Look where I was featured

Since I've been out of the country I've been out of the fatosphere loop the past few weeks. Responding to a readers question I ended up on the Fatshionista LiveJournal webpage earlier today where the top posting caught my eye. Apparently a shit for brains "fatshion" website had posted an article with some helpful "tips" for fatties about what we should wear. You know black, baggy, shapeless clothing. What fun.

The website also very helpfully put together a list of what fatties shouldn't wear. In pulling together their what not to wear list they had taken a bunch of photos from the fatshionsta flickr pool without permission from any of the women whose photos they used. Knowing my penchant for tight, bright and patterned clothes I automatically wondered if I had been one of the lucky fatties chosen. The blog has since removed the posting but kept up the comments so I wasn't sure if I had made the cut.

Over on Fatshionista the wonderful Stichtowhere challenged all of us fatties to post our loudest, most outrageous outfits that would make all the hateful folks over at BBsize cringe in their black mumu's. So I posted this

One of my fellow fatshionistas kindly told me that I had in fact been featured in the original post (which is cached here if you're truly interested). They chose this photo of mine

I can't wait to get home and put together an outfit that will shock the editors of BBsize even more. Until then I'm afraid I'm going to have to keep on wearing one of the 3 tops I brought with me on my trip. For shame. At least my nails are bright.

Being Fat in India

My dear readers, here is my one and only uploaded photo so far from India. I know it's only one, but it's a pretty cool picture, isn't it? I'll share more next week if you all promise to ignore the heinous clothing I'll be sporting in all of my photos.

Before I came to India my friend Ashwini warned me that "you'll be the fattest person they've ever seen." Now I have found this to be completely untrue - there are plenty of fat tourists and there are plenty of fat Indians, but I have had some amusing experiences that I thought I'd share. It's interesting to see how fat is viewed in other cultures and how people react and what they say. A bit of fat, cultural anthropology if you will.

There's been the staring and the laughter, which I honestly don't know if it has to do with my being fat or the clothes I wear, but I get a LOT of attention - much more so than my male traveling companions and the stares don't bother me too much, but the laughter is a bit odd. When we went to the Taj Mahal groups of people laughed at me. Not my friends, but me. It was bizarre and weird, but completely harmless.

But there are 3 instances that stick out in particular that I thought you'd all get a kick out of. It's a good thing I practice self-love and body acceptance, cause otherwise these people may have brought me down. Instead I just laughed and went on, un-bothered with my day. I think my traveling companions were often more bothered by it than I was.

1) My friend and I became obsessed with a day spa near our friends apartment where we were staying in Delhi. I think they thought we were crazy cause we came 3 days in a row and showed up to a fancy place in some very un-fancy clothing. I decided to get a special massage that involved 4 hands, lots of hot oil and a tented steam cover - it was pretty fucking fabulous I must say. So I'm undressed, lying on the table in nothing but a pair of disposable underwear they've given me when one of the women performing the massage says to me "so, have you tried our weight loss massage?"

So I'm naked, supposed to be relaxing and these women are about to touch me for the next hour when they've just insulted me, not to mention that a weight loss massage is among the dumber weight loss techniques I've heard mentioned to me. Had I been in the States I would have gotten dressed, talked to the manager and gotten my massage for free from 2 other masseuses. But I was in India and I realize that it's culturally acceptable for people to say these sort of things and it's not considered rude so I just laughed and said "no, I'm happy with my body just the way it is thank you. I like being fat." And then I had a 4 handed massage. Heaven I tell you.

2) I was on a boat in the Gangas River when our tour guide asked me if I had any children. I responded no, to which he replied "well you look like you have." He then continued on "do you practice yoga?" which is when I realized where this conversation was going and I again responded no. He continued on "you really must watch the butter and red meat" which was kind of hysterical because I don't eat much of either one. I mean I bake with a lot of butter, but most of that is brought to work and sent to my friends. Either way, it's completely irrelevant since my body is nobodies business but my own.

