop at more expensive but stylish stores closer to Vancouver like George Richards or Mr. Big and Tall. I enjoyed shopping at these places because they allowed me to get nicer clothes that made me feel better about myself and my wardrobe, but it came at a great cost. Everything was really expensive and I had to save my money for awhile to afford a few new shirts. I hated how expensive the clothes were, but it was the only thing that made me feel like I actually looked good.

Thankfully, I can enjoy thrift store shopping now that I am buying medium t-shirts. Medium!! I can find really good quality shirts and other clothing now in vast quantities and great prices. I never used to be able to find clothes that fit at thrift stores, and now most things are too big!

I do have a couple very specific plain shirts in my wardrobe now, like a white and a black to wear as a layer when I have an open casual shirt to go with it.

I think I will always have a natural aversion to plain shirts, however. I hate them with a passion, because it reminds me of a time when that’s all I could have in my life. When all I could hope to look like was a giant blob of fabric.

I’m finally starting to feel like I look more human than I ever did before.
I feel like I’m wearing the clothes instead of the clothes wearing me.