Wednesday Fa(t)shion Inspirations, 4/30/14

The Muffin Queen’s Closet

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#FFFaceoff part 2: The dark ombre floral circus

This is my second outfit post for the Fall Fashion Faceoff challenge organized by Kelly of Masque Mag. It combines a few of my favorite things: ombre, floral, vertical stripes, and of course, a tiny hat.

top: Pink Clove, leggings: Wet Seal, necklace: Macy’s, zipper bracelet: some random store that was going out of business on Newbury Street a few years ago, studded wristband: PacSun, earrings: gift from a relative, boots: Hot Topic way back in the day, ring: Kelsea Echo, tiny hat headband: Claire’s

#FatshionFebruary, Day 3

You can thank Fatshion February for the fact that I got all Goth-ed up instead of wearing sweatpants to watch the Puppy Bowl.  (Although I do love my leopard and pink leopard fuzzy sweatpants, so you’ll probably see them sometime this month.)

Guest post: Alternative fashion philosophy

This is a guest post by my friend Valtinen, who has badass Goth style. Enjoy!

Alternative Fashion Philosophy: Representation and Availability

For me, running out of black lipstick in April is a desperate situation. The last time I did, I ran around to every cosmetic booth within a forty mile radius of my home looking for a replacement. The assistants kept telling me to wait until October when they had their Halloween supplies stocked… which is the problem. I dress like it’s Halloween every day.

It takes work — and a lot of black lipstick — to be this awesome all the time.
(Me, Lakeview Cemetery, Seattle, WA, April 2011)

I wish I could say that I have always been brave enough to wear what I wanted but I haven’t been. Even my teen phase of gothic gear was unhappily brief. I felt judged for my macabre tastes which had begun in earliest childhood. I could never find what I wanted to wear. Given the classification of Freak throughout my formative years for the few things I did manage to scrounge up did nothing to further my hopes of being taken seriously. I started hiding my alternativeness beneath windbreakers, baseball caps, and khakis, a phase of “normal” that makes me now cringe with greater regret than any other garment choice ever has.

Yes, that’s a golf cart on the left. Let’s not talk about that…
(Me, Torrington Country Club, Goshen, CT, June 1995)

I have since been able to shed the constraints of mainstream fashion which govern the masses. I know that sounds like a judgment, but judgment only enters clothing and style when you depart from fads. It’s the spoon-fed marketing, “if you’re not wearing what’s fashionable, then you have a problem,” etc. The very fact that what I wanted to wear was not just condemned by the people of my environment but by every company that sold clothing made me think that something was wrong with me, “Why don’t I like the spring colours of puce and mauve?  Why don’t I want to wear pink and green plaid pants?? If I don’t wear distressed blue jeans, will I never get laid again?!?! Oh no!!!” Eventually, I called bullshit.

 

Fat goth rant

As much as I can pass for normal sometimes–well, depending how you define normal–I’m a goth kid at heart.

Me, circa 2001: blue hair, combat boots, fishnets…and matching American Girl doll.

And so, I want goth clothes. But when you wear a size larger than 14, this is easier said than done.

There are a few options out there – Chic Star, Pyramid Collection, Mystic Crypt. And they have some great stuff! But I want more variety. More choices. Not the same few items showing up all over the internet.

Also, I hate scrolling past page after page of clothing that only goes up to 1X or a small 2X in Mystic Crypt’s plus section. Seriously, stop taunting me like that.

Then there are Etsy shops like Rose Mortem and KMK Designs, which have gorgeous but expensive clothing. The high prices are understandable, considering they’re handmade by indie designers, and probably great quality, but they’re still mostly out of my price range. And they tend toward the Victorian/romantic end of goth, whereas it’s much harder to find plus size clothing at the late ’90s Hot Topic kid end. (No, I am not ashamed that I’m 27 years old and still count “late-90s-Hot-Topic-kid” among my favorite aesthetics.)

Also, I want pants.

As much as I love skirts and dresses, sometimes I just want to wear pants. With zippers. And straps. And corset-style lacing. These pants are my great white whale (heh, great white whale).

Seriously, it should not be this hard to find a pair of punky plus-size pants. I came across these gorgeous ones and found myself wishing so hard they came in my size. They may very well be my fashion soulmate, aside from the lack of cupcakes and tulle.

Without any further ado, I present you Clothing That Needs To Come in My Size, Now.

1.) Lip Service purple plaid maxi dress, Hot Topic, $89 2.) Red Queens Black Legion black gothic shoulder strap top, Angel Clothing, $94.50 3.) Eternal Love scarlet gothic kerchief skirt taffeta lace, Mystic Crypt, $47.99 4.) Dark Carnival Set, Good Goth, $39.95 for the corset, $29.95 for the petticoat, $39.95 for the overskirt 5.) Living Dead Souls magenta strappy bead & rose trimmed dress, Angel Clothing, $68.42 6.) Criminal Damage star plat pants black/fuschia pink, Angel Clothing, $61.90

Men’s fa(t)shion

I strongly believe that fa(t)shion should not be exclusively the province of women. Fa(t)shion should be for everyone.

Most of this blog reflects my fairly femme fashion sense, but I want to give a shoutout to men and people who enjoy a masculine style. Here are a few men wearing clothing that I like, and some clothing and accessories aimed at men.

Junya’s outfit is all-around awesome:

Fabulous finds, pink and geeky edition

How cool are these Pac-Man ghost ponchos??

:-). That’s all I have to say.

Malls suck, and I miss the old Torrid

This weekend, while visiting an out-of-town friend, I stopped in a mall to look for bras. I used to buy Lane Bryant bras online, but they discontinued my favorite style, and the store near me closed. So I jumped at the opportunity to go to an LB store and look for a new bra style.

Luckily, after much searching, I did find one–although they only had three available in my style and size, so I had to have a fourth bra shipped to my home in order to qualify for the “buy 2, get 2 free” deal.  And the only colors they had were beige and black. Blah.