A photo of me from the waist up wearing a black elbow length dress as a top with a lace detail down the front, and a red paisley skirt work on my high natural waist with a black belt.
When I was cleaning out my wardrobe for the Megaherzzz clothing swap I came across a dress I haven’t worn for ages and decided to wear it today. In times past I’ve worn the dress with a singlet underneath because it has a lace detail down the centre front, and being blessed with G cups I felt too exposed and never had a low cut bra to fully do the gorgeous detailing justice. Fast forward to this day in history, post cheap-Cacique-bras-on-eBay revelations, I decided to do it. I decided to wear the dress and show more of my cleavage than I’ve ever previously bestowed on this earth.
A portrait of me in the lace detail dress/top smiling.
When you think about it you’ve probably seen smaller chested people wearing low cut shirts without being hyper-sexualised, it just doesn’t seem to be a big deal; but when those who own big boobs wear similar style garments there’s another set of rules because large boobs are coded as hyper-sexual and slutty. There’s a huge pressure to be modest and hide yourself lest others say snide things or worse, invite themselves to comment or even violate your personal safe space. I wanted to challenge my own conditioning today, to wear a dress with beautiful detailing on my body and challenge that notion that only certain types of garments are appropriate for certain types of bodies.
An oufit photo of me, fat and pale skinned with short blonde hair in a blue scarf, wearing a black lace detail dress as a top with a red paisley skirt over black tights with black cage sandals.
Wearing the dress as a top, because it shrunk in the wash, and pairing it with a maxi skirt worn on my natural waist was another intentional subversion of the Myriad Rules of Fashion. I have a large frontal belly and many people have approached me and asked about my pregnancy. Even when I was smaller than I am now! I started to avoid certain styles of clothing that emphasised my frontal belly, like empire line dresses and high waisted skirts, dressing to “flatter” and “disguise” my body as it actually and naturally is. In the last few years I’ve been unpicking this conditioning because it does nothing to further my acceptance of my body, instead leading me to believe that there is a certain type of acceptable shape that I must aspire to even if I was not born with that shape.
Pregnant or not, who on earth has the actual right to interrogate me about my body? Or you yours? I ranted a little bit earlier today on my Tumblr about this and how pregnant friends have voiced their discomfort and even feelings of violation about strangers coming up to them and asking them about things they have absolutely zero right not know. More disturbing still, many pregnant people have had strangers touch them without invitation. It’s absolutely horrifying for me to think about and I’ve never been pregnant!
A photo of me in my black lace dress/ top smiling.
So I wore this outfit to challenge the “Rules” of modesty, figure flattery and how people have the ill conceived notion that they have a right to comment on or touch people’s bodies. After writing a short piece for another website about one of my outfits and talking to a researcher at Griffith University about fat activism last night, it’s really confirmed for me that my personal style and body is political. I can’t escape it. I think about it all the time and it informs how I dress and why I dress. Fashion may be frippery to some, but to marginalised identities it can be incredibly important and empowering.
Dress: Urbane Woman (I think!) from Myer
Skirt: Made by me
Belt: Yours Clothing
Tights: Asos Curve
Shoes: Spendless
Necklace: ebay
Scarf: Clothing swap
I attended the 4zzz Megaherzzz Clothing Swap today, and it was a little bittersweet finally getting to hang around such rad people before I move down the coast. Community is so important to me, but dealing with social anxiety is a huge barrier so I’ve found my community online over the past decade. I’ve wanted to connect with local feminists and activists recently but today was my first real attempt! This has only firmed my resolve to do more community stuff when I go down the Gold Coast.
A photo of a room full of people moving about and holding up clothes that are piled on tables.
A photo of Kat holding up a cream dress, there's a board full of colourful jewellery just in front of her too.
A photo of Ava Savage (I think! Let me know if I've got your name wrong!) holding jeans up amidst the clothing swap bustle.
A clothes hanger full of jackets and coats in different fabrics and textures.
A pair of pink/ orange opal looking plastic earrings on the jewellery board.
I took the opportunity to do a massive wardrobe purge for the swap, and brought along a lot of plus size clothing. I tried to get the word out on Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook and to encourage more plus size people to come along but there weren’t many of us! I was happy to pass my clothes on to other people without looking for swaps, because I am minimising in preparation for the move, but I wished there were more people there I could have given my clothes to. (All the unclaimed clothes are going to Lifeline so at least they will be getting an influx of my quality plus sized clothing!)