He then told me that I was fat like his brother and needed to be careful. At this point my friends and I were laughing hysterically at his rudeness and I told the guide "you're being rude, you need to stop" but he DIDN'T. He continued on about diabetes and my health and I wasn't about to start having a HAES conversation with the man so I calmed my giggles and told him firmly that I love my body just as it is and that he needed to be quiet. He eventually shut up and then had the gall to bring us to his house to try and sell us stuff. No thank you.

3) I was at a mall - where by the way my friend got a scoop of ice cream and found a piece of chewed gum in it, ugh - when we walked into a womens clothing store. I was in there for all of 30 seconds flipping through the shelves when a woman came up to me and told me "we don't carry your size." The first 2 experiences didn't upset me at all, but this one did for some reason. She was just so rude about it and she was making assumptions - she had no idea who I was shopping for. I said "I'm still allowed in the store aren't I?" and continued to browse until a minute later one of her colleagues came up to me and again very rudely told me "we don't have your size." I once again rhetorically asked "I'm still allowed in the store, right?"

I don't know why this simple comment more than the others bothered me so much, I think because it felt exclusionary - you're not allowed in here, fatty leave. The whole thing reminded me of that scene in Pretty Woman when Julia Roberts walks into the boutique on Rodeo Drive and is told that they don't have anything for her. I didn't walk out of the mall with much of anything but I did walk out of the store and not purchase a top I had been eying for my mother.

I thought of how great it was that I was able to laugh instead of get sad or really bothered by these comments - I don't know that I always would have been able to say that. These experiences only served to reinforce my body acceptance and self-love.

Anyways, those are just some of my adventures of being fat in India. And I have to stress that it's really just a teeny, tiny part of my larger, crazy adventure that I'm having. This morning my friends left to go back to the States and I'm traveling on my own for a week so I think more of my stories will have to do with men trying to flatter their way into my wallet than insulting my fat ass, but who knows. Either way I'll be sure to keep you updated.

The purple sequins are back, this time with a smile

Not too long ago I blogged an outfit featuring a completely ridiculous purple, sequined hat that ever since I purchased it at Forever 21 for $4.80 has given me joy far exceeding its price tag. I wore the hat again, this time in a totally different way and thought I'd share the outfit with you. I kind of love how the outfit came together and it puts a smile on my face every time I look at today's pictures.

The hat of magical, mysterious wonder is from Forever 21.

The top is from Dorothy Perkins and I first wore it for you all the way back in my original month of dresses in September 2009.

The leggings are also from Forever 21 and in not so shocking news developed a hole after about 3 wearings. Not washings mind you, just wearings.

The vest is from Target and I was so excited when I found it as I'd been looking for a cropped black vest for over a year.

The purple vote necklace is from Brookadelphia and it has also been seen before, in fact in the same exact pairing with the second necklace, a pair of glasses that I got in Camden Market when I was last in London last June. God it's been ages, I really need to get over there again.

In some photos you'll see a jacket which is from Forever 21 and a scarf from Old Navy.

Boots which are scuffed, old and stained are from Evans and no matter how much you ask I'm not giving them up.

Sorry the posts have been short and brief of late. I've been having crazy busy days in India and by the time I have a few minutes at the computer I'm too tired to be witty or brilliant...hell forget brilliant, there's a very real chance this post doesn't even make any sense.

Fancy a cup of tea?

Today I went to the Taj Mahal, had a fist-fight break out over who was going to get our cab fare and got stared and laughed at by what seemed like half the Indians at the Taj - seriously for awhile I thought I had my underwear on outside my pants the stares were so ridiculous. But, that's not what today's post is about. Today's post is about tea, or rather what I wore while drinking tea, coffee and eating the best scones of my life.

I was feeling lazy when I woke up and had to run to go meet my friend for a meeting at our local coffee shop. I wanted something fun, cozy and casual. My Mom had just gotten back from a trip to Israel and had brought me this scarf. In an unusual turn of events my Mom brought me back a present from Israel that I absolutely loved and I promptly planned my outfit around it.

