ok, so i'm in a funk rock band in chicago, and we had a gig tonight, but I didnt think of taking a picture of my outfit before I left, so here I am, looking horrible after a nice night of music LOL but i loved my outfit so I had to share. and I know last time I posted, I was recommended to add more color into the mix, but I just liked this ensemble.

( my outfit! )

Shirt: size XL from Jimmy'z (I think it's a surf/skate shop? I got it for my birthday last year) - and i'm normally a 24/26, so they run rather big, i recommend them!
Vest: size 26 from Lane Bryant
Jeans: Size 26 from Torrid
Shoes: Size 11 from Torrid


I also was looking for some help for a photo shoot i'm doing saturday night - I was going to wear this cute dress (because I'm the only girl and have the right to be girly :P lol) and I was wondering if I could get some input about what to wear over it, because it will get chilly and i'm still not 100% with my arms and confidence:

( stars )

any and all help is encouraged - thank you! :)

EDIT! I just thought - i'm not sure how many of you are familiar with heidi's campaign with the 'i have a pretty face' shirt, but do you think i should wear it over that and then wear the skirt of it just like a skirt? it'd make a statement at least LOL but i thought i'd add that idea.

I recently got the go-ahead from my boss to purchase a couple of these for some upcoming conferences. If you're not familiar, the outfit consists of a knee length tunic (kameez), loose fitting pants that are long enough to pool at the ankles (salwar), and a scarf (dupatta). They are typically worn with shoes like these.

Pros of the salwar kameez:

1) It's comfortable.
2) It covers my tattoos completely (no worrying about a leg tat peeping out from under my skirt suit or getting too hot and wanting desperately to take off my jacket or blazer and reveal my arm tat).
3) They come in all kinds of colors and patterns.
4) They're much less expensive than a typical Western pants or skirt suit.
5) The bright colors will make me stand out in the crowd and make it easier for people to find and remember me (I'm in sales and the conferences are HUGE, so this is important).
6) They are feminine without giving the dirty old straight white men anything to leer at (I get this a lot in my line of work even though I'm definitely no super model. Male CEOs and other executives in my industry seem to think that any woman there is fair game to ogle and not a serious business woman since we are in the minority).

Cons:

1) I feel that it may be disrespectful to appropriate a cultural clothing item like this as I am white, even though the websites I've been on that sell these tout the fact that fashion designers are making these more mainstream nowadays.
2) I won't have the chance to check out the quality or measurement accuracy until I actually purchase one, which leads me to this post.

Has anyone purchased from this ebay seller before? What was the fit like? Were the measurements accurate? I was told by the seller to take my body measurements and then add 2" to each measurement to figure out the actual size I should order. Is this enough room for plus size women?

Any advice or suggestions are welcome.

I think this is fashion related. It's fat related for sure.  So I have this reoccurring dream where I'm in a mall or store and all of the clothes fit me. It's not that I am thin, but rather every single beautiful thing on every rack is my size. In fact I don't even have to look at the sizes, I  just go from store to store grabbing things and feeling fantastic.  I always wake up both happy and sad at once. Do any of you ever have a dream like that? Do any of you ever dream about being thin? I am so curious. Is that what the fat flea market is like? It must be wonderful. 

I want to talk chub-rub. Tis' summer (meh, as good as here in the afternoons at least) and the time of skirts (or if you are me all year long is the time of skirts because I love the free feeling of a skirt and wear trousers maybe twice a year) for most of us.

I know some people don bicycle shorts but to me that seems awful. From two standpoints really, the first one being it's hot and I want air to swish all around me - hence wearing a skirt, the second issue is that if the skirt isn't of a heavy fabric (e.g. linen) the breeze will swish it up (as happens to me constantly) and everyone would see that you are wearing shorts; this would embarrass me greatly.

Now in our family we have used Drapolene cream for over 20years (close to 30, I believe) and I have found no other cream better. I wore tights yesterday and it was so hot and sweaty that coupled with rubbing resulted in much OUCH, that evening I applied (after eventually locating it one one of the many moving boxes still around heh) it and this morning when I woke up I was grand. Make that 10m after application the stinging was gone. Vanished.