Today reminded me again that I have a body that has been sidelined by our culture. If you wear plus sized clothing, you get closed out of a lot of spaces. Physically, medically, romantically, in your career, and in terms of fashion. I love the idea of clothing swaps but have experienced just how difficult it is to encourage fat people to take part and I think it has a lot to do with feeling that we’re not welcome and that there will be nothing available for us. In the future I would love to help organise swapping events that cater specifically to people who wear plus size clothing. In addition to providing a space where people will feel like they know they can swap clothes in their size, it would also be a more comfortable space. Even though I wasn’t swapping today, I did pick through the piles of clothing and found little for me. To be fat is to take up space, and when you’re not involved you can feel like you’re in the way, and that’s another barrier for fat people when it comes to clothes swap events.
My experience today was not an isolated one, and I think if we can develop a strong sense of local community amongst feminists, activists, women and fat people, we can work together to make more comfortable, resourceful and meaningful spaces. I see some fabulous fat activist communities working together to build resources for clothing and swapping in the USA particularly, and pine for that kind of community here in Australia, particularly in Brisbane. Even so, I do have a network of supportive fat activists and friends here in this city and I know I will grieve that when I move.
Oh and here’s what Zoe and I wore today, representing the fat femmes of Brisbane!
An outfit photo of Zoe, fat and pale skinned, wearing a short black dress with a lace collar, grey cardigan, purple tights and floral Doc Martens. She has a hand in her hair and looks down, very lookbook.nu!
An outfit photo of me, fat and pale skinned with short blonde swoopy hair, wearing a black velvet long top with a grey tie dye maxi skirt knotted over black tights with black sandals.
Top: New Look
Skirt: Made by me
Tights: We Love Colours
Sandals: Spendless
Necklace: Made by me
Bag: Dangerfield
We walked into a few boutiques in Fortitude Valley and I felt like my imposter feelings were magnified. I looked at accessories and even the rings and bangles didn’t fit me. The shop assistants either glared or crowded around us asking if Zoe and I were hairdressers because of our “edgy hair”. One touched my tattoo, actually tracing around it with her finger. It was not a nice feeling.
It just makes me feel even more motivated to create spaces that make people feel good and not isolated or ostracised! Can I build a kick arse, supportive, size friendly community down the Gold Coast? Are you living on the Gold Coast? Do you crave this like I do? Gosh, please get in touch!
Today was super busy for me and I’d been dreading it a little because the last few months have been fraught with social anxiety and even though I’m starting to pull up out of it, it’s still a challenge. In this blog post bonanza I have TWO (2) outfit photos for your sartorial pleasure as well as some delicious Malaysian food eye candy.
Go get a cup of tea and come back… ok. Now prepare yourself for photographic evidence of all today’s happenings.
An outfit photo of me, fat and pale skinned with short blonde hair, wearing a white dress over slim leg jeans with a silver and black jacket.
A full length photo of my outfit showing my black court wedges
First up, a trip into the city to see my psychiatrist. I didn’t want to wear all black today and managed to pull it off with the exception of my shoes and handbag! When we move down the coast I might take advantage of some out of the way op shops and find a nice colourful handbag. Shoes are difficult considering I have big wide feet, so that quest will be a long term project.
Tunic: Target
Jeans: New Look
Blazer: Ebay score for $11
Shoes: Softspots
Necklaces: Ebay/ markets/ gift combo
Brooch: Etsy thanks to Mel!
A close up photo of a rose brooch pinned on the lapel of my jacket, much like the brooches of the Vesta Rose agency in the movie She-Devil.
My favourite thing right now is this brooch that Mel Stringer had sent to me. I’ve conveniently misplaced the business card of the Etsy shop she bought it from though! Ever since I watched She-Devil the other week I’ve been besotted with the Vesta Rose pins given out in the movie. Now I finally have one! Mel you are so precious!
An outfit photo of me wearing a knee length black dress with a rope print all over it, a black corduroy jacket, red tights and black court wedges.