Aren't the colors and shades of blue, purple and pink just gorgeous.

I'm wearing a top that I got from Ross that I keep forgetting I have. The jeggings are from Forever 21 and the purple cardigan is from H&M. The purple boots I purchased years ago in London at the Camden Market right near where I lived. The scarf is a present from my Mom via Israel and the earrings I got from a street vendor in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Here's a shot of us hard at work and with our tasty treats. This photo makes me really happy for some reason.

Greetings from Delhi

So I've been in India for a full 24 hours and I'm still getting situated, trying to wrap myself around the traffic and sorting out how to cross the street without killing myself. Seriously that is what I am most taken back by at the moment. There are portions of the highway with no lanes and folks just drive wherever they feel like. Insanity.

My flight was as good as any 14 hour flight can be, especially when you're sitting in a middle seat. Continental gets 2 giant fatty thumbs up from me. I fit comfortably in a middle seat and was pleasantly surprised by the over 300 movies I had to pick from. I watched The September Issue and Breakfast at Tiffany's for the very first time. Can you believe that I'd never seen it before? I snoozed off in the middle of it several times but kept restarting it and fast-forwarding so I could see it all the way through. Ooh, that wardrobe is absolutely divine. I kept swooning each time Holly Golightly came on screen.

I want to thank all of you that gave me suggestions for the flight - they were all super useful. Double thanks to Amber who suggested a sleep mask. I always pack one in my carry-on and this time around had completely forgotten to pack one till you suggested it. It ended up being my sleep savior, even if it wasn't anywhere close to as cute as Holly Golightly's.

Of course the one thing on the flight that I didn't think to ask for advice with was my unfathomably annoying seatmate. He sat down, introduced himself and told me that he wasn't going to keep quiet for the whole flight and wanted to talk to me. I shit you not, he actually told me that. I had my headphones in, magazine open and he wouldn't shut up. He jammered non-stop seeming to take no notice of the fact that I was ignoring him until finally I summoned up the courage to turn to him and say "I really just want to sit quietly and read my magazine if you don't mind." It doesn't sound like much, but if felt like a lot at the moment. He seemed quite taken aback but soon stopped talking to me and about 20 minutes later switched seats with his 8 year old son for the remainder of the flight. Victory was mine!

Now I'm acclimating to India, taking in the sights and sounds and smells. I'll update again soon with an actual fatshion post, and possibly more about India as well. I always want to be the sort of person who keep a travel journal, but I usually end up giving it up at around the 4th day of a trip so I may end up using my blog for that as well if folks don't mind. Of course I may very likely get bored of travel blogging as well, who knows. The one thing I don't think I'll be showing you pictures of/writing about is what I'm wearing in India. I packed my clothes for 2 weeks in my backpack and 90% of it consists of clothing I wouldn't care if I threw out. Not exactly bloomie at her most fashionable, but I'm modest and comfortable and for right now that's really all that counts.

Re/Dress NYC Model Search

So one of my absolute favorite stores Re/Dress NYC is having a model search contest and lord do I want to apply. I've never been someone who thought of modeling or had an interest in it (although as you know I do like to have my picture taken), but this contest is different than most.

To start with I think the world of Re/Dress and its owner Deb Malkin. I've written about Re/Dress several times before and featured many articles of clothing that I have purchased there. Re/Dress is out to change the way society views fat women and how fat women view themselves. They're more than a place to buy some clothes, they're revolutionary and I want to be a part of that. The application involves not just a photo, but also a short essay about what you love about your body and 3 pieces of advice you'd give to women who are struggling with self love. Now that is a contest I can get behind.

