Fit is Everything
We all have clothes in our wardrobe that don’t fit don’t we? We endlessly buy beautiful pieces to add to our wardrobes because we fall-in love with the colour, the feel, the drape. We dream tirelessly about how we might style our newly-minted wardrobe options, thinking longingly about ‘that’ party, or ‘that meeting’ where a certain level of ‘put-together’ might be required. But the disappointing reality does not often meet with the delicious expectation. The work-perfect blouse that looked so stylish on the store mannequin doesn’t do-up properly and gapes in all the wrong places. The exquisite knitwear that looked like a big, warm, stylish hug on the website pulls across the tummy and hangs unflatteringly over the bottom.
Starting Melyr in 2022 – it’s 2024 at the time of writing – has been a journey where the word FIT has taken us to places we never expected to visit. Places where blood, sweat and tears were shed often and all in pursuit of that elusive thing – the perfect fit. Amy, our founder, knew only too well about the quest for the trouser that didn’t dig-in at the waistband, the knit that still looked artfully striking whilst skimming her tummy, but we, her team have been on this journey alongside her.
On a dreary weekend at the end of November 2022 we brought over 25 women together, uk sizes 10-24, in a large house on the Wirral. We wanted to listen and to learn. Our founder and Creative Director Amy is a curvy size 14 and yet we know that the problem of ‘clothes that simply do not fit’ is not simply a problem of clothes size, it’s a problem of marginalisation. It’s a problem of specification, or rather the lack thereof. Human bodies come in all shapes and sizes – and we are HERE for this – but blessed Mother Nature has gifted to Women a unique set of hormonal challenges; the dreaded period bloat, the post-baby pouch, the perimenopausal body-shape-shift and the postmenopausal weight gain. Happy times for the female of the species.
If you’re anything like us, the women of TeamMelyr, then these dubious gifts limit our outfit choices with increasing regularity as we age. No matter how hard we pull at the seams, regardless of how much we suck our wonderful curves in, our favourite pair of black trousers just won’t fit for at least two weeks of the month. And woe betide any woman who might want to LIVE a little, to have the deliciously tempting wine with dinner, to make the most of a gossipy lunch with the girls or to really experience all that an all-inclusive holiday offers. That is why the FIT is mission-critical for Melyr. As Women we need to be free to Move in our clothes, to be comfortable with all that everyday life throws at us.
Tape measures at the ready, we were not-at-all secretly excited to see what these women would think about the shape of Meyr trousers with their exclusive and super-supportive MelyrFlex waistband. We waited with baited breath to see if the attendees would respond as excitedly as we did to the first super-luxurious trouser prototypes. Would these ladies, many of whom cite trouser shopping as one of their ‘worst nightmares’, feel the same exquisite joy as we did when the trousers simply glided over their gorgeous tummies. ? Would they finally, joyously find themselves able to reach and to stretch in our unique Melyr trousers that allow for a juicy tummy and a generous bottom? The answer was a resounding, curve-inspiring yes!
Not one person left without asking when Melyr would launch to a much under-served UK market. Many exclaimed that they had finally found the body-embracing building blocks of their forever wardrobe and simply could not wait to get their hands on them. We still had some refining to do though, so we measured, we photographed, we videoed and we talked long into the night. For many nights. Because that’s the thing with fit, no stone must be left unturned. So rest assured, here at Melyr you can wrap-up in knits, stride-out in trousers, and find those elusive wear-anywhere tops that sit just perfectly because we have done the hard work. You deserve clothes that fit. Clothes that are designed by us, yet refined by you.