Dress: City Chic
Blazer: Target
Tights: We Love Colors
Shoes: Softspots
Necklaces: Ebay/ markets/ gift combo
Brooch: Again with the Vesta Rose brooch <3
PRESTO OUTFIT CHANGE. As you can see, I wore clothes as per societal contract. Night time isn't terribly conducive to outfit photos so let's leave this here and move on to the food.
Capital idea!
A plate of four vegetable samosas with some sweet chili dipping sauce.
A plate of skewered satay beef or chicken (forgive me, I forgot which was which!)
Some plates of delicious foods including gado gado and curried prawns.
A steaming hot plate of crocodile. Yep!
Tonight in my second personal challenge of the day I met up with some Brisbane bloggers and the organisers of Malaysia Kitchen, a campaign to spread the delicious joy of Malaysian cuisine throughout Australia. My task for the next four months is to dine at a different Malaysian restaurant every month and report back with photos and my gastronomical experience.
One of the reasons why I really appreciate blogging is the opportunities it affords me that challenge me and push me out of my comfort zone. I got to meet four other bloggers who write about a huge variety of things, and we chatted about our blogs, our passions (and how they inform our blogging) as well as social media. It’s so great to connect with other bloggers in meat space!
Now as a Malaysian Kitchen Blogger Ambassador I get to try lots of food I’ve never had before. If tonight’s meal at Ipoh Laksa was anything to go by, it’s going to be a yummy four months. Being the vegetarian in the group will be interesting and I am curious to see exactly what Malaysian cuisine can offer me.
The owner of Ipoh Laksa brought us a whole bunch of dishes to try, and I loved all the vegetarian options he put in front of me. The samosas were probably the best I’ve ever had; the gado gado is fresh and swims in satay sauce (I am a sucker for satay); and the dahl is a simple yet gorgeously warming mild curry. Others in the group tried the crocodile and some weren’t even aware it was croc until they were told!
A group photo of myself, Dani, Naomi, Annabel, Mel, Carrie and Anthony sitting at a table in Ipoh Laksa.
I highly suggest following all the Brisbane bloggers taking part in Malaysian Kitchen’s campaign because we all live in different parts of Brisbane and are sure to be visiting a whole bunch of restaurants across the city. Due to my move I’ll be trying out some Malaysian restaurants on the Gold Coast as well as Brisbane, focusing mostly on vegetarian food but I’m sure Nick would love to review meat based dishes too!
For your reading enjoyment:
Dani of Hello Owl
Naomi of Seven Cherubs
Carrie of BNE Hot or Not
Anthony of The Travel Tart
Ipoh Laksa
738 Main Street Kangaroo Point
A photo of a mindmap I've drawn for our lounge room action plan for Sunday.
Today we started packing in earnest and began sorting stuff we will take with us, stuff we will dump and stuff we will sell. Tomorrow: more of the same as per my enthusiastic mind map pictured. Please forgive me for this reflective brain dump as I prepare to move to a different city and minimise the things that have come into the possession of Nick and I.
I don’t really ever think anyone will want my crappy shit but Dad is insisting on helping us with selling things on ebay. It’s difficult… basically all our belongings are hand-me-downs or gifts and scaling back possessions means having to throw out old birthday presents or sell wedding gifts. I mean, they’re obviously things we have little use for or that we flat out dislike but I worry about offending people. Then there’s family furniture we’ve accumulated that needs to be stored with Mum or rehomed. Nana’s display cabinet, Mum’s old washing machine, my parents’ liquor cabinet, a chest of drawers I used when I was little, and my uncle’s desk. Oh and the lounge suite.
A photo of my legs and feet draped with a pink blanket with a coffee table and a cabinet in the background.
This is what I did tonight. I’ve been snuggling up on the couch with my baby blanket at nights for the last week. We have to get rid of the lounge suite Mum gave us and even though it’s hard to get out of it’s super comfy for snuggling up in and reminds me of being safe in my parental home. I don’t think anyone will want the suite. The once gorgeous floral upholstery is stained and tattered, even though Dad always says that the frame is solid and sturdy. This couch has lots of memories that people can’t see. Like how Phoebe (our black toy poodle) used to walk around the base of the seats grooming herself and leaving dirt stains from her frolics in the yard. How we’d come in from swims, assuring Mum our hair was dry and watching TV as the salt water and chlorine leeched into the cushions behind our heads. When I was sick I would pass out on the couch and Mum would bring me tea as Phoebe sat in my lap looking after me.
