Another Great Body Size Article--Just in Time For Pi Day

Already Pretty hit it out of the park this week with links to good articles.

I really appreciated this essay about the common idea that plus sized black women get a "pass"--that they do not face the same body shaming, harmful stereotypes, etc. as plus sized white women; that they are effortlessly body positive; and the like.

(Bonus: Sad Thumper Rabbit from Winnie the Pooh clip.)

I've noticed that a lot of the body positive, fat fashion bloggers I see are black, and I think it can be easy for a white reader to assume that the self-acceptance/self-esteem these women display about their size has come somehow readily or naturally to them.  The essay was a good reminder that for many of these women, they have had to overcome huge steaming loads of cultural bullshit around their race and their size.

(Cue seamless transition to Pi Day...)

Are you doing any math today?  Eating any pie?

I seem to recall learning in school "pi R squared," but all the pies I'm seeing are round--so confused!  Well, I'm sure they're all deeply, madly delicious, regardless of their shape...or their size.

Fat Women and SFF

I thought this was a very interesting essay by a fat woman on the lack of fat women in science fiction/fantasy stories (movies, novels, TV, comics, etc.).  [Link found on Already Pretty]

Bonus: it includes a link on a YouTube video of the unaired original pilot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in which Willow is a fat girl.  Seriously.  I had no idea.  If you want to jump straight to a scene with the original big Willow, look at the video in this article that gives Joss Whedon some deeply deserved shit over his series's obsession with skinny chicks (who implausibly kick literal ass).  That dude, for all his feminist talk, seems totally committed to the waif fu trope.

What to Wear for TGIF in WTF Weather Conditions

WWWSC Day 23: Wear a color you haven't worn in a while--Friday, 3/13/15

I don't think I've worn coral since before winter started, and I have a coral sweater that while made of cotton (and hence not the warmest) has proven itself to be workable for Coldville winter/early spring before.  So to Pinterest I went (a couple weeks ago) in search of coral outfit inspiration and settled on this coral/blue combination.  How delightfully spring-y and...oh wait, no, just focus on the colors, Sally.

From notfancyjustlife.blogspot.com

Once I went to my closet to see what blue thing I could pair with my coral sweater, I struck sartorial gold...and green and orange and white.  I'd totally forgotten about this awesome homemade reversible mandarin collared quilted jacket I bought at Goodwill!  How delightfully spring-y indeed.

Coral pullover sweater (thrifted, Talbots)
Navy/coral/green jacket (thrifted)
Denim skirt (thrifted)
Navy leggings
Tall cognac boots by Sam Edelman
Green/blue/pearl necklace (Target)

And it worked well, too, with my green/blue/pearl statement necklace that I adore well beyond any rational measure.

An interesting texture mix on top, and giving my denim skirt a chance to come out and play again after way too long.

Verdict:  I couldn't really do the lightweight dress and cardigan, but I reign victorious in the incomparable crazy flower jacket.  And tights and tall boots.  Always tights and tall boots. 

Though I have to admit, with a temperature of 61 degrees late this afternoon, I was sort of wishing I was in a lightweight dress and cardigan.  We have been really jacked around this winter, going from January temperatures to late April/early May temperatures in one quantum leap.  I'm actually kind of angry about it.  The lowest high temperature on our 10 day forecast right now is 47.  WTF?

I lost the jacket around lunch time and by about 4:00, I was ready to not be wearing a sweater any more.  I had forgotten how unpleasantly warm my office gets when it is above 55 degrees outside and there is full sun.  The climate control in our building is pretty much terrible.  Robert's fancy corporate office building appears to maintain the same nice temperature year-round, as any office building should.  At least I have hopes that our new apartment's modern central heat and A/C system with a normal thermostat and everything will be up to standard.  Meanwhile it's time for me to redo all of my outfit planning for the next fucking month.  Great.

(If you find this post because it is the only hit for "incomparable crazy flower jacket" on google, sorry suckas 'cause this is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece.  If you're a sewist, have at replicating it for yourself; otherwise, I wish you luck finding a crazy flower jacket of your very own.)

She's Got Winter Eyes

WWWSC Day 17: Winterize your favorite summer skirt--Thursday, 3/12/15

I'm not sure what my favorite summer skirt is, but I knew that I wanted to winterize a (conveniently lined) black and white (or cream, really) one that has a somewhat dramatic pattern.  I loved everything about J's outfit in this photo and though I don't quite have the pieces to recreate it (and it's not wintery enough...which I could really stop saying by now, I think), I definitely wanted to do something in this direction.

From jseverydayfashion.com

Not owning a bright green sweater, I substituted my aqua cashmere sweater, and layered on a vest and tights.  Add a chevron patterned scarf and voila....an outfit that bears almost zero resemblance to the inspiration photo.  (I later decided to zip up the vest partway and it looked a lot better for some reason.)

Black/cream skirt (thrifted, Loft)
Aqua cashmere pullover sweater (Macy's)
Black quilted vest (gift from Mom)--this thing is a total workhorse, so glad I got it!

Teal/black/purple chevron scarf (Target?)
Black tights
Black ankle boots by Sam Edelman

But I was comfy and felt pretty snazzy so it's all good.

What am I going to do with myself when tights and boots season comes to an end?  (Well, arguably it's already over but I can keep working it as long as temperatures stay below 60 or so.)  It was warm enough today that I didn't even bother with a coat or jacket--the vest was enough on its own.

