OoTD No. 24 – Our Patron Saint of Fat

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the Ernie Awards with a few of my favourite rowdy feminists. The Ernie Awards are an annual event that call out sexist comments made in the past 12 months. The winners of each category are decided by how loudly the crowd boos and jeers their comments (the boos get louder as the night goes on and the wine gets drunk… a woman on my table broke one of her plates by beating it with her cutlery). This year, the Golden Ernie was won by Andrew Bolt for saying that male soldiers would be turned from warriors into escorts if women were allowed to serve on the frontline (gross, right?). Basically it’s the most fun ever.

The dress code stipulated that we dress as our favourite female singer, so of course I went as our Patron Saint of Fat, Beth Ditto.

See? Even high fashion recognises her holy status. (JC de Castelbajac A/W 2010)

Beth has dressed herself in a million and one different ways, but this is what my interpretation consisted of: black bob, spandex, fun prints, ballet flats and bright accessories.

Inspiration for this pose came from this photograph.

The glasses aren't in character but I need them to, you know, see.

The tattoo and body positive slogan (made famous in this photograph) were drawn on with waterproof eyeliner. It didn’t budge all night! So I can vouch for Rimmel Exaggerate Automatic Waterproof Eye Definer (though that is a ridiculous product name if ever I heard one).

Wig: Carnival and Party Warehouse. Currently available.
Dress: American Apparel (I know, I know) – size M/L. Similar styles available.
Leggings: Beth Ditto for Evans – size UK18. Old collection.
Shoes: Witchery - size 40. Old collection.
Watch: TW Steel. Currently available.
Ring (lime): Dinosaur Designs. Similar styles available.
Ring (rhinstone): A stall at Glebe Markets

I am 1.72m/5’8″, 95kg/209lbs and I normally wear an Australian size 16/UK size 18/US size 14-16. My measurements are 107-99-120cm/42-39-47 inches.

OoTD No. 15 – A Year Too Late

I’m such an idiot.

As I’ve mentioned before, the 2009 Beth Ditto at Evans collection was pretty much all my fatshion dreams come true. It was fun and pop and it demanded attention. I loved it. Despite all this love, I was too chicken to place a big order and the only item I ended up walked away with were the domino leggings. Stupid, stupid Frances.

As a result, I have been obsessively checking ebay (US, UK and Australia) for any items from the collection in a UK size 18. It’s a slow process, but I have had some very good luck. Like when I got this purple hooded spot dress; a wonderful casual dress that had been giving me serious non-buyers remorse.

That’s Milli. I was house-sitting not long ago and she came with the house. The Boyfriend and I were taking her for a walk in the park when we took these outfit photos; Milli got completely fed up with the lack of attention and proceeded to photobomb almost every single picture.

See? She wouldn’t even pose like a good dog; she would just stand perfectly in the way looking very pleased with herself.

This picture really doesn’t do these sneakers justice. Each little square of silver is holographic, and as a result they look completely amazing in direct light. So sparkly and pretty. (I think I might change the laces to something a bit more colourful… they’re looking a bit too clean with white laces.)

Dress: Beth Ditto at Evans via ebay
Leggings: Beth Ditto at Evans
Sneakers: Converse All Star Low Sparkle Stripe from Glue Store
Bag: Asos
Necklace: Tree of Life
Bangle: Dinosaur Designs
Ring: Dinosaur Designs sample

Now to track down that fabulous purple sequin tunic…

OoTD No. 14 – Beth Ditto at Evans Review pt. 2

As mentioned in part 1 of my Beth Ditto at Evans review, the other items I bought from the 2010 collection were the heart print dress and the high waisted black leggings. The dress is sold as the ‘heart print hanki hem top’ but it’s way too long to be a proper top. (It’s also a bit too short to be a proper dress, but given my penchant for showing a bit of leg, I prefer to wear it as a dress and as such will be calling it one. That said, I am 1.72m/5’8″, so the length may be less scandalous on someone shorter.)

Here’s a look at the dress and leggings together (complete with bonus red eye):

It’s pretty cutesy, but fun enough. The sleeves are a lovely soft jersey and the skirt is very thin and light. The leggings are hugely frustrating; while they fit perfectly when I first put them on, after a couple of hours they’ve stretched and barely stay up. I don’t have this problem with my domino leggings from last year’s collection, despite them being the same size and style.

The very first thought I had when I saw the heart print dress was that it would be much more fun with the sleeves cut off. The material of the skirt looks wispy even in the website pictures and it seemed far better suited to Australia’s impending spring/summer than an autumn/winter collection. So I took my dress to my local alternationist and did exactly that.