At this moment what I’m experiencing is perhaps a kind of grief for things that have furnished my life for the last four years in the same space with Nick. At times I feel so frustrated that I just want to take everything we can’t bring with us to the dump! And then other times I wander around our unit completely overwhelmed before being drawn to the warm hug of the tatty floral couch. I see “lifehacking” articles about people embracing minimalism in their lives, but I’m just not comfortable with that idea. Obviously!
They’re just things, man, but they’re things that prompt me to remember and give me a sense of home. We’ll be moving in a fortnight to live with Nick’s Mum, and then we’ll have to readjust to a new sense of home. I suspect things will go better than expected, it’s just that the transition is quite discomforting.
Finding plus size sewing patterns is a completely frustrating exercise, so when I started sewing again recently I was dreading the time when I wanted to make something more complicated than gathered skirts. I’ve made quite a few skirts now and been very chuffed with myself for creating stuff I’ve seen available on websites, but when I got a huge pile of black mesh and desired a mesh maxi dress I knew it was time… time to face the dreaded plus size pattern books.
A lot of the patterns I’ve looked through from the big pattern houses (Butterick, McCall, Burda, Vogue and New Look) were pretty dreary looking. I loathe how their plus size sections are so minimal and out of date compared to what’s available for straight sized people. What’s worse, instead of just picking up a pattern for something tailored with cool features, I usually have to alter the patterns and spend heaps of extra time making sure my variations work. It’s expensive and it’s time consuming!
A full length photo of a pale skinned plus size model with long brown hair wearing a pink sleeveless shift dress with a big yellow bag.
I’ve been a member of BurdaStyle for many years, and while they have the obligatory tiny selection of plus size patterns I like being able to print out patterns at home rather than making a disappointing trip out to Spotlight. The Fatina Plus pattern has been on the website for years and has always tempted me, as it’s a pretty simple dress with loads of potential for variation. So I bought it and decided to play with it before I set out to make my much dreamed for mesh maxi dress.
A "print at home" pattern piece held up to show the overlapping A4 pages stuck together.
For my test dress I used a knit print fabric a friend gave me. I wasn’t too concerned about the dress fitting poorly because I seem to fit Burda’s sizing pretty well. I cut a size 54, one size smaller than my usual Burda size, on the advice of my lovely #sewtweeps buddies on Twitter. (If you are on Twitter and want to join the conversation or ask something, look for the #sewtweeps hashtag and save it on your client.)
A photo of my scissors cutting along the dashed line that indicates the size 54 pattern.
Printing and compiling the pattern pieces, while time consuming, wasn’t too hard a task. If you have never used printable patterns, ensure you don’t resize the pages before printing! There’s a 10x10cm box printed on the pattern so you can check you’ve printed the correct scale and prevent sizing issues. I attach my pages together with a bit of sticky tape a row at a time, then I add all the rows together. It can get difficult if you don’t have much space to spare, and if the pattern you download has a lot of pages. The Fatina Plus was about 30 pages.
A photo of two pattern pieces cut out of fabric with a 15 mm seam allowance on seamed edges
I cut out the size 54 and pinned it to my fabric, using the fabric layout advice on the instructions. When cutting the pattern pieces out of your fabric, do leave an appropriate amount of fabric for seam allowances as Burda does not include an allowance. I eyeballed about 15mm for seams.
A photo of my sewing machine attaching black stretch bias binding to the neckline of my dress.
I didn’t have enough to cut the bias tape pieces, but I wasn’t too worried because I had some stretch bias binding on hand. That stretch binding was especially useful when I discovered Nick had cut the shoulder off my dress when we were trouble shooting a stitching issue on my machine! I attached the two separated bits with the tape… it looks intentionally slashed now, and doesn’t affect the wearability of the dress at all.
A photo of the completed shoulder of my dress, showing the shoulder seam as well as armhole and neckline binding.
The black binding looked really smart and I was fairly impressed with myself. The pattern has two darts, three seams, neck and arm hole binding as well as a hem so it’s pretty quick to sew up (unless someone gets scissor-happy!) I tried the dress on after sewing the darts and seams to see what the fit was like, and surprisingly only had to take in a little under the arms and waist.
