strive · for · art · in · reverse

Hey fats,
We all know the makeup/beauty industry is generally a slim world. I've seen a few fatties working at makeup counters here and there, and they look like they fit in, but they are few and far between. I'm going to apply at a few counters, and wanted some inspiration from my fellow fats. If you work at a counter/store, or freelance can you please share your experiences with me. I'd also LOVE to see pics of you on the job, and doing your thing.
Also, can you recommend some brush belts that are good for large bellies and hips. Thanks!

Hello lovelies! After being inspired for several months by the wonderful OOTD posts I have finally got the gumption to post my own! I am very excited :)

I could probably dress up more often at work and day to day, but I'm pretty lazy so it's mostly jeans and a t-shirt for me. Luckily our staff xmas party was yesterday, so it gave me an excuse to try out a new look and dress up a bit.

Surprisingly enough, I was able to source the entire outfit from my existing wardrobe! Does that make me a frugalista or a fatshionista? LOL

Apologies in advance for the photo quality. I had a number of factors working against me so I did the best I could. (Apparently if you click on the image it will take you to a larger version?) 


Silk top: Michael Antoni collection from AE (really old)
Belt: Torrid (current) Skirt: (Reitmans, fall)
Shoes: Payless wide-width (also really old)

Your Canadian model is 24 years old, 5'6, probably somewhere around 250 lbs and wears around a 20-22 on top and bottom depending on the clothes.

*Edited for formatting & to include a better photo!

I received this e-mail today. Since I haven't purchased anything from them and have nothing to say as a result, I figured I'd pass this on to y'all. Here's someone from a plus-size seller who wants feedback from us fats, so let him hear you! (There's also a shopping code for a discount in the body of the e-mail."






Dear Friend,

My name is Alex Brodsky and I am the CEO of IGIGI.

I would like to thank you for being the most important factor in the existence and success of IGIGI - our customer.
It is my absolute commitment to you that you are delighted, satisfied, and overjoyed with your IGIGI purchase and the overall experience that you had while shopping with us. For me, anything less than that is not acceptable.

I invite you to share with me your experience of shopping with IGIGI. Please express your concerns, suggestions, and ideas to make our products and the overall shopping experience one of the best.

Please write to me personally at ceo@igigi.com to share your thoughts.

As a thank you for your help in creating the best product and the best shopping experience, I would like to offer you a 20% discount on your next order. You can use this coupon until December 22nd. During the checkout, enter the coupon code “THANKYOU09”.

Thank you in advance!

I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts,

Alex Brodsky

Hey y'all:

I'm booking last minute travel to Puerto Rico in January (filling in for someone at a conference) and have a selection of US Airlines to choose from. As a Canadian, I know little about them -- can someone tell me of any particularly pro-size or anti-size airlines? recommendations or avoidances?

thanks!

Does anyone here have the Thunderdome Miniskirt from Torrid? I am considering getting it, but I'd like to know what you wear it with/where you wear it. Thanks!

Any of you around? :)

I am thinking of throwing a clothing swap with my friends and if there aren't too many Ottawa fats would like to extend an invite your way :)

Let me know!

at least partly based on this:

http://comixtalk.com/charisma_not_a_dump_stat

I've been assigned to the panel based on my experience with Fatshionista and things like it; my occasional frustration with people who seem to believe that appearance is irrelevant and that it's superficial to like people who are trying to look good and who pay attention to these things.

I bring this up to you, Fathsionistas, because here, unlike so many other places, we're working on completely undoing the falsity that says 'if you're fat, you have no options, so don't bother'. And we know it's hard; I mean, look at that post last week that mentioned the mother saying, 'if you'd lose weight, we could buy you something cuter.' Cuter/sexier/more attractive - the perception with some people (including fellow fats) is that these are NOT OUR OPTIONS.

Now, others will be on the panel; addressing other issues of professionalism, appearance, and generally not using the excuse that it's *entirely* what's inside that counts. But since I'm coming to it from the 'fat doesn't mean stretch to fit muumuus anymore' attitude, I'd like to get opinions and feedback to make my part of it mean more of it.

So. I want to bring up Fatshionista experiences as people who do believe that appearance is important, that we can use it to express our inner nature, and that we don't have to be what 'they' tell us we have to be (and that we can wear horizontal stripes if we rock them, regardless of 'the rules').

