Holiday gift guide: Small Business Saturday

If you’re looking to support small businesses tomorrow, or any time this holiday season, here are some pretty/shiny/interesting ideas to check out–most of which are $25 or under. Also see the guide to black-owned businesses that I posted yesterday, and Kelsea’s awesome series of gift guides.

For the Francophile

–2015 Paris photo calendar, Georgianna Lane, $25
–Paris in Peony set of 5 cards, CoupCoup Designs, $10. Emily of CoupCoup made a discount code for Tutus and Tiny Hats readers, LAURATUTU: it’s good for $10 off any purchase of $50 or more, through December 12th.
–French macaron necklace, Fatally Feminine, $15
–Paris postcard set, the Paris Print Shop, $5

For the lover of all things cute

–Picnic at the Park print, ShanaLogic, $16
–Starwhal the Narwhal! plush, ShanaLogic, $24.95
–Kitteh pair dish, Migration Goods, $20
–See You Space Corgi sticker, Megan Lara, $4
–Pandas and Popsicles illustration, Kathryn Selbert Illustration, $22

OOTD: Globe-trotting glamour

I wore this outfit to meet up with a friend who was visiting from out of town. I felt particularly sophisticated since the necklace is from Iceland and the fascinator is from France. The earrings are from a small shop in Shelburne Falls, which may not be particularly exotic or worldly, but is nonetheless a beautiful place.

Dress: Target (really old), teggings: Re/Dress, cardigan: Kohl’s (also really old), necklace: Leynibudin, fascinator: Brykalski, earrings: a shop whose name I don’t remember in Shelburne Falls, MA, bracelets: Macy’s, So Good, and Torrid, shoes: Naot

OOTD: girly punk with a Parisian twist

Some days I just feel really, really pink.

Dress: Reborn Collection via Zulily, cardigan: SimplyBe, belt: ASOS Curve, necklace: Betsey Johnson via eBay, earrings: Forever 21, leggings: Domino Dollhouse, shoes: Naot, coat: Nicolette Mason for ModCloth, hat: Brykalski, tote bag: gift from a friend

I love, love, love this Paris-themed Betsey Johnson necklace. When I got it, Steve said it looked like a necklace that had eaten a bunch of other necklaces, and it’s so true. I love all the tiny details, from the little Eiffel Tower to the tiny dress form, spool of thread, and shears.

And the hat is from actual Paris! It’s one of the three gorgeous headpieces I got at a tiny hat shop that one of my friends recommended. You can see one here, and I’ll be posting an outfit with the third one soon. (Also, yes, I promise I will post about my trip to Paris and Iceland soon! I’ve got a bunch of posts mostly written, and at this point I just have to deal with picking out and uploading pictures–which is no small feat, since I took nearly 2,000 of them.) I normally like to wear the hat a little further forward, but it had shifted back a bit and unfortunately I didn’t look in a mirror before taking these pictures. Oh well!

Sunday links, 10/4/14

Fa(t)shion
–7 ways to incorporate cute critters into your professional wear.
-Igigi’s new Avant Garden collection is gorgeous–I especially love the Taryn dress in Scarlet Dahlia.
–50 floral crown styles and ideas.
–The Rumpus reviews the new anthology Women In Clothes. It sounds great, and I really hope it includes fat women among its 642 contributors (although I’ve read multiple reviews and articles about the book and haven’t seen size mentioned anywhere, so I’m not going to get my hopes up too much).
–On plus size sewing.
–Nicolette Mason’s collection for ModCloth launches on Monday! I’m so excited, especially about that gorgeous pale pink coat.
–Lessons my closet taught me.
-I love collages that feature a celebrity wearing every color of the rainbow, and this one with Viola Davis is no exception.
-Kath reviews a retro made-to-order dress from RAUES.
-UGH to Karl Lagerfield’s faux feminism in trademark tweeds.
-Natalie rounds up super-cute ways to incorporate Halloween into your everyday style.

Fat Acceptance
–Can your work force you to lose weight or get fitter? This shit is so fucked-up, and it’s an important reminder that sizeism is a civil rights issue, not just an issue of body image.
–Dear Bill Maher, stop tying fatphobia to the liberal agenda! XO, Virgie.

This video made by Addition Elle, featuring Nicolette Mason and other plus size bloggers and models with their significant others, is so sweet. I want to acknowledge, though, that it could be hard to watch for people who are single and don’t want to be. On one hand, it shows that fat people deserve love and can have happy relationships; on the other hand, no matter what your size, sometimes it’s just painful to watch other people having what you want. If you love this video as much as I do, awesome; if you can’t watch it, I understand that too.