Nick was pretty devastated that he’d “ruined” my dress but I think it’s fabulous, even for a muslin! I showed him my binding fix and insisted that it added an interesting feature :P
An outfit photo of me, fat and pale skinned, wearing my version of the Fatina Plus pattern. The dress is made out of a green stretch fabric with a small stylised floral print, and I wear it with a belt, black tights and black shoes.
An outfit photo of the back of my dress, belted at my (high) waist.
A close up photo of the slashed boob feature on my dress. Black binding pieces the shoulder of the dress to the rest of the piece.
A photo of me wearing my dress unbelted, holding my belt in my hand, and throwing my head back laughing.
I feel confident with the pattern now, and will see if I can utilise my questionable drafting skills to draft some long sleeves for my mesh maxi dress. I’ll lengthen the dress at the “lengthen here” line rather than simply extend the hem. I want to be able to walk in it! I’ll use this tutorial to draft the sleeves, having used it once before. I may need to do a rough muslin with scraps first though.
I’m now also thinking about other variations for the dress, including adding a peter pan collar and maybe a full skirt. I’m ever hopeful BurdaStyle will add more plus size patterns to their site too!
Image - a graphic of photos of the clothes I’m selling and the Fancy Lady Industries logo. “Fatshion Femmepire” is written in blue.
I’m selling clothes in anticipation of moving down the coast, and also because some just don’t fit! I’ll probably be listing a few more things like shoes and accessories over the coming days so keep an eye out.
There are lots of dresses (including some rare vintage plus size), jackets, and sought-after Beth Ditto for Evans pieces!
Go and shop my wardrobe (which looks curiously like a staircase, indeed!)
A product photo of a white 30ml tube of emerginC red carpet primer.
From time to time I’m sent products to try out and review, and emerginC red carpet primer has been the best product I’ve been sent in some time. In this (admittedly poorly lit) video I talk through my minimal make up routine bringing the primer product into my collection of Things I Put On My Face.
An unretouched photo of my face wearing only emerginC red carpet primer, foundation, mascara and lip stain.
Transcript follows:
Hi! So today I’m going to do just a little review of a product that I was sent in the mail. It’s called emerginC red carpet primer. Now I am not a beauty blogger but I am someone who does use beauty products and I think it’s important that people who don’t have “beautiful, gorgeous” skin get involved in talking about beauty products and if they actually work. So many of the vloggers that I see talking about beauty products are just frigging stunning and make up artists, but you know I’m not an expert I’m just someone who buys things like this.
Now I was kind of surprised to get this in the mail, somewhere along the line I got signed up for a beauty blogger thing (which was surprising!) but it kind of fits in, in a strange way, to how I talk about body image. Now, I still use make up because in the whole scheme of things I still feel like I need to use make up (sometimes need and sometimes want) because it does make me feel better about myself and I’ve had bad acne since I was about 12 or 13 so I spent a long time trying to cover that up. It’s only just in recent years that I’ve been confident enough to go out without make up but today I want to try out this primer and I want to show you how I feel about it.
I’ve tried out a few primers in the past, one of them being the Napoleon primer which I thought was excellent but it is quite expensive; and then I saw a tip that you could use Monistat chafing cream as a primer and I was like “WHAT! I thought you could only use that on your thighs or other places that chafe!” I bought some on eBay, it was only about $8 and I think that included shipping from the States, and used it on my face and it works pretty much the same way.
Now this emerginC one is actually tinted and it’s probably darker than my actual skin tone so I was a bit concerned with that at first and I was actually wondering if they do even darker tints because I’ve heard so much from women of colour about how difficult it is to find tints and foundations that actually match their skin. I’m always surprised when I get tinted things, they seem to be a “one size [colour!] fits all” type thing. This product is kind of dark when you start putting it on but as you blend it in it seems to go ok and I don’t know if you’d wear this alone (I probably wouldn’t) but it seems to blend in fairly well. It’s still got that very typical slippy feel that most primers have, and that’s the whole thing, they go on your skin and fill up parts that need filling up and help the make up adhere (I guess?!) I don’t know, I’m not an expert! I actually have a sister who trained as a make up artist and she would probably be able to tell me more.
It takes me a few squirts to get full coverage, that’s just because I’ve got a big face. I’ve actually been using this off and on for about a month, and I stopped using Monistat just because this was always at hand and it’s got a little pump, which I really like. I just find it handy and I quite like it.
