Community Chat

[Stray]

QVC has a wide variety of styles that appeal to a wide audience. You never find the variety of sizes & colors in B&M stores.

There’s enough to suit everyone’s lifestyle/taste. I don’t know what dressing like an “old lady” means as I’m old & get dressed. I get many compliments from young folk as to my attire & I actually think I look nicer than many young people who have abandoned style for comfort.

Back in the day, mature ladies wore what was available & in style then plus many worked in the home, so they went for comfort & cheerful patterns, maybe to break the monotony.

I buy a great deal from QVC but buy a lot from Chicos, WHBM & JJill & I find QVC pricing either better or comparable.

As far as the three designers mentioned in the OP, at the time, I thought their designs targeted more mature ladies. I never purchased their offerings then nor would I now. I’m not saying the designs were ugly nor suited for an “old lady”. It’s just a matter of taste & how you wear your clothing. Sometimes I see a piece that is unappealing to me but look great on a host or model & I take a second look.

[Trailrun23]

I agree with OP, the offerings are predictable and have been for several years; nothing new or unique: long cardigans, short boots, liquid knit everthing. I can't justify paying the ever-increasing prices for anything that i have seen over and over. Add the high shipping they charge and there is no reason for me to buy anything.

 I just found a denim midi skirt on another site this morning and could not order it fast enough. 

Update the fashion and Q will bring back some customers.. 

[Still Raining]

It takes zero designer talent to get a pair of pull on "jeans" out there.  Let's count the ways the waistband be done.

Times have changed.  Gone are the days of suit skirts in wool, lined, zippered and with a waistband.

ETA. As I sit here in my Lands End pull on crops from Costco.  😄

[Puppy Lips]

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@Still Raining wrote:

It takes zero designer talent to get a pair of pull on "jeans" out there.  Let's count the ways the waistband be done.

Times have changed.  Gone are the days of suit skirts in wool, lined, zippered and with a waistband.

ETA. As I sit here in my Lands End pull on crops from Costco.  😄

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@Still Raining Well thank goodness for that.  But back in the day I had the suit jackets with lined, zippered skirts.  I may have looked great, but I don't think I was comfortable, lol.

[Puppy Lips]

At this point, I have pretty much limited my clothing purchases to Susan Graver and Denim and Co.  I love Susan's liquid knit dresses, and I have many of them.  Her pants are the best fitting pants I have ever had.  Denim and Co. is great for me too, as that fits my lifestyle here in FL.

But, I have all I need and since we are heading to Fall offerings, I am going to do all I can to curtail my QVC shopping habits and stop the impulse buying.  Although, I did recently get a Denim and Co. blouse that I absolutely LOVE.  I ended up buying all 4 colors, one at a time.  But that's it.  I am done! (for now)

[Coastalcarolina]

@Puppy Lips , can you share the item number of the blouse?  Thank you!  Just curious 😊

[Puppy Lips]

A652648

I actually bought all 4 at 4 different price points, though none at the $29.99 that it is now.  Drives me crazy.

I love the print and I love the fabric.  I have other blouses in this fabric, so I already knew that I liked it.  The fit is right on and is flattering.  The colors are so pretty.

I may write a favorable review at some point, because the ones on there now are not so good. But frankly, I am a bit fed up with QVC at the moment, so I am not in the mood to do them any favors, lol.  Just me being petty I guess.  But I do love the blouse.  The teal one just showed up today.  Still waiting on the blue one.

[FancyPhillyshopper]

I love clothes and fashion--I always have!

I shop here at QVC because I really like the casual fashions--and I appreciate the creativity of true designers like Bob Mackie, Louis Dell'Olio, and Isaac Mizrahi.  I find the prices reasonable and the fit quite comfortable.

Designers come and go on shopping channels, and fashion can be a very tough business- "one day you are in, and the next you are out!" (per Heidi Klum.)

I even remember when Naeem Khan was on HSN for a brief while. 

Haute couture is not what it used to be, either.

I own a very lovely designer evening gown I purchased from Neiman Marcus (altered just for me), and I know that there is a site called Rent the Runway which features my exact gown! Yes, almost a hundred other ladies were able to rent and wear the gown for one night, and they can choose from many other gorgeous gowns as well.  No, I will never do that, but it does show the challenges out there now for the fashion industry. 

I like a lot of fashion on QVC, but I pick and choose year after year, and I have quite a collection after many decades, the same as my QVC jewelry collection. 

I will always enjoy shopping here, but I agree it is fun to see lovely things that everybody wants to buy all at the same time!  Now if only QVC and the fashion industry could truly predict what those items will be!

[Susan Louise]

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@ciao_bella wrote:

I may or may not be in the minority with my feelings, but here goes.  QVC has replaced esteemed fashioned designers, such as George Simonton, Bob Mackie and Louis Dell'Olio,  in favor of tv celebrites or beauty queens, like Candace Bure, Lisa Rina or Kim Gravel. 

These ladies, though popular in their own right, are not fashion designers. Never have been, never will be.  They push clothing that is presented to them from various manufacturers, much like Valerie Parr Hill sells mass produced holiday decor from manufacturers in China or other countries. 

This is my opinion only and nothing personal against these ladies, so those that love their clothing lines, great and enjoy!   But for those like me, especially for the price of items these days, I would much rather invest in a piece of clothing from an established, well known designer.  

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@ciao_bella   The 3 designers you mentioned...I only had purchased one item from each in all the years they were on the Q.

I had a black mock neck of Bob Mackie's, and a skirt from both George & Lewis...that's it.

Additionally, I bought them all about 8-12 years ago when I was a 2X/3X and they have all gone to charity. I now wear a XS/S.

Even if those designers were still around on the Q, I highly doubt I would have purchased anything else from those lines.

As for the celebs you mentioned, I never bought anything from Lisa Rinna's line...just not my taste.

However, I have several garments of CCB...especially LOVE her jeans and have several. The same is true for me with KG/Belle.

So IMHO, it is just simply a matter of one's own personal style.

[AuntMame]

I read Kim Gravell's book in which she describes her collaboration with QVC. Let me say I love Kim Gravell, she could sell me anything. But no, she doesn't design the clothes. She's a saleswoman, a figure head for the line. She does come up with some general ideas. She attributes some of her best-selling clothing designs to her mom, like the jeans. QVC matches her up with their approved clothing manufacturers based out of New York and she works with them. They design the clothes. QVC approves the designs, as well as the fabrics, the manufacture, the price point and cost margins. QVC obviously has more input into these elements than the figureheads for their clothing lines, like Gravell. Because QVC is paying the bills, overseeing the shipments and the warehousing, and all the other business minutia involved with manufacturing and selling clothing. 

Now, Gravell does pitch clothing ideas to QVC, and even pressure them when they balk. "I think you should sell XYZ because I think women would really love to wear XYZ."  But I think that is what a lot of QVC "designers" have done in the past. I'm thinking of Joan Rivers, who really had definite ideas about clothing and convinced QVC to carry some things they may not have carried otherwise, but clearly she wasn't designing clothes. 

The point is that there is a lot more to "designing" clothing than sitting down with a sketch pad and a bunch of fabric swatches. I think for most of their "designers" past and present, QVC has done most of the heavy lifting in designing, manufacturing and molding the line. The on-air "designers" have mostly been figureheads.