A Body Revolution

I was contacted by a brand new blogger, Dominique Silva, asking me to put the call out for her. Dom has created the blog A Body Revolution.

In her words:

I created this blog to help women learn to love themselves. … I hope that one day whether you are a size 2 or a size 22, whether your nose sticks out more than you think it should, whether your knees have scars, whether you believe your skin is too light or too dark, I hope that you will go out into the world with your head held high. Be confident and accept your body.

The Body Revolution is looking a wee bit empty because she is counting on us, dear readers, for her content.

Dom wants you to send her pictures of the parts of your body that you used to hate but have since come to accept, or even love. It can be something small (freckles, hair, fingernails), something big (belly, legs, back), or it can be your entire body. She’d also like a paragraph or two about why you used to hate it and how you came to love it. Please send your pictures and your stories to thebodyrev@gmail.com.

I think this is a smashing idea and I’m jumping right on board. This is the picture and story I have sent in:

I hated my bottom for years. Growing up in a white coastal town – surrounded by thin, blonde, ample breasted surfer girls – it was obviously wrong. It stood, and continues to stand, between me and pants. I wished there was some way I could just cut it off and look like everyone else.

Until I started to like not looking like everyone else.

Now, I like how it curves so arrogantly. The way my bottom sticks out is unashamedly sexy. It’s intimidating. It’s indecent. My arse breaks hearts!

I love my bottom and will never again want it to look like everyone else’s. I love every glorious jiggling centimetre of it.

(Yes, they are stretch marks on my hip. And I love them too.)

Fat Admiration and Fat Acceptance

I’ve been thinking about writing a post on this for months, but was given a kick in the pants by a post on Big Fat Deal titled ‘Fat Fetishists on Tyra’.

First of all, we need to work out our definitions. There are very clear differences between fat admiration (a preference for fat people), fat fetishism (can only be aroused by fat), and feederism (actively wanting/making your partner fatter). People have used these terms interchangeably and they shouldn’t.

More than anything, my problem with the whole Tyra thing (that bastion of media integrity) is that those who are attracted to fat women are considered so odd, their preferences considered so bizarre, that they have a whole segment dedicated to them. Really, Tyra? REALLY? You wouldn’t base a segment on men who prefer blondes, so you’re revealing yourself to be incredibly judgemental by treating fat admiration as an ‘issue’ to be dissected.

Straight up: I have no problem whatsoever with fat admirers. I was introduced to the online fat admiration scene by a boy. At that time, my self-esteem wasn’t the best – I tolerated my body, but I certainly didn’t love it. I figured guys were attracted to me in spite of my body, not because of it. As taboo as this is to admit in the Fatosphere, it was a huuuuuuge revelation to find that people not only thought I was sexy, but preferred my fat self.

Don’t get me wrong – some guys on those websites are creeps. I’d get ridiculous messages that were obviously written with one hand. And I am not defined by how many people find me attactive. Having said that, realising that there were people out there who thought my body was perfection meant that I could finally let go of all the ‘my body isn’t good enough” bullshit that I had held onto for years.

I’m not saying that external validation is the only measure of worth. But I can’t ignore the fact that fat admiration was a significant part of my fat acceptance.

Seen in… Sydney

Thanks to blogs like The Manfattan Project and Curvy Street Style on Saks in the City, I’ve been noticing more and more how many well dressed fat women there are walking around. So I am officially hitching myself to the Street Fashion Bandwagon with my new feature, Seen In…

Giddy up!

Imogene, Sydney CBD

Corporate wear can be so frightfully dull, but I saw Imogene’s sweet blouse and suit combo from about 20m away. (Then I raced over to her and nervously babbled about taking her picture for my blog. She was nice about the whole thing, which was quite good of her, so extra points for Imogene.)

Fluvia Lacerda in ‘16′

I received an email from the people at the plus-size brand IGIGI that opened with “I know you are a big fan of Fluvia Lacerda…” (Is it really that obvious? I thought I was being subtle.)

IGIGI have commissioned a short film titled ‘16′, directed by fashion photographer Mark De Paola and starring my beloved Fluvia Lacerda.

In the company’s words:

This film is about beauty – real beauty. Not the artificial, airbrushed, enhanced, starved beauty we are bombarded with everyday. It is about a powerful, sexy woman who loves herself and her body.

It’s certainly an interesting idea. The film is beautifully shot and Fluvia looks UH-MAY-ZING.

For more information and to have some input into the second chapter of ‘16′, visit IGIGI’s website. The beautiful dress worn by Fluvia in the film is also available at IGIGI.

“No one wants to see curvy women”

There goes Karl Lagerfeld, running his mouth again.

“No one wants to see curvy women,” Lagerfeld was quoted as saying on the website of news magazine Focus on Sunday.

“You’ve got fat mothers with their bags of chips sitting in front of the television and saying that thin models are ugly,” he added.