Tell me about your experiences; have you always been fashion forward? If not, how did your life change when you took control of that? What are your experiences with people, good and bad, when you put yourself out in a way society doesn't expect you to behave? Have well meaning friends and sales people ever tried to talk you out of something you loved in favour of something 'slimming'? How do you deal with the issues we have with over stretched clothes, breasts that seem to exist JUST to catch food, etc?

How has being a fatshionista *changed* you, inside or out? has it been important to you? Personally? Politically? What do you say to the people who want to put you back in your well-behaved fat girl closet where they won't see you?

I'm fishing for ideas here, and nothing is actually confirmed except that I will be talking about being fat, and that that doesn't mean unattractive. Uhm, and maybe the fact that to this day I can't wear navy because my mother forced me into it all of my teens because it was 'slimming'. I have strawberry blonde hair, and I discovered in my 20s that I look GREAT in navy, but I still can't wear it because to me it says 'if you dress like that, no one will notice your weight and that's what we want.' But aside from that, I have a month and I want to gather LOTS to use during the panel. Please coredump!

For those of you who will be attending Arisia (Jan 15-18, Cambridge, Massachusetts), the panel is scheduled for 5pm, Sunday afternoon. I would love to see other fatshionistas there and contributing to this panel!

They're having a very interesting conversation right now over at Jezebel on vintage fashion and I thought it would be just the thing for this community to gnaw on for a while.

For myself, I love vintage and buy it and wear it every chance I get. I also love vintage inspired looks, like Jane Bon Bon's dresses. Do I think on a daily basis about what it means when I wear those clothes? Honestly, no. I want to think, hey, it's just what looks good on me and they're cool looking clothes. I think the discussion really can go a lot further than that though.

While the main discussion on Jezebel is about things like how clothing from an oppressive time, like the fifties, can be a symbol of that oppression, my own mind went to fat issues. For instance, one defense people have been using in favor of vintage is that the silhouette is more "flattering" than modern fashion. This seems to mean mostly showing off an hourglass figure. Or the creation of the illusion of an hourglass figure. I know we've talked about shape privilege in Fatshionista before, how to some fat is a little more "acceptable" if one has an hourglass figure. I have to confess, one of the reasons I love the couple of vintage dresses I have is that they do give me that appearance of an hourglass figure. I'm probably not going to give up the dresses, but I'm going to try and be more mindful of this. And try and work on the idea that it's okay if my silhouette isn't a perfect hourglass.

Another defense of the vintage look is "they're just clothes" and "all I think when I look at fifties vintage is, oh, pretty!" I don't know about this though. I'm not sure one can really divorce clothes from meaning. My personal theory is that clothes are always a little story we tell the world about what's going on in the insides of ourselves. Sometimes its a conscious story we cultivate. Other times, it's not really conscious, but I think it's always there. I think of myself as a feminist and I now find myself wondering, do I want to be telling a story about myself that links me back to a time of oppression of all kinds. Even if I don't idealize that time myself, maybe someone might look at me and think I do.

Another fat issue with vintage is size privilege. I'm on the smaller end of the bigger fats, just a bit too big to be an in-betweenie. But I recognize that I do have some privelege in that regard. If I scour eBay and etsy, I can find a few things that fit. But for those much bigger than myself, well, it's really super hard to find stuff, especially the sought after fifties stuff in natural fibers. I'm not sure, what, if anything can be done about this privilege except recognize it. One can't change the past and make more old clothes. I suspect it's not that there weren't larger fats in the past, but that, like today, it was hard to find clothes to fit for larger fats and when they were found, they were worn again and again, until worn out.

For some further context, the source of the discussion comes from this blog-

http://www.blogforbettersewing.com/2009/08/vintage-sewing-and-gender-politics.html

and this one

http://threadbared.blogspot.com/2009/12/on-politics-of-vintage-starting-with.html


so, what do people think?

what i met to meet someone from the internet, and edited versions of some of the pictures he took <3

( Read more... )

plus one tootsicle art i made in photoshop for anyone who wants to use it for their own personal.. use.

