I've been having this odd sense of foreboding or wariness or something, attributable to, well, nothing. So when I finally found some t-shirts that are made for grown-up ladies, well it perked me right up! Over the past few years, have you noticed that t-shirt fabric is getting thinner and thinner? Manufacturers seem to put them under the label of "layering" t-shirts, which I think is a bunch of hooey. I think it just means they can sell a ridiculously thin shirt for the same price as a regular thick one used to be. I used to be devoted to Land's End and their t-shirts. But now every time I order what I think is the same item, it's a bit different, and a bit clingy and a bit thinner and...and.... Well, it just annoys me a lot.
In addition to being thin and cheap (neither of which describe me personally), these t-shirts seem to be just made for very young women (read: girls) who have no sign of what is known as a "bra roll." (It was actually painful for me to type those words.) You see, as I get older, I find that my...uh...physical self is...shall we say...rearranging. The only saving grace is that I can look around and see that I am certainly not the only middle-aged women going through this. Frankly, the very last thing any of us needs is a t-shirt that's too clingy and too sheer, especially in the back (which is why double-thick tees escape me--they are only ever doubled in the front, not the back--why?). Let's just say that there are quite a lot of undulations on my back view that certainly don't need emphasizing. So I keep buying Land's End tees, and I've tried Penney's, Victoria's Secret, Target--well, I now have quite a lot of tees that are great to wear for yard work or house cleaning.
But I have, finally, found the holy grail of t-shirts, and I am here to share my information. L. L. Bean's Double L Rib-Knit Tees are, if I may be so bold, da bomb. They are thick, which really makes you look thinner because you can't see any lumps and bumps; they are long (even though I don't do low-rise pants, even some pants that are slightly lower-rise than usual can leave you feeling exposed when you crouch or bend over); and they wash really well--no shrinkage. The cap sleeves on the crew-neck style are not super short, so even if you don't have arms like...somebody with really toned arms (oh alright, like Michelle Obama's, even though I'm really pretty tired of hearing about her arms. Why doesn't anybody talk about her peculiar belt choices??), you won't feel too exposed. The color selection is not huge, but most of the time I'm wearing black or white anyway, so it's not a problem.
So there you have it--holy grail found, information disseminated.
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