Blogs and Stories
Fat-shionistas Unite!
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With the first Full-Figured Fashion Week kicking off in New York, Renata Espinosa talks to plus-size bloggers and designers about chic clothes for the curvier set.
The fashion news cycle has been more abuzz than usual with stories addressing an oft-overlooked niche market: the plus-sized fashionista, or, as many are inclined to refer to themselves, the “fatshionistas.” This is a group that is more likely to have their noses buried in the latest issue of Vogue Paris, where a plus-size model like Crystal Renn might be featured, without fanfare, as part of a regular fashion editorial, rather than singing the praises of its American counterpart’s token annual “shape” issue, where plus-size models are normally confined. Fatshionistas will also cite Audrey Hepburn and Kate Moss as fashion icons alongside Beth Ditto and Velvet D’Amour, a 300-pound model and photographer who rocked the Parisian runways of John Galliano and Jean Paul Gaultier in 2006 wearing exquisite body-conscious fare.
“One of the things that makes me insane is that somehow the fashion industry decided there can only be one fat chick receiving favorable media attention. We're fat, we're not the Highlander. There can be more than one,” says Rhiannon Gammill, an Austin, Texas-based writer who now blogs for Manolo for the Big Girl. “I want the woman who can say ‘This is who I am, you don't have to like me and you don't have approve of me, but I've been to this pony show before and this time I'm getting what I want. I've got one voice, two chins, and more style than should be allowed by law and I'm not apologizing for any of it’ and then, I don't know, puts her cigarette out on her arm.”
Click Image Below to View Our Fatshionista Gallery
Fatshionistas are bending the rules of what is and isn’t “acceptable” for larger women to wear, dispensing with the notion that the only thing plus-size women care about is comfort and figure-flattering garb. These women are dressing to look good, yes, but they’re not content with their only choices being jersey wrap dresses or shapeless tunics. “My great hope is that big girls will rebel, and start buying the higher end products,” says Gammill. “The traditional plus-size retailers will have to up their game. As it is now, I love Lane Bryant right-fit jeans and their seamless underwear, but the quality of their actual clothing is embarrassing. I mean, I'd use them to wash my car, but only the station wagon; not the Cadillac.”
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Lovely!!! Thanks for shedding a light on this! As one of the bloggers for the Curvy Collective for Full FIgured FashionWeek, it makes me eleated to see mainstream covering such an amazing and profound event for the plus size community!
Thank you! Hope to see you there!
The Curvy Fashionista
Marie Denee
I used to be fond of saying I was more about style than fashion. Then I got fat and found myself without either. For fat people, fashion is political, and without it, it's nearly impossible to build style. Or, y'know, leave the house. Thank you, Daily Beast and participants, for a lovely article.
Ah, honey, don't you know that any woman not 5'8" and 110 lbs is a "plus-size" woman for most contemporary fashion designers?
Let's hear it for women who don't give a damn about the size printed on the label, they want to look good wearing quality clothing.
Listen up out there!
I am a bit shocked and appalled at Gimmel's ""I'm fat, I have money. I'm more than willing to give it in quantity to the store who will supply me with beautifully made clothes that don't make me look like a hooker, a tranny, or someone's bingo-playing grandma from Duluth." comment.
Personally, I don't always have money and have to work that into my fashion sense and expressing myself and I think that's an interesting perspective. Aside from the weird classism I have done sex work in the past and identify as genderqueer/trans. I always look like a "hooker" AND "a tranny" and find it largely problematic that she so easily dismisses these large groups of people without a second thought and that you chose to include it. It takes away a lot from the piece IMO and it's really too bad.
Aside from using oppressive language to further oppress already oppressed peoples, it's also kind of giving into this fat fashion thing where if we have money and look classy than we can meet peoples expectations of ourselves and "measure up" and THEN start to be validated for fitting in. Fuck that! I'd rather look like a slutty genderfucking weirdo with a lot of personal style and I'd rather do it for under 10 bucks.
I don't think her statement dismisses those groups. I think what she is saying is that she's upset that mainstream designers assume all fat women must have a fashion sense that fits into the stereotypical styles of the sex worker, trans person, or grandma. Because not all of us do, and designers are ignoring a lot of women.
oh noes. my eyes.
I have been waiting for years for the designers to get real.I hope they all pay attention.Oh....and the lycra,spandex may feel good but it does not work for chubby girls.It is too clingy.Oh and the sleeveless really won't work either.We want beautiful clothes that work!I'm a chubby petite girl and trust me,the clothing I need usually isn't available either.I love Eileen Fisher clothing for comfort...just in case any girls out there need something comfy and beautiful for summer.
My worst day lately was trying on Spanx.I ran from the store.They don't work for chubby either!
Thin, fat, average, athletic ... I wouldn't wear any of those hideous outfits. I think the point of wanting designers to engage fuller-figured women, is to be able to find the same style clothing in fuller-figure sizes ... but for some reason, plus-size outfits either trend toward the trampy or matronly.
Yes, I love it! I appreciate the beauty of Kate Dillon, Mia Tyler and Crystal Renn
I sort of agree with whispurr, I think the men's section has much better clothes, for the price, and I don't see much of a difference, accept the shape in the waist.
I have one jacket that is shaped and I feel more exposed when I am wearing it, so I wear it for interviews, or going somewhere fancy, otherwise I prefer big and baggy, I always have.
Then you can wear your sub zero down underneath and no one notices, they just think you are heavier and don't push you around so much.
I think though being fatter is probably not that healthy, and a person knows what their weight should be and know if they are eating alot of junk.
I think being healthy makes a person feel happier.
I want a gallon of ice cream and a coupel of five dollar foot longs after reading this depressing empowerment of lumpy heart attacks in waiting.
Why does it depress you that people are claiming the right to be treated like human beings? Look, if (and I doubt this is true) your real concern is heart attacks, you should support attractive plus size clothing, so that fat people (and hopefully all people) don't feel so gross about how they look and stay inside instead of being active in the world. Exercise reduces your risk of future health problems, even if your weight stays the same.
Designers using 'fat' people in their shows or retrospectives, BFD. This industry purposely caters to thin because they know this is a niche market, can produce a relatively simple (i.e. 2-D) template, save on fabric and can charge high prices, due to their limited production (cause there ain't sooo many tiny people in the world, at least under the age of 13). It is interesting that the size of a woman is considered newsworthy!
Thank you.
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