So once you’ve applied it just do your hair or something and let it set on your face. It feels quite – er it’s not “light”, it’s not very “heavy” either but you can definitely feel that something is on your face. I don’t know if you can see any kind of difference; some people claim that putting on primer helps even out skin tone but I don’t notice that a whole lot. I guess you can judge for yourself.
The make up that I use, it hasn’t changed in many years. It’s Revlon ColorStay and I haven’t been paying attention but I think somewhere along the line the colour formulas changed and I had to actually go lighter in the spectrum and I don’t know how to say this but I think it’s “150 Buff Chamois” (I pronounce it as sham-ee!) I can’t say French, I’m too Austrayan!
This looks like it’s quite light on my skin but once I’ve applied pressed powder it blends in a lot better. I’ve got a lot of red undertones in my skin and also some yellow colouring so it’s very hard to find something that matches me exactly. I just use my fingers, I’m not a make up artist, I don’t get very particular about this kind of thing. So I just pat it in. I was actually a make up model for my sister when she was training and the way that they were taught was actually to just pat the foundation on. They were taught to use brushes and sponges and what-have-you as well but the make up artist said she just liked to pat the foundation into the skin. So I guess everyone does it a different way.
So I’m just going to finish off my make up here.
(Time passes magically.)
I’ve finished putting foundation on, I haven’t put any powder on to set it yet but I find with this ColorStay stuff you just let it sit for a while and some people leave it there but I like my make up to look extra matte so I apply the ColorStay powder as well. I can tell a difference after I use the primer, it just feels like the make up is not settling into my quite large pores and sometimes blemishes. I really enjoy using it but then again, I don’t know if all primers are the same! They do seem to do the same kind of job and the only difference is, I don’t know, price?! But I enjoy using this all the time now. I never really thought about using a primer before a few years ago and now that I’m getting older and my skin is still the same as when I was a teenager except now I’ve got additional scars and large pores. Primer just seems to even out the surface and provide extra coverage. Also, without adding powder to set it can actually make your make up feel a little bit more dewy, so that’s a different look if you feel comfortable with that, but I’ve never actually felt comfortable with dewy skin!
(More time magically passes and I have mascara and dark plum lips.)
Ok so now that I have done all of my make up for today I will wrap it up. I just applied some Revlon Just Bitten in Midnight on my lips and a mascara I just bought, Maybelline The Falsies Volum Express. It’s waterproof, I don’t know, and it gives me more lashes than I really have.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my review and my approach to beauty which is quite like “whatever”! The emerginC primer – I enjoyed using it and I can tell the difference when I use it underneath my make up. Some tips are: Blend it well, allow it to dry and yep, just wack on that make up afterwards and GO!
See you later!
emerginC red carpet primer retails for around USD$44 on their US website.
Today the Mind, Body, Spirit Festival is on in Brisbane and Mum really wanted to go check it out. She collected my sister, Nick and I and we toddled off to the RNA Showgrounds. The convention was absolutely packed! Being somewhat of a skeptic, I was mainly there to get out of the house and catch up with Mum and my sister, but there were also lots of pretty crystals to look at.
We lined up for a quick reading from a medium called Jade-Sky, and I really didn’t have a question prepared but she said that I was a teacher, someone who gathered people around me and influenced them. I’m always surprised when people say things like this (and there have been a few, but none of them clairvoyant!) because I don’t see myself as that kind of person at all. All I could blurt out was, “Well um, I have a blog?”
A photo of me, Nick, my mother and sister smiling.
A photo of poached eggs, sliced avocado and a grilled tomato on toast.
After battling our way around a few aisles we emerged with hungry tummies so deserted the festival in search of food. Some guy even offered to take a group photo of us, so that was nice! After lunch I mentioned that Kerbside was a cool place to hang out so we went there and found a Zoe and a Sonya! Horay Brisbane!
A photo of some white lattice and green astroturf with "Garden Party" written in chalk on a black beam. Some butterflies are also stuck on the beam.
A photo of Zoe, me and Sonya standing together, looking fabulously stylish.
An outfit photo of Zoe, fat and pale skinned, wearing a floral dress, military style jacket, with black leggings and floral Doc Martens.
An outfit photo of Sonya, chubby and pale skinned, wearing a red dress, cream and black striped cardigan, with black tights and black patent oxfords.
An outfit photo of Mum, leaning awkwardly and professionally as a future fashion blogger!
Mum got in on the outfit photos too. Check out this next level awkward lean action! Future blogging maven, definitely.
An outfit photo of Mum,a pale skinned woman with short brunette hair, wearing a black top and pants with a cream cardi and scarf with black ballet flats.
An outfit photo of me, fat and pale skinned, wearing a cream floral dress with a cropped denim jacket, teal tights and brown ruched boots.
A photo of me, smiling in front of pretty fancy wood doors.
And then back to moi. Naturally.
Dress: via Such Moonshiners
Jacket: New Look
Tights: We Love Colors
Boots: Torrid
A photo of my legs and feet shod in my new red suede shoes. I’m wearing a black mesh maxi skirt, it veils my legs and part of the shoes.
* Not that you have to circumvent that ridiculous “rule” if you don’t care to!
I bought some black mesh on ebay a few months ago with the intention of making it into all kinds of lovely sheer things. On the weekend I finally got around to making up a long skirt! I’d aimed for a maxi, ended up with an ultra maxi and then proceeded to chop off a little too much… so I’ve now got a longer-than-midi, shorter-than-maxi sheer skirt with tonnes of frou frou.
I’m wearing the skirt above with some new red suede shoes. I love them but they were probably a poor buy driven by my lust for red suede wedges, even if they were on sale. The brand is Boston Babes, and they’re very narrow. I’ve tried stretching the width with ziploc bags of water in the freezer, but it led to heartache because one bag leaked and filled the toe box up with ice! I stuffed it with paper and left it to dry and you can hardly see the water stain now. Alas though, the shoes are still painfully narrow. I’ll try stuffing them with damp paper next but until they are more comfortable they’re a decorative accessory only! Evans, New Look et al. can you make some suede wedges available to those with wider feet? Please and thank you!
An outfit photo of Natalie, fat and pale skinned, standing on a footpath of a city street. I'm wearing a black corduroy blazer over an animal print dip hem dress, over my sheer black skirt, which is over a pair of black mesh cut out leggings.
Today I opted for sensible shoes with my new sheer skirt. I believe in the power of layering, obviously! I will probably make another skirt out of this fabric (I bought so many metres!) without so much fullness, but this one will do for days when I feel like being a fat black swan.
A photo of the lower half of my outfit, showing the animal print dip hem dress cascading over the sheer skirt. The mesh cut out leggings permit a salacious peek at my thighs.
A photo of me, off centre, in front of a big tree on the side of a street. I'm looking down and smiling a bit.
A full length photo of me standing in a carpark next to a piller with an emphatic "no parking" sign.
I was actually in the city to see my new psychiatrist, and had to broach the topic of what I “do”. It’s strange telling people you draw and blog, it’s not really considered a proper job by many. I hope maybe Dr Psychiatrist can help me with not feeling so awkward and shameful about that, because I really like drawing and blogging.
Jacket: Target
Dress: Yours Clothing
Skirt: Made by me
Leggings: Asos Curve
Shoes: Evans
I’m selling a bunch of my framed original art at a discount for the rest of June! Nick and I are moving down the Gold Coast to live with his Mum and we need to raise money and minimise our possessions. In the last six months I have been on an art-making hiatus and I’m not sure when I’ll be able to return to commissions and my personal creative practice, so this is a really good opportunity to purchase some of my art work.
A photo of one of my framed paintings sitting on a window ledge. A fat woman with big hair pulls needle and thread through a doily heart on her chest.
A detail photo of a painting of a fat lady with big hair full of paisley.
A photo of embroidery in a hoop, taken on an angle. "I hope I made you cry" is embroidered in red thread, and paisley and flower shapes are embroidered in white on a white handkerchief.
A photo of two black framed drawings sitting on an outdoors staircase. Both drawings feature watercolour drips and very intricate ink drawing.
A photo of a white framed drawing sitting on a window sill. The words "Sadness rusts nibs" sit in the centre of a floral and paisley border, drawn with red ink.
All of the work for sale has featured in exhibitions in Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne as well as in print publications such as Curvy. The framing is professionally done. I invest hours and hours of work in each of my pieces and hope to embellish your walls!
Fancy Lady Industries
To browse and buy available pieces of original art, come on down to
Fancy Lady Industries
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