A friend wrote me privately after reading the blog on false modesty below. She had gone to the WNTW website and was disturbed by their sale of one's "assets." Now listen, it is about the principles of shape and style, not following their instructions on how much boob to show. The principles can be borrowed without fear!

So my friend is tall like me and weighs a little more than me and has bigger girlfriends due to pregnancy. Make sure you have a good bra sister! I suspect she is a size 18 American.

She is at a loss for work clothes and dress casual. She needs very simple, very straightforward, nothing wacky, nothing out on a limb, even slightly. I'm taking everything from Eddie Bauer, Lane Bryant, and Target to make the point that this stuff is accessible, is reasonably inexpensive (especially on sale, sign up for e-mails), is moderate, is modest, and is attractive. She specifically asked about pants, so I am not bringing skirts into the mix here. She mentioned she did not want to iron the clothes and she wanted it to be comfortable. I hope this is a good foundational set of clothes, many possibilities, all attractive, all modest:

1. Get a fitted wrinkle-resistant stretch jacket. It will give you a waist and shape your bosom area while still giving you coverage. If your slacks are fitting right, you do not need to cover your ass with your jacket because they will not be form fitting. They will drape over your bottom in the same way a skirt would, and the slacks will continue to drape down the leg giving you a longer look. These are from Eddie Bauer:

2. Now get slacks that fit, meaning that for you they have some structure around your tum, mid-rise, and are wide, straight legs. These are "Vashon" fit in Tall from Eddie Bauer, you could get them in this dark brown, black, or charcoal to go with the black cropped jacket or get an Eddie Bauer Jacket that would go with it. Note it is wrinkle-resistant. Most office clothes are made that way these days. If a bigger size fits your thighs and bottom better but not your waist, you can get the waist taken in for next to nothing.

3. Now get some high quality cotton t-shirts and a few wrinkle-resistant work shirts in white, black, brown, and fun colors. All the colors below will go with a brown or black suit. You can wear the t-shirts under the jacket if they have short sleeves. You can wear the long-sleeve wrinkle resistant dress shirts with the slacks alone or with the jacket. You can also wear the long sleeve dress shirts as a "jacket" over a t-shirt with the slacks. Do not tuck in anything.  As long as the shirts and t-shirts are nice quality like this, they are made to wear untucked as well as tucked.  Your shirt can show below your jacket hem.  In fact, that is cute.  If you are not sure what colors go together, look in some reasonably not too trendy fashion mags like Marie Claire to see what colors mix together that you like. These shirts are all from Eddie Bauer.

4. Get a pair of jeans that fit well in a dark wash. You can wear a dark wash pair of jeans to work. If the Eddie Bauer Vashon fit works for you, they have jeans in that style. But Lane Bryant sells jeans made by Seven for All Mankind. These people know how to cut jeans. They are expensive, but worth the money. That said, Lane Bryant has crazy sales all the time and will send you discount coupons. You can wear the jeans with the dress shirt, nice shoes, nice bag. Great look. You can wear it with a t-shirt and a jacket with nice shoes, nice bag. That sort of thing. Good switch out. These are not tight on, the way they look here. You can roll up the bottoms for cropped jeans if you don't mind showing your ankle.

5. As for shoes, I know you have foot and back problems so I'm going to include some pictures of comfortable dress shoes made by Born. The mary jane sneakers are good for casual and work and come in a variety of colors. You can wear really stylish sneakers with suits to work. Not running shoes, dress sneakers like below. You can even get funky with the color for work. Jeans, white dress shirt, those blue or green sneakers? Very cute, yet subdued and professional enough for casual work. You can go for a loafer, but please not clunky looking. I don't really like the ones below, but at least they are not clunky. Sort of Tods wannabes. No Frankenstein shoes!

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6. I am just going to suggest some work totes here. You can get a bright colored tote that will still look professional. Nothing has to match, it all just has to coordinate. Again, if you are not sure what colors go together then check out a fashion mag. The rule is though that you shouldn't wear too much color that pops. Just have one thing that really stands out. These are all from Target. A red or black bag will go with just about anything. There are more colors in the stores in these styles. I don't know why they are not listed on the site. I've seen a couple of these bags in turquoise and deep browns as well. More colors!

7. The headscarf: Just get something that coordinates, no patterns that would overwhelm or clash with the shirt, or make your scarf the colorful item you wear. But can I just say this? I see too many Muslim women wearing headscarf colors that do not suit their skin tone. Make sure the color suits your skin tone and your suit.

Again, these are very low key suggestions, very straightforward choices, just guidelines according to my friend's needs and wants. I am sure you all have other things to suggest, please post them!

Note:  My friend wrote back and realized with horror just how plain work clothes can be.  I agree!  But get a foundation and then add a piece that speaks to your personality.  I know my friend likes hippie designs or batik that kind of thing, there are shirts for work that have these sorts of patterns but are in a shirt or t-shirt that is made for a professional environment.  Again, the headscarf can be the bright item—as long as it goes with your skin tone.  Note Nakia's comment below.  In the Fall, there are lots of great jackets out in the shops that are styled in more unconventional ways or with unconventional touches or colors.  My friend also says she is a size 20.  Most big brands have up to size 22 or 24 on-line in petite and tall, while maybe stop at 18 regular in the stores.  Old Navy has really great stuff for next to nothing in all sorts of sizes in the stores.  Lane Bryant, of course, carries sizes starting at 16.