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/medicines/100000853.html - for you to see the ingredients.

The other good thing about it is it is SUPER cheap. In the UK you can get it from Boots (or any other chemist).

I'm going to a Cure concert tomorrow. I haven't ever been to a concert but my husband likes the Cure and was given tickets. My question is what should I wear. I want to be kinda dressy but I'm not sure if I'll be trampled or sitting most of the time. I could be boring and wear waht my husband will most likely wear, a concert t-shirt and jeans, but with my steel toed sneakers so my toes don't get hurt.

I have a mostly variable wardrobe of dresses, shirts, some cute, some functional shoes, jeans, pants, and a few Cure shirts my husband has at my disposal. I was thinking of it as a date I guess, going out and doing something we don't normally do, a chance to look sexy. For reference I'm a 44 C, 16/18 mostly on top with a tummy, and 22 on bottom, with a flappy lower belly and butt, so I don't want something really tight on bottom. My husband loves me in corsets.

comments and help please :)!

Big Folks Clothing swap

For the full-figured, curvy, zaftig, fat, jiggley and/or bigger-than-most
folks. This won't be just another clothing swap where your choices are
the super-cute-but-size-two hoodie or the punch bowl in the corner. No,
bring your big folks clothing*, bring a friend and bring a bag to take all
your fabulous finds home with you.

*Big folks Clothing: Ladies size 12 and up, Gents size 38 waist and up.

Thursday, May 8th at 7:30pm

DFWC-4945 Hazel Ave (near 50th and Baltimore Aves in West Philly, two
blocks from the 34 trolley)

Sponsored by Rad Fat Philly, a group of superfun fatties
Email radfatphilly@riseup.net for more details

In April I posted about writing an article on the fat acceptance movement, and the anti discrimination height/weight bill in MA for one of my journalism classes.

I just finished it and a few people had commented that they would like to read it. I'm not totally comfortable just posting it (in case it sucks =X) but if you leave a comment I will email it to you!

I'm fairly new to Fat Acceptance, both for myself and as an idea in general, but a couple of weeks ago I had a conversation which absolutely amazed me, and I really wanted to share it with people who would appreciate it.

At a family gathering a couple of weeks ago my cousin, who is three years younger than me and naturally very thin was lamenting not having a dress for an upcoming Formal she'd been invited to. I had suffered anorexia throughout high school and thus my Formal dresses were closer to her size than mine and sitting unused in a closet at my parents house. I offered her the dresses, but didn't expect them to fit her, assuming that I had always been fatter than her, even at my thinnest. To my amazement, they fit perfectly (except for round the bust where I've always been at least two cup sizes larger). One of them also fit her younger sister, who is even thinner and a state level Hockey player.

Later on in the evening I was talking to her about the dresses, and expressed my amazement that they had fitted them, given that I had always thought they were much thinner than me. Her response, which absolutely floored me, was "you were really thin, but you're happier now...aren't you?". And, you know what...I am! It felt so good to have it validated by someone else that the fact that I was a lot fatter than I used to be just didn't matter, and even better that she could tell I was happier this way.

(My squee was somewhat harshed by coming home and telling my housemate that story and having her cut me off before I could tell her what my cousin said and saying "If you've been that thin before, you can get there again". But I'm still treasuring my moment with my cousin.)

I'm still struggling with getting up the courage to tell other people that I'm happier this way, but what my cousin said to me means a lot, and makes me hope that I'll be able to speak up sooner than I thought.

This is so far on the edges of fatshion that it's hanging by its fingernails, but I figure if the mods will approve this, it's worth a try.

I am the proud owner of a new banjo.  His name is Ephraim.  :-)  I need a strap for him, but all of the ones I've tried at music stores end up hiking him to chin level.  Are there any guitar/banjo playing fats out there with a great resource for longer straps?  Or ideas about how to lengthen an average size one?  That doesn't involve sewing?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!