The world of fashion is about “dreams and illusions”…

I get that much of Karl’s anti-fat outlook probably has to do with the fact that Karl used to be a fatty. Not only that, when he was a fatty he had ACTUAL FACIAL EXPRESSIONS.

Proof fat people are jolly.

So maybe he’s not some twatty body fascist. Maybe he’s still navigating the body acceptance journey. Poor little dear. Karl, if you need it, there’s a hug waiting for you in my now ample bosom.

I agree with him on one point. Runway shows are, for the most part, about “dreams and illusions”. Even I, from my casual flirting with fashion (read: I look at pictures of fashion shows every so often when avoiding work), can see that the catwalk relies heavily on the theatrical. But I fail to see how this is exclusively the domain of the skinny model.

Crystal Renn in the finale dress for Jean-Paul Gaultier prêt-à-porter S/S06

Johanna Dray for John Galliano, S/S06

Velvet d’Amour for Jean-Paul Gaultier, S/S07

See? Fierce as shit, hips and all.

While runway shows look amazing, they don’t exactly translate to the street very well. Which is where Brigitte comes in.

[Lagerfeld dismissed] as “absurd” the debate prompted by Brigitte magazine which said it would no longer feature professional models on its pages.

Brigitte, one of Germany’s top women’s magazines, said last week it would only publish photographs of “real women” after readers complained they could not identify with the models depicted.

The magazine’s editor-in-chief Andreas Lebert told The Guardian last week that he was sick of having to retouch photos of underweight models.

“For years we have had to use Photoshop to fatten the girls up,” he said. “Especially their thighs and decolletage. But this is disturbing and perverse, and what has it got to do with our real reader?”

He said he would invite German women to put themselves forward as models for the magazine. According to The Guardian he is likely to extend an invitation to Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The magazine will stop using professional models from 2010.

There is a reason why blogs like The Sartorialist and all the fatshion blogs out there are so popular – we want to see how trends translate onto a real body. Professional models take very nice photographs, but someone like me with a body like mine is not exactly inspired to try out, say, the jumpsuit when shown a photo like this:

Carmen Kass in Spanish Vogue, May 2009

But put it on a body like this:

via Fat Girls Like Nice Clothes Too

Or even a body like this:

via Le Blog de Betty

And you’re more likely to get my money.

This is not about banning skinny models from catwalks or only allowing fat(ter) women in magazines. This is about allowing consumers to relate to fashion in a more meaningful way through a wider spectrum of bodies. The validation women will get for their body shapes is just gravy. From a cold, hard, financial standpoint, it makes sense for fashion magazines, advertisers and clothing brands to get on board the Everyday Woman train.

Oh, and Karl?

Article source: Sydney Morning Herald
Picture source: Fat Girls Like Nice Clothes Too!
Picture source: Le Blog de Betty

My new favourite website

Allen, Bedford Ave. (photo by Greg Speck)

Everyone should check out The Manfattan Project post-haste.

In the words of the moderator:

[The Manfattan Project is a] collection of photographs of stylish everyday people in New York City. These people are beautiful, they are well-dressed, they are confident. They are also, without apologies or contradictions, FAT.

Hana Malia, Union Square Farmer’s Market

I never realised how rarely I see the everyday street fashion of fat people until this site came along.

Jess, FIT.

Well, go on then. Clickety click your way over there.

My boobs are outraged.

Recently, my tits grew. I’m not sure when exactly because, due to my deep deep hatred of bra shopping, I put up with spilling out of ill-fitting bras for months. When the last hooks on my bras threatened to snap off suddenly and violently, I decided to brave the hideousness of the department store lingerie section.

I’m quite pear shaped, so it was only with this recent booby growth that I made it into plus size bra territory (I’m now a AUS 16D, which I think equates to a US 38D). With my new back-to-cup ratio I have apparently made the transition into completely sexless bras.

Helllooooooo boys.

I don’t know about you, but it’s a wee bit hard to think “I break hearts for a living” when encased in this much beige microfibre.

Even the prettier, less practical bras – like this absurdly expensive one by Fayreform – subject my tits to an unnecessary amount of control.

HI. I'M STRAPPED IN.

My hatred for bra shopping has now increased tenfold.

What’s the deal? Who decided that bangers, once past a certain size, must have enforced sexlessness thrust upon them?! MY BOOBS ARE TOO FABULOUS FOR THIS SHIT.

I need your help, Fatosphere. I know there are many of you that have been dealing with this crap for many years and have worked out which brands flatter the girls and which try to hide them from the world completely. Where should I go? What should I buy?

Asia Pacific has had a rough week

Padang after the earthquakes. Photo: Reuters

This not your usual fat-lovin’ Corpulent fare. This is an appeal for donations.

In the last week, Asia Pacific has had a gutful. Typhoons have ravaged the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. An earthquake and tsunami has hit Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga. Two earthquakes, measuring 7.6 and 6.8, have hit Padang on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia.

