Dare to Bare

I've been on the hunt for a denim dress ever since I saw my friend Mr. Kate rocking an awesome one at her birthday last year. Finding a fitted dress that fits my large ass and smaller chest is difficult so I didn't have much luck until City Chic (the Australian equivalent of Torrid) launched in the U.S. this year. They were kind enough to give me a gift card and after some buying and returning (yay for 2 way free shipping!) I ended up with this awesome dress.

There are pockets! Which makes me love any dress at least 50% more.

And a fun zipper down the back. Back fat realness.

Even though my office is casual I feel strapless is a bit much (apparently even I have boundaries) so I added this orange cardigan so to make it office appropriate. It also would have been perfect had I been headed to a Mets game (which I wasn't).

Aren't my earrings fun? My sister laughed so hard at me when I picked them up earlier in the summer but I have been wearing the hell out of them the past few months. They go with everything!

Dress - City Chic
Cardigan - Hand-me-down from Jamie, originally Bendel's
Shoes - Office
Earrings - Aldo

Photos courtesy of Ateqah whose birthday it also happens to be today. Happy birthday babe, I love you!

Take 5

Hi there, remember me? It's bloomie the fatshion blogger. I know it's been five months since I last blogged. I'm no longer a lapsed blogger, I think I qualify as a non-blogger.

But September has arrived and due to some pushing and prodding by my beloved Jamie I am going to attempt a fifth incarnation of 30 Dresses in 30 Days.

I'm not making any promises this go around. I forewarn you that I may not finish the month, I may spend a day in my pajamas and most notably I may/will likely end up wearing dresses that I've worn before. At this point in my endeavor I can't quite keep track of what I have and haven't worn in previous years and going through 120 outfit photos every morning just doesn't seem feasible or realistic. So I'm going to aim to wear things I think you haven't seen before, but it may not always work out that way.

Dress - Ebay
Leggings - Danskin
Sandals - India

Earrings - Topshop
Fascinator - Street Fair

Photo courtesy of Ateqah, who also suggested the tongue.

New Hair and Office Sequins

Ta dah! Check it out, I have new, all natural hair.

Last spotted in 1998 and a two-year work in progress, it's my all natural hair color. I was more than a bit shocked when I discovered just how dark my hair really is and to be honest I wasn't all that pleased. But it's been a few weeks now (I'm quite the delayed blogger) and it's really starting to grow on me. The cut was inspired by a curly haired Maggie Gyllenhaal and while not quite as dramatic as I was hoping for it did re-dedicate myself to my stylist who I was thinking about breaking up with after a very long relationship.

You like?

I've also got on a very cute, new to me dress. I picked this up on my trip to Portland this past fall on Hawthorne Boulevard in the Southeast. Portland was glorious and I can't believe I never told y'all about it. When I finally wear the dress I got from Fat Fancy I'll give you an update.

It's just a simple black sweater dress that has the most AMAZING 80's shoulder pads and sequins. It's a continuation of my desire to bring sequins to the office, not just the weekend. I've paired my sequined sweater dress with some Duo boots and a headband from a Brooklyn street fair.

Photo credit to my beloved Ateqah.

I'm the Fat Cruella de Vil

A week or two ago the Fat Heffalump asked me if I'd be willing to contribute to a blog post about what fatshion meant to me. I was super touched to be included and quickly sent her a few lines and included the above photo of me. Amongst the things I said I wrote

"Sometimes I get on the subway in the morning, look around at everyone on the train and think about how in a sea of black, I am the fat woman wearing multiple fluorescent colors and a faux fur jacket. And then I laugh to myself and think about how far I’ve come from the days when I didn’t even know where to buy jeans that fit me."

And today's outfit is just an example of how far I've come. Not just in being comfortable in my body enough to show it off and bring attention to it, but also in the array of places I have to shop.

Also before winter finally ends in New York I wanted to show you what I have found to be the best part of my winter. My amazing, vintage faux fur that I purchased at Re/Dress a few months ago. I'd been coveting a faux fur all season and after a few ordering misses I picked this up at Re/Dress in the midst of one of the many blizzards we had. Every time I wear it, it puts a huge smile on my face. I think it makes me the fat Cruella de Vil!

