I love working with my plus-size clients because the before and after results tend to be so dramatic. My client Mary, a senior associate at a large Washington-based law firm, who falls between a size 16 and size 18, thought that covering up was her best strategy. While she was hiding her curves, she was also hiding from life. Accepting her body the way it is today – not ten or twenty pounds lighter sometime in the future – was the first step to her transformation. The second step was to visit the wonderful plus-size shop, Harper Greer, while on a business trip to San Francisco.

Knowing that Mary was going to be in town, I called ahead and spoke with Sales Manager John Kiskaddon about Mary’s shape, personality and color palette. In no time John assembled a number of outfits Mary didn’t just like – she loved them. She also loved shopping in a store where she didn’t feel the need to apologize for not being a size 10 or 12.

Don’t fret if you can’t get to San Francisco to shop. Harper Greer does a fabulous mail-order business and provides fabric swatches on request. Below are a few sketches from their new suit collection available now in sizes 12-26.