Unicorn shirts for all!
#AddOntoASOSCurve has begun!
Right now, we’re tweeting to @ASOS using the hashtag #AddOntoASOSCurve, asking if they’d be interested in expanding their size range.
If you’re on Twitter, feel free to join in!
If not, you can contact ASOS via their website or their Facebook page.
Fa(t)shion
-On fat prejudice at the hairdresser’s, and the eventual triumph of a fat girl who wanted a pixie cut.
-Aoife’s proposed rules of when and how to comment on other people’s clothing are PERFECT.
-Check out these adorable doggies wearing hair flowers, and this one wearing a dress!
-Domino Dollhouse explains why the prices of their Astralnauts Collection Part 1 are higher than usual.
–25 plus size little black dresses for the holidays.
-If you’re near Leeds, England, check out this plus size clothing swap!
-I enjoy reading wedding blogs mostly for the fashion. Check out the amazing hot pink hair on these bridesmaids, and this roundup of chubby grooms wearing some awesome outfits.
-Fashion inspiration from a Japanese magazine.
FA
-Lindy West is the best. Really.
-Frances of Corpulent got an article published in a magazine for teen girls! Huzzah!
-Another installment in Shakesville’s Fatstronauts 101 series. If you haven’t yet, read them all!
-Issa answers the question, “Did I break my ability to be skinny?”
-What do we promote when we compliment weight loss?
So much glitter!
Other
-Remember when I mentioned climbing a playground rope structure while blindfolded? You can read more about the adventure here, on my friend Anna’s travel blog.
–Please don’t volunteer on Thanksgiving: a former shelter worker tells all.
-It’s officially time to freak out about global warming. Also read Bill McKibben’s piece about the terrifying new math of global warming. He wrote it back in July, and basically predicted Hurricane Sandy.
-Two awesome examples of people organizing to make a difference this week: fast food workers striking in NYC, and college students pushing their schools to divest from fossil fuels.
–The tech world, internet, and games industry are becoming better places for women. Here’s #1reasonwhy.
Continue reading
The internet just keeps being interesting.
Bronny at Fat Aus has a great post about how earning money from her blog sucked all the fun out of it. Between her piece, and a similar piece I read a while back (I can’t find it again, but I originally found it through an Already Pretty link roundup, and it was written by a woman who blogs about parenting, domestic stuff, DIYing home goods, etc.), I’ve made up my mind pretty decisively that making money from blogging isn’t for me.
It’s something I considered for a while–I’ve read a great deal about the world of professional blogging, especially on a site that I love for its all-around glamour and colorfulness, Rock n’ Roll Bride. I’ve spent some time studying the advertising pages of blogs like Scathingly Brilliant and the Offbeat Empire.
I’ve fantasized about free pretty things and glamorous events, about a source of supplemental income based solely on my love of shiny objects. But after all my recent reading and reflection, I’ve realized it’s just not right for me.
This is not to say I would 100% rule out any kind of advertising or working with a brand. As I mentioned in my last post, I currently have one ad on my blog, for an independent hair-accessory-maker who gives me a discount in exchange for running it. I wouldn’t be averse to putting up similar ads from other indie designers who I genuinely like, and if someday someone wants to send me free stuff? Well, I like free stuff.
But I’m not seeking it out. I’m not blogging with the intent to monetize, and I’m not interested in diluting my voice by writing sponsored posts. I’m not judging others who do–it can definitely be done ethically, and if it works for you, great! But it’s not for me, for so many reasons: both the personal ones and the larger concerns about the commercialization of fatshion.
On another note related to Natalie’s post, Ariel of Kiddotrue has proposed a fatshion activist idea:
We are trying to place the focus back on the brands and hold them more accountable, right?
Why don’t we pick ONE brand to focus our energy on and put our resources into getting more than a standard stock answer from about extending their size range. It may not work, but it would be lovely to see everyone work together on something to try and change the system, even in a relatively minor way.
She suggests ASOS Curve as an initial choice, for multiple reasons. I really like this idea, and I hope it turns into a full-fledged project. I’m glad to see that Natalie’s reflections have sparked at least one idea for action!
I’m really not sure about this jacket. I love how it looks on me, but…it’s not soft. And I am really particular about the comfortableness of my clothing (which is why I’m always stealing Steve’s ridiculously comfy Rainbow Dash hoodie). I’ve been thinking about selling it for a while, but I can never make up my mind.
Pleather jacket and round stud wristband: Macy’s, shirt: Old Navy, jeans and rhinestone necklace: Target, fascinator: WhichGoose, spike necklace: eBay, earrings and rose ring: Claire’s, pyramid stud wristband: PacSun, bangles: Torrid and Deb, heart ring: The Toy Chest
I’ve been doing all sorts of thinking and reading about Natalie’s post, which I wrote about yesterday. This shit’s complex.
The most interesting analyses I’ve read have all been on Twitter. Contrary to the stereotype that Twitter’s all about what people ate for lunch, there are important discussions happening there.
Marianne Kirby‘s written some especially good stuff (read from bottom to top):
I really like this tweet from Natalie herself:
Cooler weather means I get to break out my short tutus! Ironically enough, I only wear them in the winter with leggings, because they’re too short to cover the athletic shorts I wear in the summer.