Hundreds have been killed, thousands have been injured and the damage is enormous. Luckily, we have the Red Cross and Oxfam here to help.

The Australian Red Cross has set up the Pacific Tsunami Appeal. Funds raised through this appeal will be used to support relief, rehabilitation and recovery activities for communuties affected by the disaster in Samoa, Tonga and other affected islands. You can donate to them here.

Oxfam Australia has established the Asia Pacific Appeal to send additional emergency staff and supplies in response to widespread flooding in the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, the tsunami in Samoa and the earthquake in Indonesia. You can donate to them here.

Plan Australia has set up the Asia Disaster Appeal to support relief efforts Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines with a focus on protection and care for children. You can donate to them here.

Médecins Sans Frontières has sent more than 60 surgeons, doctors, nurses, logisticians and others to Manila in the Philippines, Padang in Indonesia and Samoa in the South Pacific. They are identifying unmet urgent needs and have started carrying out mobile medical activities and the distribution of relief items in targeted sites. You can donate to them here.

Please dig deep.

We are still here.

I wasn’t going to write about this heinous opinion piece by Susie O’Brien from Melbourne’s Herald Sun, mainly because I don’t like to engage with idiots. (You know, like those people who insist that all Muslims are terrorists. It doesn’t matter what you say or how you say it, nothing will change their mind.) I don’t usually have the energy to go to war with such overwhelming stupidity.

Secondly, this opinion piece has been flogged to death by my fellow fat antipodeans who have stomped down practically every sentence Susie has written. But I just couldn’t help myself. Bitch made me mad.

I want to get this out of the way first:

[T]his month’s Fashion Week abandoned the usual stick insects for some models who were size 14-18. It was a breakthrough to see fashion shows using not just ridiculously skinny models that make thin women feel fat. But was it really a breakthrough for good health?

Lady, do not be dissing on BGM Models. Those ladies are complete hotty begotties and I will not hear a word against them. (Courtney Maxwell, call me?)

Now to wade our way through the idiocy:

[M]any need encouragement to lose weight instead of being told to feel good about being overweight.

…

As well as the runway shows in Australia there’s Drop Dead Diva, which follows the life of a larger lawyer who’s a skinny model reincarnated. And, reflecting the expanding girth of many Australians, more and more retailers, such as Myer, Sportsgirl and even Ed Hardy, are jumping on the bandwagon, and offering larger sizes.

Yes, larger teens deserve to be able to wear fashionable clothes, like everyone else. But the discourse of self-empowerment surrounding the move is stopping us asking why so many young people are size 16 or more in the first place. Sure, such moves reflect the reality of a rapidly growing population, but they also serve to normalise a size that is not healthy for most young people.

…

Losing weight is hard work. It takes sacrifice and effort. As a mother of three in my late 30s with a new gym membership, I know this first-hand. It’s much easier to accept the pro-fat manifesto than hit the treadmill.

Sorry to tell you, Susie, but you are late to the party.

We have already been “encouraged” to lose weight. We’ve been “encouraged” (and patronised and teased and insulted) by our family or our friends or our partners or complete strangers or the media. Repeatedly. For years.

We have been ignored by designers and clothing stores for god knows how long and we have been treated as invisible by television shows and movies.

We have restricted our diets and we have run on the treadmills. We’ve poured out sweat and we’ve made our muscles ache.

Yet our fat still jiggles and we are still here.

In fact, Susie, we are more than just “here”. In spite of so much hatred – from others and from within – we have learnt to love ourselves and our bodies. We have developed fashion styles that’ll blow your mind and we have designed our own clothing ranges. We’ve become models (or model agents) because our bodies are just that spectacular. And we have created the Fatosphere – a growing corner of the internet that is of full of fat opinionated loud mouths who will shout you down every single time.

We are still here, Susie. You’ve got to do a lot better than that to get rid of us.

Women I Love: Crystal Renn part 2

I have had hundreds upon hundreds of people coming to Corpulent to look at my posts on Crystal Renn. So much so that you guys kicked the crap out of my Photobucket bandwidth and I had to upgrade.

I get it, OK? You guys want more of our Crystal, and because I am a gracious blogger (read: because I am also desperately in love with her), I will deliver.

DON’T SAY I DON’T CARE ABOUT YOU AND YOUR BONERS.

Crystal Renn for Anna Scholz S/S 2005

Crystal Renn in Glamour, May 2006

Crystal Renn for Torrid

Crystal Renn by Leda and St Jacques in Elle Canada, July 2009

Crystal Renn in Vanity Fair Italy, March 2004

Crystal Renn by Matt Jones

Crystal Renn by Matt Jones. This picture gives me strange new feelings.

Crystal Renn in LaVanguardia, Spain

Crystal Renn in Vogue Paris, August 2005

Crystal Renn in Italian Vogue, March 2004

Crystal Renn in Mao Mag #6

Crystal Renn in Teen Vogue, February 2006