Queen’s Birthday weekend has just passed here in New Zealand and everywhere was having a sale. I decided to pop down to Farmers, which had up to 50% off women’s clothing. Also being back in NZ for two months now I wanted to gauge what the clothes are like in Farmers, as I haven’t shopped there for around two years.

If you are not from NZ, Farmers is a main-stream department store. Similar to Myer. It has all the make-up counters as well as clothing and home wares.

I headed down to the Lambton Quay store to have a look around. I have to say, I’m not a huge fan of the Lambton store. Everything feels shoved in there without much thought or space to move around. Even more so in the plus size section. There is no signage saying the clothes there are plus size and it is a very small space, more like a corner. The stands are jam-packed with clothes and are ridiculously close together. But somehow I managed to squeeze through the stands and find a few pieces to try on.

Changing rooms are almost a double edged sword for taking pictures. On the one hand they have decent lighting, but there is something about changing rooms which never offer a very flattering photo, so I apologise in advance.

Wandering around I found several pieces that were really nice, particularly in new range Estelle. First thing I tried on was this sequin over-sized jumper.

I actually found this ridiculously over-sized. I’m wearing the 22 here, but tried on the 20 as well, which felt much better. It is great casually over a singlet with jeans or even leggings, but could be dressed up with a pencil skirt and belted at the waist. It was priced at $129.99, but at 50% off, I got this baby for $65. I’m quite happy with that price. The knit is so soft and warm, with the sequins tightly knitted in there so there is no possibility for them to come off. It has 3/4 sleeves and  the hem has that hi-low thing going on. It is also available in a navy knit.

Next I tried on a pair of leggings from the Estelle range.

These leggings were lovely and thick, with a big elastic band at the waist. I’m wearing them in a 20. I would have liked to try them on in a 22 as well to see what they were like, but I couldn’t find them in the next size. In the end, although they were awesome, I decided not to buy them. They were priced at $90, so even with 50% off, they still came in at $45. Not being 100% happy with them, it wasn’t worth spending the money. I may go back and see if they are still around or check the Cuba St store when I get my first pay cheque.

I’m quite impressed with the Estelle range. It is new to Farmers this season and I think it is definitely going to have some great pieces in the coming months if what is there is anything to go by. I was also impressed with the sizing – it definitely runs large.

The next piece I tried on was a pair of wet-look jeans from the Wild Child range.

These jeans looked great until I put them on. The label touted a waistband adjuster, which it did have in the form of elastic around the back and adjustable hidden buttons – very similar to the TDFs from City Chic. That was all good, except the material was horrible. It felt like I was putting on a pair of paper pants. And although they fit fairly well around the waist, the fit in the thighs and bum were just wrong. I’m an apple, so I’m used to pants either fitting well in the thighs and bum and not in the waist or fitting in the waist but look horrible in the thighs. As soon as I put these on I knew it was going to be a no from me. I’m wearing a 24, so I’m impressed with the sizing of Wild Child. I may go and investigate the other jeans from the brand at another time, but initial feelings are that they are not going to be suitable for apple shapes.

As for any other pieces from Wild Child, nothing really took my fancy. I found a lot of the pieces in the range to be fairly casual for my liking.

A huge find in Farmers was a new plus size active wear range called Super Fit Curve. There were only a few items, but it was an amazing feeling to find plus size exercise clothing in a main-stream store. Farmers already stocks a straight-line Super Fit range which has a bit more to offer such as 3/4 length leggings and singlets. I found it by the straight-line racks of the range instead of separated and put with the rest of the plus size ranges. They had two pairs of yoga pants, several t-shirts and a couple of light-weight hoodies.

This is one of the hoodies. It also came in a purple colour. I’m wearing a 3X which was a good baggy fit. I quite liked this hoodie and I almost ended up buying it, but in the end decided that I already have many tops for exercising in and I really didn’t need anymore. I can’t remember the exact price of this, but it was around the $50-60 mark.

These are one of the pairs of yoga pants that are on offer from the brand. They have a very high waist, which can be folded over. I’m wearing the 2X as the 3X just felt a bit too loose. The other pair of pants available were similar, but had a thick elastic waist and were much baggier in the thigh, needless to say I did not like them very much. This pair came home with me, as my current exercise leggings have decided to not be good exercise leggings any more. These were $60, but were 30% off for the weekend. I’m hoping this range will stick around in Farmers and hopefully will have a bit more on offer in the future. The range goes up to a 4X, which is almost unheard of in plus size exercise gear.

Overall, I’m quite happy with my new sequin jumper and yoga pants. I hope to get a lot of use out of them this winter. I really think Farmers have up’d its game from two years ago. When we left for Aussie, I wasn’t too impressed with what clothes were available from Farmers, but now I’m suitably impressed. I can’t say I will be buying heaps from Farmers, but I think I will be able to find a few decent pieces every once in a while to add to my ever expanding wardrobe.