Contributing to their awesomeness is that the cutoff to even be eligible is a size 18 and most plus size models are more along the lines of a 10/12/14 and hover at around 5'10. I am 5'4 and have sizes in my wardrobe ranging from a medium to a 2x, a 10-20, so I'm at the low-end of the spectrum but I'm thinking I'll apply - I can work on my essay on the plane tomorrow. The real question now is what photos to submit? If you want to weigh in with your fave photos check out my sets on flickr or past outfits on the blog and let me know what you like best.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

In less than 48 hours I will be on a plane to India and I cannot wait!!! I am so excited for so many reasons. To start with, I haven't been to a brand new country in over a year and in general I haven't traveled internationally in quite some time. I have a brand, spanking new passport and I'm just itching to get a stamp in it. I'll be gone for 2 weeks and the first week I'm traveling with friends, as well as staying with friends and the second week I'm on my own. I haven't traveled alone in awhile so it'll be good to have that experience again. Not to mention I am beyond ecstatic to be out of the office for 2 whole weeks. Yay, yay, yay!!!

For those that are interested I'm flying into New Delhi and out of Mumbai with side trips along the way to Agra, Varanasi and possibly Jaipur. In Delhi I have a list a mile long of places to see, friends to meet up with and shops (oh the shops) to visit, but if you have Mumbai suggestions I would love to hear them. I'll be by myself there and really welcome your suggestions.

I'm already having visions of the shopping in India. The textiles, the jewelry, the spices and oh my the list goes on and on and on. I'll be seeing the Taj Mahal and the river Ganges and so many amazing sights. But oddly enough you know what one of the things I'm most excited for? You're going to laugh cause it's not very exciting, but I'm going to finally get to put my feet into the Indian Ocean. I don't really have a list of things to do or places to see before I die, but I do have a goal of swimming/at least putting my feet into each of the 4 oceans. I take that back, I thought there were 4 oceans and growing up I was told there were 4 oceans, but according to a movie preview I recently saw there are technically 5. At some point they added the Southern Ocean to the list. Not quite sure how I'm gonna get that one crossed off, but at some point I will.

I'm going to try and post at least a few times a week while I'm gone. Likely it'll be outfits that I've worn in recent weeks and haven't gotten around to posting yet, but if possible I'll post pictures of some of my Indian fashion purchases. The markets, the bazaars, the colors, I can't wait! The one thing I'm really not looking forward to (well there are a few things - elevators and toilets being at the top of the list) is bargaining. People who know me are probably surprised by this but I despise bargaining. In fact I hate it. It kinda ruins shopping for me. Ugh, I'd rather just pay a set price.

One more thing. I'm on direct flights so I'm prepping for looong flights, perhaps the longest of my life. If you have tips of what gets you through such long flights I'd love to hear 'em. My doctor prescribed me some Ambien to help, but as I painfully discovered over the last 2 nights it doesn't quite have the intended effect on me that it's supposed to. Any advice you have I'd appreciate.

Thanks so much.

Anatomy of an Outfit

I was getting dressed yesterday the other day and at one point had to stop and laugh at all the different things I tried on before I was satisfied enough to leave the house. So I thought I'd take you on a walk-through of what it's like when I get dressed in the morning and all the different things that run through my head when I'm putting together an outfit.

The basics of the outfit stayed the same. I put on the pants, no excuse me "treggings" which I was wearing for the first time that I just got from Dorothy Perkins. Treggings is a terrible word and one I'd never heard before I was on their site. They're interesting, closer to pants than leggings and kinda remind me of something I once bought at Rampage for "post-prom clubbing." That however is a story for a very different time.

The top I got at Loehmann's and is one of those uber-soft, fancy cotton shirts. I cleaned out my long-sleeved t-shirt drawer the other day, throwing out anything that had a rip. I was pretty good, but I just could not bear to give this one away, even though there was a small rip on the seam. I made a deal that with myself that if I wore the top in the next month I was allowed to keep it, tear or no tear. Yay, I guess I win!

