The Make My Lemonade store: the pretty safe place for plus size clothing shoppers

At the beginning of June, I finally went to the Make My Lemonade store and I really should have done it much sooner. The adventure begins with an obsession for this skirt:

I love this fabric, I love the pleats. I need it. I like the brand but I’m not up for the releases so… I’m too late. When I go to the Make My Lemonade website, just two or three days after the collection was released, it’s already sold out. I do not subscribe to alerts to be informed if a part becomes available again. I know that there too, I won’t be fast enough anyway so I might as well not add frustration to frustration. I leave it there, disappointed.

Then, a few days later, my brain kicks back in and I finally use the “Store Availability” button. And there, good pick, there is a skirt in my size available in store! Happiness.

The Make My Lemonade store is not in a district of Paris where I go spontaneously. That probably explains why I’ve never been there before. This Sunday, I motivate myself but the transport and the weather play against me: the bus does not pass, the sun has decided to hit hard, two good reasons to go home. After all eh, it’s only a skirt, I’m not going to brave fate for so little. Fortunately, I procrastinate at the bus stop to take advantage of the bench to make phone calls. Miracle, a bus is coming! I get on and head for the skirt of my dreams.

A very pretty shop where you are welcomed and where you can see the entire Make My Lemonade collection

I arrive at Quai de Valmy and all is happiness. However, I see a long queue from afar, but luckily it’s for the shop next door. Ice cream I believe. So I immediately walk into the shop and the first thing that strikes me is how pretty it is.

The second thing that strikes me is that yes, I am right to strongly insist that we dare to shop in stores when we are a large size because it is really not the same as on the website. I feel like I’m rediscovering the clothes I’ve seen 100 times on the site. And then also, I have the impression of rediscovering the brand itself . Everything is so consistent there on the spot. The colors, the cuts, the overall project.

My skirt is not available in my size on the shelf but the salesman, who arrived at exactly the right time, is so friendly that I have no trouble telling him my size, I don’t even think about it. It is available, as expected, I’m off to try it in the cabin. As I walk through the store, a fleeting thought escapes me. Coming out of my cabin, it comes back to me: the customers are not big.

Yes, that comment is weird. But lately, I’ve been shopping exclusively at plus-size specialty stores and suddenly realize that I’m not used to being mixed with non-fats anymore (reverse the standards, define them by relation to us eh eh eh). I am therefore in the middle of the cabins to see myself and I realize that I have no choice since the cabins have no mirror. Well uh, all I’m interested in is knowing if the skirt suits me so I don’t have time to deal with other people’s looks. And guess what? The others live their life in fact, I don’t interest them.

The saleswoman offers me a t-shirt to try with the skirt, I decline because t-shirts aren’t my thing. She tells me that I’ll still see the skirt better with a t-shirt than with my other dress up. I accept and I admit that in addition, this T-shirt trickster suits me well. I ask if a little jacket that I had spotted is available. She says yes but not in your size but I’ll get her anyway. I say it’s a waste of time. She tells me no because her colleagues have seen that she often fits well in a smaller size. I say it never works for me. She says that we will judge on paper rather than with a priori and leaves.

I remain standing in the middle of the cabins, telling myself that nothing makes me feel uncomfortable and the idea of ​​going to wait hidden in the cabin does not cross my mind. She returns. I try on the jacket in a size that is too small. I admit my mistake, the second. She laughs and tells me you see, you always have to try. And she is so right! That’s the whole point of in-store shopping. Test the sizing and realize what really suits us or not . It will also be useful for returning shopper online and minimizing the risk of return for wrong size.

I get out of the booths and take the time to go around the store to look at, touch the other items and the store itself because such a pretty place is a delight for the eyes. I head for the checkouts, avoiding looking too closely at the collection of earrings. At the checkout, it is easy to find my customer account even though I had only shopped online until then. Good point for this fluidity between online and physical. Happy as if I had received a good point whereas it is only a sticker, I leave the store delighted with this shopping experience which took place without a single addict.

My conclusion on the Make My Lemonade store

– yes, we can go to the Make My Lemonade shop because it’s clearly a safe place. Not a single inappropriate look or remark from the sellers, real support in the choice of clothes without telling me that uh no, this model is better not for me

– yes, when you have been traumatized by bad experiences in the store, you can run away non-specialized plus size brands. But I think you have to trust this store. I make the assumption that this shop is for a good part of the customers, a destination: they are there because they came specifically for that, like me that day. And if they moved it is that they adhere to the values ​​of the brand. They know that plus sizes are available, so they won’t normally find it strange that a fat person is there. For those who have entered by chance, I think we can trust the sellers who watch over the shelves and watch over the cabins to intervene in the event of a problem

– yes, again, you have to go to the store AND ask salespeople for help so you can be surprised with clothes you wouldn’t even have looked at on your own because you’re entangled in your representations of yourself

To finish convincing you, I paste an excerpt from an article from Le Monde, a french journal, titled Les grandes tailles, ces exclues de la mode dated June 28, 2023

However, Make My Lemonade pays particular attention to its stores to make them a “safe place” where everyone feels comfortable. The armchairs that furnish them have no armrests to avoid any discomfort for plus size people. The saleswomen are trained in partnership with Gras politique, an association that campaigns against fatphobia. “To deconstruct the biases” , explains Lisa Gachet. And all sizes are available on the racks to try on a garment in its size without having to ask a saleswoman. Because being answered:  « Size 44? Wait, I’ll look in reserve!« ,  can be perceived as a « humiliation« , judges Ms. Gachet, recalling that the fight against fatphobia is a  « daily battle » .

Boutique Make My Lemonade
61 quai de Valmy
75010 Paris