{i just want to show off what I did cause i like it a lot tbh!}

5'3", 26/28 deathfat

Ok guys, I am in serious need of your help here;

I just got done ordering a pair of skinny jeans and some Ashley boots for my sister from Torrid last night, for Christmas (which is 10 days away. I KNOW.). She's a 14-sometimes-16 and so I'm not at all concerned about the calf width; I want them nice and loose anyways, so she can wear all her jeans inside them if she should choose, since the skinnys I'm getting her will be her first pair (...I know, right?) Anyways, the crisis is this; she wears an 8 in shoes, and I totally completely planned on buying a size up, just in case and also for sock-wearage, but somehow, my brain and my fingers did not communicate properly, as I just noticed on the invoice that there is an 8 next to the boots instead of a 9.

So my question is this; am I going to have to return these boots? Do they run true to size, or bigger? They look loose in the foot in the picture, and obviously they're constructed a little bigger for wide width, so I'm hoping they'll be ok. Help me out fats!

Long time lurker, first time poster! Today I come bearing an OOTD. I had to do a speech for my communications course, so I wanted to dress up a TEENIE bit! For reference, I'm 5' 2", who knows how much I weigh, and a fairly solid size 18. Here goes!

( pics and details, ahoy! )

Just curious if anyone has any experience with these jeans?:

http://www.lanebryant.com/apparel-accessories/jeans/top-rated/straight-leg-jean/4018c4027c14950p15290/index.pro

I have a pair of Faded Glory Stretch bootcut (not so much, they're straight legged almost skinnyish leg) jeans that I love, I've had them for years and these look very similar to me. Since I've worn the hell out of the Faded Glory jeans I'm looking for something similiar to replace them. They are the most flattering, comfy jeans I've ever worn... so even if you don't have experience with these particular LB jeans and know of something similar then I'd definitely be interested in hearing about them.

Thanks in advance.

happy monday!

i was feeling a bit blue this weekend (despite going on a very welcome "glee" binge and watching all 13 episodes), so i decided dress up my monday morning by wearing a dress to work. i've been there for 2 years and i've only worn a skirt once - i usually wear slacks and a nice shirt.

( OOTD )

not very exciting, but there you have it.

what i wore to the company christmas party..
( company milkshake )

I scored a sweet bright red pencil skirt at the local Value Village for $7. It fits like it was made for me! I really want to accessorize it with a belt or sash, but I'm having trouble figuring out what looks best. Also, I think the whole look makes me look kind of dumpy instead of retro chic. I have worn it with some success with a long cardigan over it and some boots, the cardigan hides the sides and butt a little. But I'm looking for tips to rock this without a cardigan.

Belt 1:

Details:
Shirt: Target xl
skirt: value village, marked a 22
belt: target xl

( warning, pic heavy (and pics of a heavy, hehe) )

I have three different days worth of outfits for you all. all of them were worn to work, although one was for a casual party.

( three outfits and a novela )

( OOTD - Ann Harvey Dress... )

Also I was recently contacted by Eshakti to review a product from their website. They had found my blog through a random search and thus weren't aware that I was from Belgium. Since they only ship to The USA and Canada it seems that it would a bit complicated for them to ship me something. Anyway, long story short, I asked them if they could eventually offer !something to my readers. They generously offered two $25 gift certicates! So now I am having my first giveaway! Yay! LOL It is only opened to Americans and Canadians so I thought I'd plug it here so you could have a chance to win. :) The winners will be picked randomly so don't be afraid to leave a comment!

My blog and the rules are here: http://www.blogtobealive.com

So I just ended the last week of classes and will soon be starting Finals (FML) but before that I thought it would be fun to show off an out fit from this week, one from last weekend and one from the EPICness of this weekend.
( There's great fatshion behind the cut but VERY PIC HEAVY!!!! )
Gratuitous Makeup Shot

Your model is a 20 yr old Hottentot Venus
4 feet 11.5 inches towards the sky
220 pounds of greatness
and solid 16 on the bottom

Have any of you fabo fatties tried Second Skin's Yoga Jeans? I am seriously considering this. Let me know!
Also! Where can a gal get a plus size belt. I have checked all the usual suspects: torrid, evans, etc. Are there any hidden belt gems?

Thanks, Lambs!

WARNING leggings as pants ahead. The shirt does cover my butt though, so hopefully I get points for that!

( leggings, and ootd )