Underneath my coat I had on those multiple shades of fluorescent I referenced. This dress was also picked up at Re/Dress and it was one of their new pieces that they carry. For some reason I don't wear this dress that often, even though I do like it. It often feels like a lot, even for me. The one other time I wore it I met Morgan Freeman.

There are batwing sleeves - fun! The dress comes with a belt that threads underneath the sleeves, but in the most un-bloomie fashion I chose not to wear it. I'm also wearing tights from Target, shoes from Payless and earrings from Primark.

As an added bonus the dress does some nice stuff for my booty. My ass and I are happy.

Photo credit goes to Amy and Ateqah.

My Vest is Bananas

As much as I hate to admit it, sometimes I watch the Rachel Zoe Project. Half the time I think she looks like a crazy lady (cause let's be real she is) and the other half of the time I love her look. I die, do you die?

When Rachel Zoe first started wearing a furry vest a few years ago I thought she looked ridiculous. I swore I would never, ever wear such a thing. And then, slowly but surely as time progressed I warmed to the look until finally I wanted one of my own. Lesson of the day, don't doubt Rachel Zoe's fashion foresight.

So one night I was shopping at the Atlantic Center Target, aka the Target that never, ever has anything in stock when I came across this vest from their newish juniors plus line Pure Energy and threw it in my cart. I wasn't sure how to wear it, but my wise friend Ateqah just told me to keep everything else simple and I would be ok. As usual, she was right.

I chose a simple black dress as my base. It's a straight sized piece from one of Bloomingdale's in house brands and I got it from a Friday fats sale. I'm wearing some crocheted tights from Target and boots from Evans. My necklace is from the Bust craftacular. Unflattering lighting thanks to the MTA, photo thanks to Ats.

"People Dress Up"

A few weeks ago I had to go to Las Vegas for work. Las Vegas is a terrible, terrible, terrible place that I hope none of you ever have to visit (unless of course you like it and then by all means have fun). The upside of Vegas was my proximity to the West Coast. Taking only a few days off of work I was able to sneak in a far too brief visit to some of my favorite people in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, including this one.

IMG_8364">

That's me with my best friend Karen. Adorable right? Today is her 31st birthday and I think we have now reached the tipping point where we've been best friends half of our lives. I love her beyond words even if every single thing I wear brings mockery and derision on her part.

While I was out in the Bay Area my friends Tom & Billy suggested a visit to the Alameda Point Antiques Faire. It's this amazing antique market with hundreds of vendors on an old air force landing strip in the middle of the Bay. What is there not to leave about this activity, I was so down. To make it even more enticing Tom told me that "people dress up" for the antique market so if I wanted to I should wear something fun. I had a packed a few crazy dresses that I never got to wear in Las Vegas so Alameda was sounding even better by the minute.

I may have been a bit more dressed up than other folks.

IMG_8396">

I was wearing a new dress from Forever 21 with luvees peeking out from underneath. I thought I kind of dressed down the purple lame with some Minnetonka moccasins. Let me just say, they did not dress down the outfit nearly enough.

IMG_8390">

I borrowed a necklace from Karen and am wearing Betsey Johnson sunglasses. My frizzy hair is thanks to the wind.

I was beyond overdressed for the market, but it was all good fun because I got to take photos like this.

IMG_8399">

IMG_8387">

Finally here's a group photo of my the 3 lovely hosts who wined me and dined me and successfully made me not hate the Bay Area. Note how they are dressed, including the two men who passed on the advice that "people dress up."

IMG_8401">

All photos are courtesy of my beloved, brilliant, beautiful, brainy, birthday bestie Karen. I am a lucky lady indeed.

Sundresses and Snowstorms

This is what it looks like outside of my apartment today. We've had 20 inches of snow fall and it's insanity outside.