So I'm sitting in my room with treggings and t-shirt on, when I grab my black, cropped vest out of my closet and throw on a long black and gold necklace. I looked in the mirror and thought "no, not quite right, plus I might get cold" so I grabbed my long, black, cashmere hoodie. I put that on and didn't like the length. So then I tried a regular black cardigan and I didn't like that either. So I removed the vest and cardigan and stood there with just the necklace on as my only accessory.

I went to the blazer/jacket section of my closet and looked around and saw today's Torrid blazer which I don't wear that often, but I grabbed it and thought "aaah this will be perfect." I liked the blazer but I wasn't completely content with the look so I opened up my drawer of hair accessories and tried on a few different headbands, settling on the one I'm wearing which is from H&M.

Then while I had my drawer of hair accessories open I spotted this silver, sequined, skinny scarf that I got from some random store in London while we had been searching for hijab scarves for a friend. In the past I've only worn it as a belt or as a headband, but I had a blast of inspiration and thought "this might look good with the blazer." I tried it on, liked the look and then removed the necklace.

Amazingly and unusually so, I only tried on one pair of shoes and was happy with the first ones I put on. This is pretty rare. These boots I've had for many years and are from the shoe department at Evans.

Finally, my darling photographer of the day Ms. Ateqah decided we should snap me in front of my office wall since I matched it that day. I thought it was a funny idea, hence the mid-laugh photo, but I included it cause I love Ateqah and she liked it. Plus after everything I've told you, y'all probably think I'm crazy anyways so what's one more photo.

Am I alone in my crazy getting dressed in the morning saga or do other people go through similar things? On the upside, now I have a slightly logical reason as to why my bedroom always looks as if my closet has thrown up all over it.

Fake It Till You Make It

This is going to be a very, very quick post of last Friday's outfit. I'm going to be quick because I was still sad last week, which you can probably tell from my red-ringed eyes in the photo, but I'm in a much better mood this week and I don't want to focus on last weeks sadness. However I thought y'all might enjoy Friday's colors, which was another day of dressing the opposite of how I felt. My colors were bright, happy and cheerful and I was not. Folks kept saying I looked like I was colorblocking, whatever that quite means.

So in a brief rundown of last Friday's outfit.

I'm wearing these amazing purple Tripp pants that I got from Torrid in one of their mega clearance sales. They have these pants in a variety of crazy colors and after months of hemming and hawing I finally ordered a pair for like $15 and let me tell you I LOVE them. I think they're so much fun! The sweater is a hand me down from my darling Jamie. You might remember I wore an outfit using the same sweater in a similar color palette, but it was a very different look.


Now on to the accessories, my favorite part. I'm wearing a new, purple sequined bow that I got from Dorothy Perkins, which reminds me that I must update you on that international order that didn't go so well. The earrings are from Topshop and the necklace I got in a rainforest in Argentina.

And the shoes, ahh the shoes. I think these may have been the very first pair of shoes I owned from my beloved Office and if you can't tell from looking at them I have loved them to death. Seriously, I have had these resoled at least 4 times and they are stretched out and coming apart and fall off my feet half the time, but they are the perfect, gold flat and I can't find anything perfect enough to replace it with. I'm an 8.5 if you see anything that you think will work for me.


Photo credit goes to my work wife Nicole. Thanks love!

Stewardess Chic

I've had a terrible week. Well actually I've had a terrible past 3 weeks if we're going to be totally honest here, and yesterday was the worst of the worst. I had a completely and wholly unprofessional nervous breakdown in the office and to help ease the anger and pain and sadness I got drunk on margaritas. Thus when I woke up this morning I was both embarrassed by my actions at work and nursing a pretty wretched hangover. Ugh.

I felt and looked like I should just throw on some sweats, but I thought that if I put on a pretty outfit it might help to trick me into feeling better. Do you ever have days where you think "ok, I feel like shit and my world is collapsing, but if I look presentable and put together maybe I can trick people into not noticing that I'm biting my lip to keep from crying." Well it kinda worked, but not really. I think the fact that the lip biting didn't stop me from crying may have had something to do with it.