As an aficionado of funkier tights than the black-beige-navy type that's usually all I can find for my size, I occasionally go on a Google Hunt for something ANYTHING that'll fit and be interesting. I was disappointed with Foot Traffic's plus size, as they are supposedly up to 200 lbs but they didn't remotely fit my 190 lb self. I'm really annoyed at myself for getting too excited and buying three pair.

Long story short, I went on another Hunt today and found Look from London Hosiery. The site says "Plus size fits 130-250 lbs" which is unusually large range. Has anyone tried this brand? They have some nifty stuff, but I really don't want to shell out $20+ a pair if they don't fit.

Reviews? Thoughts?

(Oh and... hi! I'm new here. This place is cool!)

I know this is a bit off topic----but it applies I believe...

REGISTER NOW!!!!!!!


Femme2008: The Architecture of Femme
August 15-17, 2008
Chicago Wyndham O'Hare

Mission Statement

Femme Collective is committed to creating conferences by Femmes, about Femmes, and for Femmes and their allies. We understand that Femme is more complex than just being a queer person who is feminine; it is a part of how we interact with and shape our world as queer academics, activists, artists, homemakers, parents, professionals, students, teachers, etc.

Our conferences seek to explore, discuss, dissect, and support Queer Femme* as a transgressive, gender-queer, stand-alone, and empowered identity and provide a space for organizing and activism within Queer communities. We hope to attract people of all genders who are interested in a deeper understanding of Femme identity, culture, and history as well as Femmes interested in learning, teaching, connecting, and building community geared towards social change. Recognizing that queer Femme gender can be constructed independent of and/or intimately connected to biological sex, this conference will build coalition among queer Femmes of every stripe. Taking into consideration the various ways in which Femmes across the country and the world construct Femme based on region, class, race, ethnicity, access and ability, the Femme Collective will strive to create a safe place for open dialogue among a plethora of Femme-identified persons and their allies.

We are dedicated to: creating a Femme-positive environment; selecting programming to honor differences in ethnicities, physical abilities and gender expressions; and highlighting the intersection of queer Femme identity with issues of race, class, age, and body. We hope that together we can create a space to explore many of the complexities of Femme identity, including (but not limited to) questions of privilege, invisibility, intersecting identities, class mobility, aging, and the differences between femininity and Femme identity. We hope to contribute to giving voice to queer Femme identity, and to building unity, coalition, and solidarity in and among genderqueer communities.

*We recognize that for many lesbians and same-gender-loving Femmes 'queer' is not a term that works and that it can often feel alienating and unwelcoming. We want to recognize that language is always imperfect, and make it clear that we use the term as an umbrella to include all of us who identify as Femme within LGBTQIA/SGL and genderphile communities. We are using this term to specifically and intentionally include lesbians and same-gender-loving women as well as
genderqueers, transwomen, and folks of every sex and gender who identify as Femme and see themselves as part of LGBTQIA/SGL and genderphile
communities.

This is a cute video by a fat Romanian chick.

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I watch it when I am feeling grumpy about my butt.

Rock.

Ughhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I just saw a commercial that made me kind of sick.  Like, to the point where I threw up in my mouth.

It's for Coke Zero.

The way the commercial is filmed reminds me of "The Incredibles", meaning that it's really cutesy cartoons or whatever.  The commercial depicts two tongues drinking out of what looks like a glass Coca-Cola bottle.  An eyeball with legs walks up to them and says, "What are you drinking?"  They say, "Oh, a Coke!"  She says, "No, you're not!  You're drinking a Coke Zero!  I see it on the bottle!"  The bottle spins around, and the audience can see the logo.  Then one of the tongues say, "You know what, Eye?  You're a big fat liar!"

This is the kicker.   Ready for it? 

The eye scoffs, looks down at her two chicken legs and the rest of her "body", and says in a sad little voice, "I'm not fat.  Really!"

I was like.... WHAT?!  It wasn't the fact that they called her a liar or basically told her to get lost that upset her.  It was the fact that they called her FAT.

Wow.  Special.