But I want to take you to a different place, where you don't have to wear ugly shoes and trudge through waist high snow. After London I headed over to Israel for a few days to visit my sister. The temperature rose by 50 degrees and I spent my days either playing with my niece and nephews or lying in the sun, reading trashy magazines. Good times.

It also meant that I got to wear a new dress that I had picked up on the Evans sales rack the week before in London.

Can we have a moment of silence where we appreciate how little clothing I am wearing and how sunny it is. Ok, thank you.

The best part of the dress is the crocheted back. I love details like this and yes, next time I'll wear a black bra.

I have little on, but as for details my dress is from Evans, my flip-flops are Havianna's, my bag is Botkier and I picked up these sunglasses at a market in Turkey.

My hair piece was purchased at the Bust craftacular a few years ago and I think I got these earrings at a NYC street fair. My wonderful sister was both my tour guide and photographer for the day.

And just because I am a woman obsessed, here's a photo of my sister's "baby." It's official, my nephew is cuter than yours.

Happy Holidays

Yesterday was my office's annual holiday party. Mind you this was the 4th work holiday party I had attended over the previous seven days, but it was also the "official one." I hadn't really planned on wearing anything special until a friend gchatted me the night before to ask what I was planning on wearing. Oh my, I needed an outfit. I scoured my closet and was so excited when I realized I'd finally have an opportunity to wear this dress that had been sitting in my closet for the past year.

I picked this black, velvet, sparkle dress up in a charity shop in Charleston last year for less than $10. In a completely un-shocking twist of fate I was drawn to it by the sparkles. I picked it up, held it up and thought to myself, this looks like it'll fit. And then I looked at the size tag and though uhh...maybe it won't. Why? Well take a guess what size this dress is. Have you guessed yet? It's marked a size 6 and as my colleague said last night I may be many things, but a size 6 I am not.

But I grabbed the dress, took it into the fitting room and lo and behold it fit! It's a stretchy dress to begin with and I'm sure it has stretched considerably over the years. I'm guessing this dress dates to the Working Girl fashion era. It just shows that you should always, always, always try stuff on so you don't suffer from fashion remorse.

I paired the dress with my new hair fascinator from Primark that I picked up last month and my necklace is also Primark, albeit several years old.

I'm wearing my beloved and fairly banged up first ever pair of Duo boots.

And here's a close-up of the dress so you can appreciate the pattern. I like it so much that it's worth the trail of glitter that follows me everywhere I go when I wear it.

My friend kept saying I was wearing a diamond dress. I was a bit confused until she sent me this clip. NPH give me a call and we can be matching diamond twins.

Day 16, Dress 106: Sisterhood of the Travelling Dress

I have dubbed this dress the sisterhood of the traveling dress, after the movie Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. I named it that after this straight sized medium dress magically fit me and two other friends with two very different bodies and still managed to look good on all of us.

I doubt you could tell it from these photos, but I was not having the best day. I had just signed my lease the day before and was having a nervous breakdown about the enormity of all of it. In typical bloomie fashion I broke down in tears in front of my friend/work wife/colleague/regular photographer Nicole and she was so worried about my well-being that she insisted that I hop on a train to Westchester for a pre-Yom Kippur fast meal. (Is it completely terrible that ate a big meal and proceeded to not fast?)

So here we are at the train station in Westchester doing our photo shoot. It wasn't however my first shoot of the day. Early in the day I headed over to Governor's Island where I was lucky enough to model for one of my very favoritest websites Adipositivity (warning, it's NSFW). All of my photos haven't been posted yet, but you'll be able to spot at least one of them very, very easily. I was hoping to get more naked than I was able to, but even just wearing my Mermaid Parade costume we got questioned by the staff and so we scurried off the island before we really ruffled any feathers. It was a wonderful experience and I hope I get to pose for the lovely Substantia Jones again sometime soon. I'm envisioning a winter photo shoot where I wear boots, hat, an open coat and nothing else. Wouldn't that be cute?

As I mentioned the dress is a medium dress from Macy's in-house brand INC that I got via my friend Mirka. My red peek-a-boo bra is from Lane Bryant (which if nothing else has cute bras), my necklace is from Peacock's, earrings are from a street fair and sunnies are from Primark. Big smile is due to the insane conversation I had with my girlfriends on the train up to Irvington. I really do believe that you're never fully dressed without a smile.