But this blog isn't about stress and drama, so I'm going to stop focusing on that and get back to the outfit at hand.

I had purchased this dress back in September and it has been hanging in my closet unworn, ever since. I don't know why as I think it's adorable and cute and easy to wear, but hang in my closet it has. I grabbed it this morning and thought, navy sweater dress, you are finally going to have your moment to shine. The dress is a large from H&M, and like much of their clothing is fat friendly. The tights are Old Navy and the shoes are Sam Edelman, who makes very cute flats (although they're fairly narrow so I'd recommend going up half a size). I bought the flats in a fit of drunken shoe shopping and was happily surprised when I woke up the next day to find that even sober the shoes fit, were cute AND were in a color lacking from my closet.

I was trying to figure out how to best accessorize the outfit when I suddenly had the idea of a scarf. I've always wanted to be a scarf person, but they scare me - I'm always worried that I don't know how to wear them properly and am going to look like a freak. But this morning I just couldn't stop thinking of scarves to complete the outfit.

Now here is where you're probably thinking, "ok bloomie, if you don't wear scarves why do you have one that matches your outfit so perfectly?" And there is a reasonable answer dear readers, I promise. When my Grandma passed away in 2005 my sister and I cleaned out her apartment. We were not the same size - clothing or shoe or hand, lord the dozens of pairs of leather gloves we gave away in every color of the rainbow still breaks my accessory loving heart. But she had scarves, a ton of them and I kept about 30 and they were sitting in a shopping bag in my closet. So this morning when I wanted a scarf I burrowed into my closet, discovered the bag and voila, found today's pink scarf. The one thing about this scarf is that I keep surreptitiously sniffing it, because it still smells a bit like my Grandma. Smelling a bit like my Grandma is absolutely great, but it does lead to an awful lot of stares and questions of "ummm, why are sniffing your scarf?" Awkward people, awkward.

Photo credit goes to my friend and co-worker Amy who was also kind enough to let me, the ex-smoker, bum an I'm stressed/angry/scared cigarette off of her. Thanks Amy, you're the best!

Solid Gold

Sorry for the lack of posting, it's been a rough past week. To make it up to you I'm back with a completely and utterly ridiculous outfit that I hope gives you as much joy as it did me.

On Saturday night I attended a Solid Gold party and I was out to win for best outfit. Last year these same friends threw a Black and White party and I was totally going to win until my friend Ateqah showed up and completely bested my outfit. It took me a long time to get over that loss and I was determined to win this year, coming up with an outfit that would guarantee victory and let me tell you, victory was mine.

Here I am with the male winner of the evening in our matching 1970's victory necklaces. In case you were wondering, it was never about the prize, merely the bragging rights.

Back to the outfit. The top has a bit of a back story to it. I got via a plus-size vintage reseller called Cupcake and Cuddlebunny who has an etsy shop and who also sells on Fatshionista. She has really beautiful pieces, however I've ordered from her about 4 times off of Fatshionista and twice there was something wrong with my article of clothing. The shirt I'm wearing arrived with a hole in the front of it. The owner was very accommodating about it and allowed me to return the items and I did with one of them, but return shipping and waiting on line at the post office just makes it not worth my while.

The shorts are Size Queen via Re/Dress and the wig is courtesy of Target and I bought it cause 2 years ago I dressed up as Miss. Piggy for Halloween. Tights are Target, bag is vintage and my wedges are from Topshop. I must say Saturday reminded me just how much I love the way I look in heels and wedges. I really wish I had more tolerance for them, but I just don't. After about an hour of dancing they were sitting under the couch.

I got a lot of male attention on Saturday, many wondering 1) what my hair looked like under the wig and 2) if my outfit was made up of things I already had in my closet. The answer to the latter question was a resounding yes which amused people all night long. To my surprise folks were more shocked that I had a blond wig in my repertoire than sequined hot pants. Really?

It leads me to wonder if blonds have more fun or girls in hotpants have more fun. What do you think?