What a difference a bit of fabric (or lack thereof) makes. As a sleeveless dress, it’s made for summer. It’s breezy, colourful and so happy. Unfortunately, the skirt is so light that a bit of wind can send it billowing up…

…so you may want to wear some decent underwear when you step out in it.

Dress: Beth Ditto at Evans
Sandals: Nu + Nan
Bangle: Dinosaur Designs
Beach: Clovelly (my favourite)

OoTD No. 13 – Beth Ditto at Evans Review pt. 1

As many of you know, on 17 September 2010 the second Beth Ditto at Evans collection was launched. It was a highly anticipated affair and #dittowatch fever made the event that much more exciting.

While I was looking forward to the fatshion extravaganza, this collection didn’t grab me as much as the last year’s. Last year was pure 80s kitsch – bold prints, sequins and shapes not often associated with mainstream plus size fashion. It was so different to what was being offered elsewhere. (I still get compliments on my domino leggings.)

This year’s offering is far more subdued. It stays closer to current trends, the cuts are more ‘flattering’ and the prints are more muted. I’m sure that makes it a lot more wearable for many of Evans’ customers, but it doesn’t parade up my alley. All that said, I did buy a few cute bits and pieces: the polka dot tshirt (which I am reviewing today), the heart print dress and the high waisted black leggings (which I hope to review next week).

I’ve written before of my love for tshirts. They’re comfy, they’re easy and they go great with a pair of high tops. Normally I wear men’s shirts; while the cut isn’t very forgiving on my hooters, the length agrees with my torso. But, after seeing the ultra cute print on the Beth Ditto tee, I decided to give it a go.

Verdict? This is a brilliant tshirt. It’s form fitting, the length is bang on, it has a good sized neckline and the material is super duper soft. I know I’m going to wear the hell out of this thing over spring and summer.

This is how I wore it for a haircut, a swim and a pizza at Bondi:

Tshirt: Beth Ditto at Evans
Shorts: Jay Jays
Sneakers: Nike Air Royalty High Premium from Foot Locker
Bag: Puma from Platypus
Watch: Nu + Nan

While tshirts seem to be made for easy weekends, the material of this tee is so lush and the print so femme that it can easily be dressed up. After our day at the beach, the Boyfriend and I went to late night supper at the Victoria Room (and ate some amazing four cheese fondue). This outfit really isn’t my style, but as the Victoria Room is decked out in British Raj style I thought I should dress up a little.

Tshirt: Beth Ditto at Evans
Dress: Portmans
Socks: American Apparel
Jazz shoes: Bloch
Necklace: Dinosaur Designs sample
Bangle: Dinosaur Designs
Lipstick: Girl About Town by MAC

Women I Love: Beth Ditto

I know, I know, I know. Every fat woman in the world loves Beth Ditto. But my love for her is still quite new, so I’m still very much in the honeymoon stage. Therefore, she gets a mention on my very exclusive, very prestigious, Women I Love section.

What I love more than anything – more than her brilliant songs with The Gossip, more than the line she did with Evans – is that she’s a chameleon.

She displays her body like it’s an artwork:

Modelling for House of Blue Eyes, September 2008

The Gossip performing at London’s Forum, 13 September 2007

At the 2007 NME Awards

She can be a fierce couture bish:

Love magazine, March 2009

At the 2009 Mercury Music Awards, London

Photo by Alice Hawkins

BlackBook by Shawn Mortensen, May 2009

BlackBook by Shawn Mortensen, May 2009

She’s friends with Jeremy Scott and looks great in his dresses (for this, I will be forever jealous):

via Jeremy Scott's Twicpic account

At the JC de Castelbajac Fashion Show during the 2009 Paris Fashion Week

Photo by zerbit on flickr

NYLON magazine, May (…or June) 2008

And she looks like she’s the sweetest girl in the world:

At the Love magazine launch, December 2008

LOVE YOU, BETH.

My Very First OoTD

I’m jumping on the Outfit of the Day (OoTD) bandwagon! Hopefully this post will be the first of many (read: hopefully I can be arsed to keep this up).

Before anything else, I think I should introduce you to my style to give you a bit of context or something. My style has two very distinct and completely separate settings: casual and work.

Casual Frances is a mix of street, 80s and hip hop. I live in my denim (dark rinse jeans and shorts) and I wear a lot of bright men’s graphic tees; most of which get turned into singlets by my alterationist. I never ever wear heels; the most feminine my shoes get are ballet flats. What I love more than anything is my ever-growing collection of kicks:

My babies!

Work Frances is restricted by the sartorial expectations of the public sector (yep, I’m a government monkey). Most days I’m wearing some kind of black jersey dress and I keep things interesting with accessories: brightly coloured tights, kitsch brooches and chunky colourful resin jewellery.