And I'm wearing my summer staple Dansko sandals, replete with my pedicure that would be more in place on an 8 year old than a 31 year old.

Photo credit goes to my friend Caitlin.

Day 13. Apartment Hunting is Exhausting

Apartment hunting in New York is exhausting and depressing and overwhelming in a way that I cannot quite explain. Seriously people, it is the worst and it's been driving me crazy. I've now found a place (and will likely write about it more soon) but the stress has been driving me to want to put on sweats and not get out of bed. However since it's September I have to rally and put on a dress. I should probably be thanking you all for that.

I wore this tunic a few weeks ago so I wanted to showcase it in a different way. In that end I paired it with some jeggings from Faith 21, a cropped cardigan from Banana Republic and my new favorite moccasins.

I added a headband from some crappy accessory store on 14th street and my pink, sparkly moustache necklace that I got at the Bust Winter Craftacular. One of the fun things about this necklace (aside from the fact that it's a pink, sparkly moustache) is that it's reversible and is black on the other side. Yeah for utility!

Photo credit goes to my co-worker Ben who helped a girl out very late at night.

Day 10, Dress 100!!!

Oh my goodness, today is dress 100!!! (Well that may not technically be the most accurate statement I've ever made because I've missed a day or two over the years but that can be our little secret right?) I feel like there should be cake and champagne (or at least Prosecco), but instead I'm sitting on my couch with a beer and leftover Mexican. Let's close our eyes for a minute and imagine the cake and champagne. Ok, open them back up and feast your eyes on this crazy ass dress.

I've worn this dress before and I wanted to make it different from the last time you saw it. In that end I belted the dress (nothing new) and then "bloused" the dress so that it was above the knee and you couldn't see the belt. I added my pink cowboy boots and some tiny turquoise studs in my ears. There was so much going on with the dress that this was my attempt at understated. I mean my hair is in a ponytail - what's more understated than that?

The dress is vintage Chadwicks, purchased in Charleston, the earrings are from a long ago trip to Paris and the cowboy boots are from Dorothy Perkins. I think the dress may be a bit much for me and it may make its way over to Re/Dress. What say you?


The photo was taken by my sister-in-law outside my mother's house on Rosh Hashana. Shhh, don't tell her, she doesn't like us to use electricity on the holidays.

Day 9, Dress 99: Starting the New Year Off Sexy

A few months ago I asked for your input as to which dress I should keep of 2 very different dresses that a friend was offering up to me. I ended up getting one dress as a present and buying the other off of T-Pops but when I wasn't sure if I could do that I had already decided on today's dress as the keeper. It was the overwhelming favorite of y'all and as many of you pointed out, I didn't have anything like it in my closet.

When I first posted the dress to vote on several of you commented that while you liked the idea of the dress, you thought it was too tight on my lower half. Some of you suggested shapewear as a solution, but aside from being uncomfortable, bodies - mine perhaps more than others - have lumps and rolls and I'm ok with that.

Thursday was the first day of Rosh Hashannah, aka the Jewish New Year and I decided that I was going to start the new year off right - loving and embracing my body and looking fierce while doing so. In that end me and my lumps and bumps wore my sexy secretary dress from Torrid for the very first time.

The dress had so much going on that I kept the accessories simple. Silver wedges from Office and the earrings are from a Brooklyn street fair.

I'm not one for services, but my sister-in-law was leading services which made everything very special. We even had a celebrity spotting at services! NY is fun that way.

Photo credit goes to Nicole, my dear friend that I am so glad I got to start the new year with for the third year in a row. This past year wasn't what I would call my best ever and I'm hoping this coming one is a better.

On the Jewish New Year we eat a lot of sweet food and dip everything in honey in the hopes of having a sweet new year. Dear readers I hope you all have a sweet and happy new year filled with joy and happiness and of course some pretty clothes.

xoxo

~bloomie