Climate and Sustainability
-Long-time activist Todd Gitlin says that the climate movement has reached critical mass.
-SO MUCH yes: What’s wrong with the radical critique of of the People’s Climate March.
–The largest climate march in history matters more than you think.
–No, economic growth and climate stability do not go hand-in-hand.
–“No climate justice without gender justice:” women at the forefront of the People’s Climate March.
–These front-line communities know what climate justice would mean–and they’re not seeing it at the UN.
-Good news: Chile becomes the first South American country to tax carbon.
–Photo essay: scenes from the heart at the #FloodWallStreet sit-in.

My #FashionTruth

I know I’m a little late to the #FashionTruth conversation, but better late than never. I’m really glad that ModCloth’s co-founder Susan Koger has challenged the industry to change for the better, and I have plenty of thoughts of my own to add. Consider this my own open letter.

Dear Fashion Industry,

I’ve always loved fashion in one form or another, from the days when I pored over the rainbows of fabric colors in L.L. Bean catalogs to the time I showed off my new floral skirt for show-and-tell in first grade. I got really into style as personal expression in middle school, which is also when I became fat–so just as my interest in fashion deepened, I found myself excluded from it in so many ways.

Every teen magazine I read was full of unattainably-thin bodies, with only the occasional token plus size model who looked vaguely like me. As a young teen, I barely fit into a size 13, which was the biggest juniors’ size available in most stores–and then I gained weight and sized out of most juniors’ clothing. The fun clothes I saw in magazines rarely came in a size 16, and it was especially hard to find specialized items like prom dresses. It takes a toll on your self-esteem when you hardly ever see your reflection in media;  when bodies like yours are portrayed only as problems to be solved; when you can’t find your size in most clothing stores you walk into, or can only find one rack of frumpy dresses at the back of the store.

Plus size clothing has come a long way since then, mainly thanks to the rise of online shopping. I have far more options today at a size 22 than I did then at a 16. But still, it’s rare to find my size in a brick-and-mortar store, so I’ve mostly given up on buying clothes in person. And women who wear a size or two larger than I do, let alone a size 30 or above, have significantly fewer options.

This needs to change. It’s not ok that such a large percentage of women and girls don’t see themselves reflected in fashion media, and it’s not ok that so many of us can’t find clothes in our size.

Sunday links, 9/14/14

Life has been a little overwhelming since getting back from Europe. I’ve been catching up on all sorts of things and dealing with getting back to everyday life after my first adult trip abroad, all while adjusting to a new office (my current temp job has been moving me around, and I’m still not sure if/when/where I’ll get moved next). I have so many things I want to write about, and so many pictures to post! But it might take me some time to get to them. In the meantime, here are my traditional jumping-in-front-of-landmark pictures. 🙂

Fa(t)shion
-ModCloth’s co-founder, Susan Koger, asks the fashion industry to change for the better. Many bloggers have added their voices to the #FashionTruth conversation, including Kristina, Virgie, Kate, and Thamarr.
–The connecting threads between the global garment trade and sex trade.
-I love everything about Betsey Johnson’s spring show “Pre-Nup” (except, of course, the lack of body diversity and the fact that Betsey Johnson doesn’t make clothes in my size).
–Five fabulous ways to wear tulle skirts.
-Sally writes about the evolution of her style and the expectations that readers put on fashion bloggers.
–Curves on the red carpet: Danielle Brooks.
-Olivia gives her recommendations for dress-shopping as a plus size bride.
–Plus size fashion: 1 step forward, 2 steps back?
-Leah went to Plus North, which sounds like a lot of fun.
–31 ridiculously gorgeous people at the Afropunk festival.
-Margot Meanie started #alternativecurves on Instagram, which is full of fab punk-y inspiration.
–Catherines’ new Black Label collection includes size 34W/5x.

Fat Acceptance
–Processing the federal government’s $3 million lesbian obesity study in six steps.
-Ragen writes about what it’s like doing fat activist work full-time. On a related note, Jes is leaving her job to do body advocacy full-time, and you can support her work by donating on Patreon.
-“Aren’t you afraid of health problems later in life?”
–“Good fatty” vs. “Bad Fatty”: an exploration of behavior and the policing of women’s agency.
-“My images are for everyone who has ever been told that they can’t.”

I’m back from Paris and Iceland!

So remember when I said that comment moderation would be slow, and I wouldn’t be putting up a Sunday Links post last week? It was because I was on a weeklong vacation with Steve to France and Iceland! We just flew back to Boston yesterday.

We got a deal through Groupon Getaways for a week split between Paris and Reykjavik (except that the way the travel times worked out, we only had 2 1/2 days in each place). It was amazing. Overwhelming, exhausting, a bit whiplash-y, but so worth it.

I have a ton of pictures to post, including some outfit pictures I took while abroad. And I have lots of things to write about. I also want to weigh in on the whole #FashionTruth thing that’s been making rounds in my feeds. But right now, I’m still decompressing, de-jet-lag-ifying, and trying to catch up on all the internets I missed over the past week. So for now, here’s a brief preview: