definatalie.com » Fashion

Just call me Casual Perkins.

Natalie — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 11:58:41 +0000

I love seeing casual outfits on bloggers. I don’t mean “oh I just slipped on these really expensive wedges and woops everything coordinates perfectly and how convenient it is that I have a full face of make up and perfect hair” kind of outfits. That’s not casual for me. My brand of casual is an outfit you can roll around on the floor with your pet in, an outfit you put on to answer the door when the postie comes, or something you wear while washing the dishes.

A photo of Miffy and I standing on a groyne at the beach. I'm wearing a black singlet under a cream crochet top with denim shorts and I'm holding an orange bag.

Even as I write this, I’m thinking this outfit is a little TOO dressed up because I’m wearing that crochet top, shoes and a bra. It goes to show that even though I really really want to show realism, there are little extra lengths I will go to when going outside and/ or posting photos to this blog. Do I show you photos of me wearing a daggy dress with no bra? Nope! Why? I guess because, for me personally, I already feel disadvantaged by not being a conventionally attractive blogger type so what I post is really just the cream skimmed off the surface in my sartorial life. That might be true even for the conventionally attractive blogger types too!

One day, I promise to show you what I really wear on a day to day basis. A singlet and a skirt, bed hair, no bra and no make up. There’s this belief that fashion is aspirational, that is, that the types of people excluded from participating in fashion and being represented in magazines, on tv, through blogs, etc, aren’t the type of people most people want to look like. And the only thing that sells clothes is the idea that maybe, just maybe, we could look just like the type of person we aren’t. However, I know just through blogging that even us purportedly unaspirational fat people can get units shifted; that is, I know plus size bloggers are called upon by retailers more than ever to wear their clothes on their blogs so that readers will buy more clothes.

So what if I want to know where to buy casual clothes, nighties, undies and what not? And what if I want to see people like me who don’t have a load of money to spend on glamorous pseudo-casual clothes (and don’t get the “giftage” from retailers!) These are totally unfleshed out thoughts, but I’m sure somewhere in here is a middle finger aimed in the general direction of the fashion industry, popular blogging practices, the beauty ideal and capitalism. So just pretend I wrote something very smart and concise along those lines, and enjoy these photos of our day at the beach.

A photo of Miffy standing on a big rock with her tongue hanging out and licking her nose.

A photo of Nick holding Miffy as the wind sweeps her ears back.

A photo of me looking down, the crochet top I'm wearing is clearer in this photo than the first one and it has a big crochet flower on the front of it.

A photo of Miffy sniffing the ground with my legs walking behind her.

Singlet: Yours Clothing
Crochet top: Yours Clothing
Shorts: Best & Less
Shoes: Grasshoppers
Necklace: Made by me
Bag: Made by my neighbour

The Cambridge Dilemma.

Natalie — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 07:57:37 +0000

I have been besotted with Cambridge Satchels for a long time and what’s funny is that I don’t know if it really has been a long time or if time just slows down when I’m drooling over them. Since their fluoro satchels have been spotted on trendy people they’ve become something of a desirable item and it really kills me that I don’t have one. Even if I could buy one (something I’m thinking about very solemnly for my birthday!) I have no idea what colour I’d pick out. It’s the kind of bag that I could only ever buy once, because even though it’s a reasonable price for a Super Fashunable Thing, it’s still a fairly expensive thing. I’ve never spent over $50 on a hand bag in my life!

A collage of lots of outfit photos of me with a green, red and pink Cambridge Satchel pasted over every outfit.

I’m so drawn to the colourful satchels and in the best possible universe scenario I’d buy a bright green one. I was thinking about this with such intensity that I decided to superimpose a little green bag over different outfit photos to see if it’d fit in to my style (this is where outfit photos are super handy!) I found that the green stuck out too much for my liking. Even though that’s what I really liked about it! Then I added a red satchel and found it fit better, but because I do tend to wear blocks of red I didn’t want to appear too matchy matchy. So I added the light pink satchel… and I think I like it best!

If you have never had the opportunity to gaze upon the perfection of a Cambridge Satchel, avail yourself right now of the website. And then tell me which colours you are obsessed with so we can all sit around weeping with desire together.

And if you don’t want to be tempted by beautiful bags, come read my interview with Lesley for xojane.com.

Dress me down for summer.

Natalie — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 00:04:45 +0000

A digital illustration of me wearing a bikini surrounded by cut out dresses and shorts from Asos, Virtu and Sara.

I hate summer. I don’t understand why people rave about it because where I live at least, its an intolerable chunk of the year infused with sweat, chub rub, heat exhaustion and wearing far too many clothes. Since moving to the coast I’ve been a lot more casual in my dressing, so much so that I’ve felt a bit bashful about sharing my outfits here, but I’ve decided the embrace the dressing-down because there’s no point living near the beach if you can’t run around in shorts and a t-shirt.

Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find many shorts to my liking, and have only found a pair of cheap denim shorts at Best & Less, but what I’d really like are shorts of all different colours. I went on a browser window shopping spree for the first time in months to see if any of my regular haunts could supply me with my desires but was disappointed. I did find some cute dresses though!

In the end, I think I might actually buy some fabric and make a pattern from the denim shorts I have. I would like to sew some more dresses too, but can’t find any dress patterns I like!

The clothes I’ve got my eye on:
ASOS CURVE Printed Dress With Pussybow
ASOS CURVE Exclusive Floral Dress
ASOS CURVE Exclusive Chino Short
ASOS CURVE Exclusive Blue Bird Print Skirt
Virtu Hampton Dress
Sara Striped Dress
Virtu Urban Short

Megaherzzz Clothing Swap, and Being Fat in Brisbane.

Natalie — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 08:32:36 +0000

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!

Fatshion Femmepire, Arise!

Natalie — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 08:11:43 +0000

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!)

How to circumvent that pesky “no tights as pants” issue with a sheer skirt.*

Natalie — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 06:10:46 +0000

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

80s art teacher aesthetic.

Natalie — Sun, 15 May 2011 10:33:02 +0000

A photo of me, fat and pale skinned with short blonde hair and brown clear lens glasses, wearing an animal print brown and black top with a thin belt and an elephant head necklace.

I was quite pleased with myself for pairing this dipped hem dress (that you’ve probably seen before) with my maxi skirt and cowboy boots! This winter will be my Stevie Nicks season so I am getting inspired by 80s fashion to warm up through autumn. My Mum and aunty used to wear long tops with long dresses and ankle boots, as well as huge spectacles that covered most of their faces. I don’t have any plano lens glasses in that style I used to find so embarrassing, but I wore this pair of tortoiseshell glasses with odd winged frames anyway because I had a whole black and brown thing happening.

A photo of me in my black and brown maxi outfit in front of the cream hollow brick wall looking awkwardly jolly.

A full length outfit photo of me wearing the animal print dip hem dress with a thin black belt over a black maxi skirt and brown cowboy boots.

I like to think of this as my enthusiastic art teacher from the 80s outfit. Fun fact: had I cared to complete my double degree I would have been an enthusiastic art teacher from the 00s, wearing nighties and docs I suspect!

A close up photo of my huge metal elephant head necklace against my animal print dress.

I’m wearing this elephant necklace every day forever*.

*Or until I find another equally if not more amazing necklace.

Dress: Yours Clothing
Skirt: Made by me
Belt: From a Lane Bryant dress
Boots: Target
Necklace: Valley markets
Glasses: Giant Vintage

A photo of the tips of a green bush against a blue sky scattered with clouds.

And this is what the weather was like on Friday. Autumn in Brisbane is typically pretty fantastic.

Forever fance.

Natalie — Fri, 13 May 2011 00:36:18 +0000

A photo of Mia Amber Davis wearing seven Monif C dresses in various colours and posed in different, amazing ways.

Mia Amber Davis sadly passed away this week and I wanted to take a moment to remember her fabulousness. Mia was a role model, actress, model and activist and loved by so many in the fatshion blogging community.

A photo of a paper strip light fitting in front of a blackboard with chalk writing all over it.

I love paper and I’m always trying to find new ways to use offcuts and scrap print outs. This DIY paper scrap lantern looks so good and I even have a big perspex ball I can cover on hand. Horah!

The poster for Finders Keepers Brisbane Winter/ Autumn 2011, illustrated by Mel Stringer. It has a girl and a deer on a yellow background with leaves bordering the poster.

Mel Stringer, darling illustrator and person, has drawn the poster for Brisbane’s upcoming Finders Keepers market on July 3 at the Old Museum.

A full length photo of a brown skinned fat woman standing on rocks at the beach wearing a black top with one long sleeve under a sheer fuchsia sack dress with black boots.

Ok, catch your breath fatshionistas… Gisela Ramirez is unleashing her gargantuan talent upon us all! Her debut collection of gorgeous gauzy garments (gratuitous alliteration time) is coming soon, with some items available for preorder in the very near future. Watch this space!

A gold and black lace looking stainless steel collar on black ribbon.

I am so in love with collars at the moment, and this Polli collar necklace is giving me all kinds of DIY ideas! If you aren’t so much into DIY, you can buy one from Polli :)

Let’s go browser window shopping!

Natalie — Tue, 10 May 2011 23:07:46 +0000

Stevie Nicks always loomed large in my childhood as some kind of ethereal fae creature. My Nana had a bunch of old clothes she kept for us to dress up in, and so we’d swan about dripping with long skirts and scarves and I always felt like Stevie was out there somewhere being proud of me for dressing so rad.

Seinfeld aired as I was a teenager and I looked up to the character of Elaine Benes as if she were some kind of awkward aunty to my gawky teen. My friends and I would dance like her at inopportune times and wonder why none of us ever experienced what substituted for romance at school dances.

In lieu of well, any content at all please accept some outfits I made out of things I want but can’t afford styled after fashion heroes I love.

A collage of images including: a photo of Stevie Nicks wearing a black sheer shawl and drapey black dress, standing with her arms outstretched; a black loose knitted tunic; a black maxi skirt; a suede wedge lace up ankle boot; and a brown/red stone ring.

Inspire Ladder Knit Tunic
Black Maxi Skirt
Brogue Wedge
Brown Stone Ring

A collage of photos including: a photo of Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the character of Elaine Benes wearing a long floral dress with flat black and white spectator shoes; a floral tunic; brown leggings; and a white and black creeper shoe.

Floral Tunic
Chocolate Brown Leggings
Black and White Leather Creepers

This post was supposed to help me feel better about not buying things I want but I don’t think it has at all! Are there things you can’t have? Tell me about them. Let’s commiserate.

With chronic bitchface.

Natalie — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 05:16:29 +0000

A photo of me (left) and Zoe (right), two fat pale skinned ladies with blonde hair, standing in a garden at night with sassy faces. I'm wearing a black dress with floral tights and black high heels and Zoe wears a black tunic with purple draped sleeves, black tights and flats while carrying a clear umbrella.

What are friends for if they won’t pose in silly photos with you? Zoe and I decided to do an impromptu photo shoot showing off our incredible modeling skills. I suggested to Nick that he mimic skeezebag Terry Richardson’s style of photo taking but he was very uncomfortable with that considering that Richardson is awful and abusive towards women.

Our expert hair and make up is self applied while Nick took the photos. This is our ~lookbook~ for chronic bitchface, inspired by Kris Atomic, a name I might steal for any future band or fashion label of mine. You might recognise Zoe’s tunic as the one I wore in my last ootd, she bought one as well. ~birds of a feather and all that~

A photo of Zoe gesturing wildly while holding a clear umbrella. Her sheer purple sleeve is outstretched and spectacular.

A photo of me standing in front of a hollow brick wall holding a cigarette.

A photo of Zoe and my fat legs. On the left, Zoe's leggings are sheer black in front and solid at the back and she wears slip on shoes with cross over elastic. I wear floral tights with black platform heels.

A photo of me side on, looking down and smiling.

A photo of Zoe with her head turned to the right, holding a clear umbrella behind her head.

A photo of me holding my hands up in front of my face showing off my zombie apocalypse nails, bracelets and big square amber ring.

A full length photo of Zoe, a fat pale skinned lady with shoulder length blonde hair and thick rimmed glasses, posing all mystical like in front of a tree wearing a black tunic with draping purple batwing sleeves and black sheer leggings.

A photo of Zoe and I sitting on stairs posing with our bitchfaces.

Nick wants to start taking more photos of fat people and I really want to encourage him! This was silly and fun but also represents our bodies as curated by us, bodies that aren’t represented as neutral or fun or bitchy or fashionable in our culture.