Winter Florals

WWWSC Day 10: Wear a bold print--Wednesday, 3/11/15

"Bold print" says "bright colors" to me, but I wanted to do something a bit different and wear my boldly-patterned but neutral-colored floral blazer.

Looking up floral jackets on Pinterest, I loved this black and white stripes and floral combo with a bright colored pencil skirt and black tights.

From pennilesssocialite.com

Now one important difference between her blazer and mine is the scale of the flowers.  I've tried to make her photo large enough that you can see that it's small white flowers against a black background.  Mine, in keeping with the bold print theme, has gigantic flowers...like "the flowers that ate Cincinnati" huge.  I also reversed her darker blazer/lighter shirt, and I'm not sure I'm totally happy with the final result.  I think a shirt in lighter shades, perhaps grey and white, with more evenly spaced stripes would have been better suited to this jacket.  But I did like the fact that this shirt is warm, with a feel that is about 2/3 of the way from T-shirt to cuddly sweater, and super-comfortable. And the combination of the shirt and jacket grew on me over the course of the day.

Black pullover with white/grey stripes (thrifted, Dress Barn)
Grey/white floral blazer (Coldwater Creek)
Dark teal pencil skirt (JCP)
Black tights
Black heeled Oxfords (thrifted)
Big ball necklace (Macy's)

I also liked the dark teal skirt with the grey/white I had going on top--the bright blue of her skirt would have been overpowering with this combination, I think, and I wanted to let that bold print (well, bold prints, I guess I should say) stand out.  And, you know, I don't have a bright blue skirt, so it was not a difficult decision.  These shoes continue, after like 15+ years, to be so comfortable and perfect--I love wearing them with tights.

I also preferred wearing my big ball necklace instead of a floral piece, which felt a bit too matchy-matchy for me.  Can you imagine how big the floral necklace would have to be to really match this blazer?  There's statement necklace and then there's "this necklace is screaming loud enough for people in Vietnam to hear," which is a good thing I guess because its ginormous size and weight would make it impossible for me to move my vocal chords.

Verdict: My big-ass flower blazer speaks volumes, and those volumes are not droning audio books covering an introduction to financial accounting. 

....Which is perhaps a good thing because I was SO SLEEPY during my 3 hour meeting this morning.  Around 11:30 (the halfway point), I thought I was going to zonk out like the white rabbit in yesterday's FB rabbit photo.  This whole spring forward thing is kicking my ass.

Revived Animal

WWWSC Day 8: Wear an item you haven't worn in at least 6 months--Tuesday, 3/10/15

I knew immediately that I wanted to wear my sleeveless brown leopard dress from Lands End, made (as usual) out of a crazy thick, soft knit fabric.  I've only worn it once, on my third day of work at my current job.  It's time to give this lovely dress some love again.

Last time, I wore it with brown, so I decided to get craaaaazy and wear it with black this time.  Somebody stop this animal.  (Hah hah)

I didn't really need a lot of help figuring out how to wear brown animal print and black together, but I decided to follow Valerie's lead here and wear it with a black blazer.

From the-style-files.com

And yes I had to wear it with the black tooth/claw necklace.  I could have incorporated something red/maroon to be more in keeping with the Pinterest photo but the tooth/claw is just way too appropriate here.  I think it's OK to repeat the same dress/necklace combination twice in one year.

Sleeveless leopard dress (Lands End)
Black velvety blazer (thrifted, Talbots)
Black tooth/claw necklace (Outfit Additions)
Black leggings
Tall black boots by Fitzwell

I was also glad to wear my velvety blazer another time.  I had hoped to get this worn before the weather warmed up and spring really sprang, but with highs in the 50s (and maybe 60s!) all over the 10 day forecast, I might have missed my last chance to be fully seasonally appropriate.  Oh well.  By the calendar, it's not really spring yet, so I stand by my choice.  I was getting ever so little warm by late afternoon, but then I came home and took off my boots and socks and all was well-adjusted again.

Verdict:  This whole outfit was pretty much spot on.

Spots and Dots

WWWSC Day 28: Give a feminine dress some edge--Monday, 3/9/15

For this prompt, it was easy for me to go with a moto jacket as a way to toughen up a girly dress.  I loved the fuchsia leopard print in this pin, but alas, that's not something I have in my closet.

From elegance-revisited.com

So I went with a summery polka dot dress with a full and frothy skirt, added the edgifying moto jacket and black ankle boots, and incorporated animal print with my coral leopard-head print infinity scarf.  I turned the dress into a skirt visually by layering a cream sweater over the dress--this is such a simple idea but really multiplies the possibilities of my dresses (at least until we have summer for a few weeks).

*Black polka dot dress (thrifted, Target)
Cream 3/4 sleeve pullover sweater (Kohls)
Black moto jacket (JCP)
Coral leopard-head scarf (thrifted)
Black tights
Black ankle boots by Sam Edelman

I've already raved about this scarf, but I don't know whether I've said how much I like this thick but not overly warm sweater.  It's got a nice bit of textural interest but is plain enough to work in a hundred different outfits without being like, Oh she's wearing that sweater again.

Verdict:  I LOVED the juxtapositions in this outfit--the dress + moto jacket + ankle boots + scarf formula is a real winner for me that suits my style to the ground.

Once again, this is a summery dress that I never wore by itself.  I think I find the simplicity of a dress on its own too boring usually, so when it's actually warm enough to wear a dress that way, I don't.  I have thought about how versatile a garment a fuller black polka dot skirt would be, and was happy to work that look here for free (and without adding to my already ridiculously large wardrobe).

It never hurts to feel a little bit like a bad-ass on a Monday.