Both Casual and Work Frances like to wear things that are bright, kitsch and eye-catching because both are great big show ponies who like attention. Both are no good at dressing for winter.

It’s surprisingly difficult putting my style into words; hopefully it will all emerge through my OoTDs.

Speaking of, here is what I wore to my mate’s farewell last weekend:

Nope, I've no idea what I'm doing with that left elbow either.

Oversized tshirt : Sportsgirl
Yellow bra (which is super duper visible because of the flash on my camera) : Mossimo
Leggings : Beth Ditto at Evans
Ballet flats : Witchery
Resin bangle : Dinosaur Designs – my favourite accessories brand of all time
Robot necklace : Electric Monkeys, Bondi Beach

Fatshion and The Punch

A post by my fellow antipodean fat blogger, RandomQuorum, directed to me to this article on The Punch, ‘Fatshionistas are hip, but can they fit into the dress?‘ by Nedahl Stelio. The Punch (mmmm punch) is an Australian opinion site, owned by News Limited. Nedahl Stelio is a former deputy editor of Cosmopolitan and former editor of Cleo.

As RandomQuorum notes, this article is kind of a big deal. Stelio writes about New York’s Full-Figured Fashion Week, Beth Ditto’s line for Evans, and makes reference to the awesome Daily Beast article on our fabulous fatshionistas. Plus-size fashion is not a subject often covered by Down Under mainstream news outlets, and it’s truly amazing that Stelio did not feel compelled to note that all fatty fat fatties are riddled with disease and will die soon, if not sooner. (Predictably, the reader comments do. Australians are horrendously fat-phobic and the comments on fat-related news stories can be vitriolic.) So this is sort of a win for us. w00t.

But this is also lazy reporting. The article was published on 9 July – a good 2 weeks after FFFWeek – and yet Stelio writes as if the event has not yet been held. She also fails to mention the aaaaaaaawesome news that FFFWeek is looking into bringing their event to Australia.

In fact, Stelio completely bypasses anything and everything to do with Australian plus-size fashion. FFFWeek was in New York. Beth Ditto’s line has been released in the UK. The Daily Beast and Manolo for the Big Girl are US-based sites. No mention of the barren wasteland that is plus-size shopping in Oz. No voxpops from fat Australian women who have to navigate a difficult fashion landscape. No praise heaped upon the few plus size designers we do have. No pressure on the rest of our designers and retailers to lift their game and clothe the plus sized. This strikes me as a very curious decision for an Australian fashion writer on an Australian website.

Worse still, every quote that’s in Stelio’s article I have read before. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not naïve enough to believe that every journalist has engaged in hardcore primary research for every article they have ever written. But she’s written about things that don’t really affect Australian fatties (unless they’re willing to brave the weakness of the Aussie dollar and fork out AUS$15+ on shipping for Beth’s line) and she’s done a few Google searches for her material. Seriously?

I wanted to be excited by this article, Nedahl, but you have got to give me something to work with. Next time, drop me a line and I’ll give you all the Aussie Fatosphere voxpops you need! /shameless plug

Beth Ditto

I have a confession to make: I never really liked Beth Ditto.

I don’t even know why. Her music was catchy enough (I like to dance around my room to ‘Standing in the Way of Control’), she was doing a great job of making fat, queer women visible and – even better – showing that fat, queer women don’t have to settle for being like everyone else and the Fatosphere is completely in love with her. But something about her just… grated. In spite of all her good parts, I still didn’t like her.

Then the bitch had to go ruin everything by being fabulous.

The tide began to turn when I saw the previews for her new line for Evans on Fat Girls Like Nice Clothes Too! and The Musings of a Fatshionista. Her line is amazing: the domino leggings, the cropped biker jackets, the adorable ballet pumps that look like feminine spats. I’m around a size 16/18, and even though I’m on the small end of plus size, clothes shopping in Australia is an absolute nightmare. Yet here is a fat icon designing the most bright, fun, eye-catching – almost garish – clothing for girls like me and girls much fatter. Utterly amazing. All of it makes me want to pack my things and move to London in time for the 9 July launch.

Then there was this radio interview on Triple J. Ditto is polite, outgoing and has the sweetest Southern accent of all time. And she’s really quite funny. No wonder everyone is in love with her; she’s so disarmingly friendly. I found myself wanting to be best friends with her. Damn it.

And finally I saw this picture of her on Fatshionista:

Beth Ditto by Steven Klein in Pop Magazine, 2007

Looking like a million bucks in bespoke Gareth Pugh.

So I’m done. YOU WIN, BETH. I finally see that you are amazing and I am now, officially and on the record, a big fat fan.