The Tragedy of the Number "48"

As I commented in my friend's blog, for the past 7 or 8 years, I have been buying clothes only from Kamdar (usually the one in BJ Complex). They have this brand of cotton trousers, Icon, that featured my size (currently 48").

But on a recent visit there, I was dismayed to find that the biggest size in that range is now only 46", instead of 56", which it once had. And the only two colors with size 46" were dark blue (eeww... like factory pants) and biege (which I already have 3 pairs).

Anyway, the pair that I had on that day was actually originally 44" in size, but it "grew" with me (that's what I like about 100% cotton pants, apart from its durability, light-weight and breathability), so I decided to try out a few pairs that were 44" in size (hopefully, they will stretch to my size after some time).

The color that I really wanted to get was this - kind of teak brown (it looks different in the picture though):


But it was a very tight squeeze. I felt like a bak-chang (glutinous rice dumpling with pork). Notice how it hugs to my thighs, and makes my hip looks comparatively wider. What a disappointment...

By the way, before you get the wrong idea: I only took the pictures as comparison, to help decide which pair(s) to buy. I'm not some camera-wielding fitting-room pervert.

Then I tried on the dark brown pair - I didn't want to get another pair of dark brown, but I would have to if it was the best choice among the worst:


Same size with the previous pair - 44" - but notice that the cutting is slightly more generous in this pair.

Then finally, my second choice in color: greenish/bluish gray (I think it goes well with that blue shirt I had on at that time).


Therein lies the mystery of the Icon trousers: the same size again, 44", but this one has the most generous cutting.

Well, what can I say...

So I bought the greenish-bluish gray pair.

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I am not a jeans guy... but on that same day, I saw a pair of tan-colored jeans, and I fell in love with the color (not the jeans; I consider jeans to be too heavy for comfort). I would have bought it for the sake of the color, but I couldn't find my size. :-(

But, no, it wasn't because the jeans were too small...

The only size available in that color is 50", so, unless I grow another two inches around my girth, I don't qualify to wear them. =.=

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In the same day, I was twice disappointed by trousers size: first, I was too big (the Icon trousers max out at 46"), and then I was too small (those tan-colored jeans only come in 50"). I mean, what's wrong with being 48"? T.T