Plus Brands, Please Take Note

I just want eyes on all of my clothes, partially to channel my inner Night Vale, and partially because, come on.

Look at what Kenzo did.

Make it happen in a size fat, please.

(Pictures link to places where you can put them in your closet if you've the cash and the body.)

The Glorification

I just read this article about Abercrombie, and the first thought running through my head was, "They are going to go out of business in no time."

The second thought was the dumb one.

Hm, I wonder what the comments will be like?

Seriously, never read the comments

So many people were actually lauding the CEO for his decision not to cater to people (women especially) above a size ten.

I'm not sure how many times I read the phrase "glorifying obesity."

Here's the thing that people don't understand when they throw that phrase out there: no one, not a single person, has stood up and encouraged people to be fat. Certainly not in the way that everyone is encouraged to be skinny. Not even the Fat Acceptance movement does this!

I'm just ridiculously tired of people crying out "glorifying obesity" like a protective spell anytime anyone, a company or a blogger or just a normal person, simply says that not everyone fits beauty standards. That's it. They don't say things like, "Fat isn't bad," even though they should, but that's much too controversial. No, they simply state the fact that fat people exist, and suddenly they're telling everyone to adopt "unhealthy lifestyles."

A couple of months ago, H&M put up size-12 mannequins (in Sweden, though, I'm not sure if that's happened in America), and that phrase came up again.

Really?

And then, even more recently, they used a plus size model in their beachwear campaign. Of course, for a plus size model, she's still quite slender, but she has a belly, and it's soft, and there are rolls, and oh goodness me, why did you put her in a bikini?

Seriously, though, people need to cool it with their "glorifying obesity" shrieks. No one is doing that, so just calm down and maybe drink some chamomile and take a breather. I think you need it.

Bravery

So I'm assuming we've all heard about Gabi Fresh's collaboration with Swimsuits for All. I'm also assuming we're all drooling over the fabulously cut fatkinis coming out on the 15th.

I love myself a fatkini, I really do. I think that they look just as good as onepieces, if not better. I just don't know if I'm brave enough for one. I still have issues with body acceptance on my own, and while I'm generally pretty willing to shell out over $75 on a bathing suit that actually fits, I'm not sure if I'm willing to do that with something I might be too terrified to actually wear.

I've gone through more boring black onepiece suits over the years than anyone ever should. I used to wear tee-shirts and shorts over them, too. Then, a couple years ago, I bought a new black suit from WalMart that fit poorly around the bust and just wore crazy bright boardshorts with it. Short ones, too. That felt good. Then, the following year, I bought a bathing suit I really liked; it was still black, but with these fabulous mesh details that made me feel amazing. And it was from WalMart, no less!

Last year, I got my first two-piece in well over a decade from Torrid, and it fit beautifully and I looked great, and my brother accidentally threw it out a few months back. He threw out that one, my suit with the mesh, and those swimshorts. My heart broke.

Anyway, now I'm on the hunt for a new suit, and I'm trying to convince myself that a fatkini is not a bad idea. I might have a bit more of a belly than the girl in this picture, but why on earth should that stop me?

I'm looking to my friends for succour and any bravery that they can pass on. I like my body, so why should baring a few inches of midriff be so scary?

Good Coats and Denim Shirts

Pinterest is such a great source of style inspiration. There's a whole bevy of gorgeous outfit photos and items to drool over that you can't quite get from blogs alone. It's amazing!

But it's like subscribing to a bunch of fashion magazines in that it's a double-sided coin. On one side, you can just bask in the inspiration, beautiful and ordinary and any combination of the two. On the other, you're faced with pictures that almost always feature pretty, skinny girls in those pretty clothes you want.

Usually, I'm able to admire the look on whoever's wearing it, think about how it would look on my own fat body, and I'm content. I know that I can pull off nearly everything (except for surplice necklines and deeeeep Vs on swimsuits. I just can't). But I saw this gorgeous look and immediately thought, This would look better on me if I was skinny.

There is no escaping this mode of thought, it seems. You can fill your life with dozens of fantastic fatshion blogs, troll hundreds of sites selling amazing plus size clothes, all of that and still be faced with thoughts like that. You can be confident about your body 99% of the time, but that last percent can be crippling.

I don't dislike skinny people for being better able to pull off the parkas and trenches I don't think I can't pull off—that's ridiculous and counterproductive. I don't even particularly dislike major clothing brands for not selling clothes above, say, a size 14 (or 16, or 18, or 20). I just don't like that there still aren't enough companies who understand that fat girls want great clothes too! I love the many plus size companies whose sites I peruse almost daily. I really love those companies that offer both straight- and plus-size clothes. I really, really love those companies that offer extended sizes. On and on, I can be very enthusiastic about the lot of them.

I dunno, I just really wish that there were more great outfits like this on the internet for fat girls, or that there was more opportunity for great outfits like this.

If you don't follow me on Pinterest, then you don't know that I actually have two separate fashion boards. One devoted strictly to fatshion, the other for style in general. The general one features skinny girls almost exclusively, but that's because of one thing: I don't really like to double pin. So all of the fantastic fat girl fashions go to the other board. I'm torn about it because, on the one hand, I really want to showcase one in its own right, and on the other, I feel like the floor of Forever 21: I offer it all, but not together.

Blah, there is no right way to go about it.