Shirt: Marshall’s, vest: Old Navy, skirt: Target, leggings: American Apparel, shoes: Naot, wristband: Macy’s, hair flower: H&M, earrings: Artifaktori
Natalie Perkins—fatshionista, writer, and creator of the iconic fat necklace–has a very interesting piece up on XoJane.
Titled “When activism gave way to advertising: how fat girl blogging ate itself,” it argues…well, exactly what the title says.
Fatshion blogs have largely evolved to be in step with large clothing brands, and I fear that the joining of oppressed and oppressor in brand relationships is not furthering fat activism. I don’t begrudge authors of blogs deriving an income from advertising, but I’m concerned with the increasing hand that brands have in blog content.
My feelings about all of this are complicated, but first of all, I admire Natalie for speaking up. She’s an amazing writer, and it takes guts to criticize a such a popular model of blogging.
When I have many conflicted thoughts about something (as I often do–ever heard the saying that between two Jews, there are three opinions?), I find it helps to number them. So, here goes.
These jeans. LOVE. I remember when huge flares were a thing in the late ’90s, and I really hope they come back so that plus size stores will start making them. I want a pair so badly.
Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in all the excitement of fatshion and forget that it’s still nowhere near being truly inclusive.
There are far too many plus size lines that stop at a size 22 or 24. A few, like ASOS Curve, run really big. But most of them don’t, so they end up leaving out a lot of people.
And it’s even worse for people who wear above a size 30 or so.
Ragen at Dances With Fat recently posted about a new runway-inspired collection from Lane Bryant, which only goes up to a size 24–even though the store’s regular items go up to 32. She called for commenters to suggest alternatives to LB, and many (including me) did.
But one commenter, Amanda E, pointed out that even a thread full of plus size shopping suggestions leaves her out:
This whole subject – of clothing, much less any sort of fashion/fatshion – makes me so damn sad, depressed, self-loathing, etc. I would love, love, love to wear clothes that flatter me and make me feel good. I had to skim the comments just like i would normally do on an anti-fat article (or even a pro-fat article on a mainstream website, where the comments are so often anti-fat). Not that this is anywhere as bad as that, but I was getting that same sick to my tummy feeling that I usually get… You see, I wear, like, an 8X. I can’t say for sure, since so few brands carry my size. I can wear the occasional 6X dress from onestopplus.com – if and only if it is a frumpy style; they seem to cut those larger. There is one – count ‘em, ONE – style of blouse (glorified tee-shirt) in which I feel comfortable. I have one of every color. And I wear the Same. Damn. Pants. every day – boring knit black ones from Making It Big, which barely fit and for which I pay like $70 apiece (including shipping). I am so far from having ANY FATSHION CHOICES AT ALL that it makes me sad and sick inside to read all these suggestions… that are supposedly inclusive.
It is SO MANY kinds of wrong that anyone should have so few options, especially in a world where millions upon millions of clothing items are produced every year.
It is so many kinds of wrong that with all the independent plus size designers out there, not one of them caters to sizes 30+. (She does mention eShakti, which does custom sizing–but their shit is expensive, and their customer service sucks. No one should have to depend on them as their only option for nice clothing.)
It is so many kinds of wrong that fatshion, which is liberating for so many people, leaves so many others out.
We need a new, truly inclusive fatshion movement. One that demands affordable options for people of all sizes, not just the ones that start with a 2.
There are a lot of things that I wish came in my size. But near the top of the list are poofy vintage ’50s dresses, like this:
I’ve always drooled over dresses like these when I come across them, but I know they there’s no chance of finding one in my size unless a plus-size manufacturer starts making reproductions. Which was driven home to me by a post called Why Can’t I Find a ’50s Dress That Fits?, which I found through another one of Sal‘s link roundups.
Some of it just…made me laugh.
That’s the#1 question I get in my inbox. Other versions are, “Why are the waist sizes on all your 50s dresses so tiny?” or “My measurements are 36-30-37 (or 42-37-44, or 39-33-38). Do you have a 50s dress that will fit me?” In fact, I get this question so often, I am going to address it here for all of you who have been frustrated in your search for an authentic vintage dress.
36-30-37? Ha, try 51-44-48. I gave up on finding authentic ’50s dresses in my size a long time ago. Not because there weren’t fatties in the Fifties, but because pretty poofy dresses weren’t made for them either.
Most of the suggestions that the blogger gives seem equally ludicrous to me. Buy separates instead of a dress? Wear a corset? Have a vintage dress altered to fit me? Buy a dress from the ’60s instead of the ’50s? Yeah, none of those are going to help me.
I’m sure the suggestions are useful for many women, so I’m not denigrating them. But they’re just more evidence of how thoroughly fat women are, and have been for a long time, marginalized in the world of fashion.
So, plus-size clothing makers, listen up. You already make a decent amount of flapper, rockabilly, and Old Hollywood-style glam lacy dresses. Why not start making some gorgeous pastel frippery as well? For inspiration, I present the following vintage dresses from Etsy:
Tutus And Tiny Hats 