Just a quick outfit from last week. These shoes were a sales buy after Christmas and are pretty much the best ever!

T-shirt: Unskinny Bop, £10
Skirt, handmade
Shoes, Topshop, £15
Hoops, Deptford Market, £2

This dress was a buy sometime before christmas, and I'm still wearing it most weeks. It's a really nice thick knitted dress in tiger print. I can't even articulate how much I love knit pencil dresses - they're comfortable and glam and most importantly THEY FIT ME. Being mega pear-shaped often means the pencil dress is out of my options if it's made from a structured fabric with no stretch. 

 Bonus face, because I was feeling vain:

Dress, £14, Matalan

Necklace, c. £5, Forever 21

Hoops, £1.50 primark

Belt, £7, Evans

Shoes, Dr Martens, £50

Tights, M&S

These dungarees are pretty much the best thing EVER. They were from ASOS in the sale last year. They're not perfect and they sag out a bit much after I've worn them for a day, but they're comfortable and optimum lazy day attire. 

T-shirt, ASOS, £10-ish

Dungarees, ASOS, £20

Knock off converse, £10

Necklace, Tatty Devine, gifted

Hoops, Primark, £1.50

Okay, so I love these tights THE MOST, but also I'm wearing them for the first time and they've already laddered. Sigh. Tights are so frustrating. I'd be interested to know if anyone has any tips for size 24(ish) tights which are also affordable and durable? 

Outfit details: 

Top, threadless via their $10 sale

Skirt, about £6 from New Look

Tights, £5.50, ASOS sale

Docs, £50, eBay

Weekend outfits

Here's what I wore over the weekend, with some delightful grumpy faces.

Top, boyfriend's (I got it from Sleazy Seagull on etsy ages ago)

Jeans, Ridley style from ASOS curve, £21 

Shoes and jacket, passed on by friends

Hoops, Deptford market's finest, £2

Top, £14, ASOS curve

Skirt, new look, £6ish

Shoes, passed on by friends

Tights, M&S

Hoops, as above

Necklace, £6, Forever 21

I got this necklace from F21 but it was too short for my neck, so I used some spare rope I had loafing around to replace the short chain. I love chunky necklaces. 

Mirror pix cos I am dead professional as a blogger. 

Jumper, £1, Deptford Market

Earrings, £1.50, Deptford Market

Skirt, £8, Forever 21+

Shoes, Dr Martens via ASOS sale, £50

Diamonte leopard boobs are the best boobs

FACE. 

I think I might be back, who knows? No promises. Here's some cheap stuff I am wearing today:

Dress, £2.99, Oxfam

Belt, old vintage stock

Tights, M&S outlet, £3

Shoes, Topshop sale, £15

Scarf, old vintage stock

Earrings, Deptford market aka HEAVEN, £2

Worn with badly applied eyeliner and the MUA lime crime dupe, which is a good'un.

xx

Some thoughts on clothes swaps

Here's a thing I'm organising in a few weeks time! This is my first time doing any solo organising in London, so any support is appreciated. There's an event on facebook here which you can RSVP to for further details, if you have any questions, and to keep me up to date with the numbers I'm expecting. As well as clothes, I'm hoping there'll be zines, tea and cake.

If you're not in London, the ace Yorkshire Rad Fat Collective are co-ordinating a swap in Sheffield and Leeds.

I've been involved in organising clothes swaps for a while now, and today I was thinking about them as tools of resistance themselves. It's really hard to divorce fashion from capitalism, and I think fatshion faces a lot of (often fair) critique because of its dependency upon brands and lack of skepticism about consumerism. I've found myself drifting away from fatshion communities over the last year because of this, because I'm not interested in fashion as an industry, and often the divide between blogger and brand isn't there in the way it has been. It doesn't appeal to me as much anymore, because I can't buy buy buy all the time, and also because I want blogs to be *different* from mainstream fashion chat, and brand websites.

Passing clothes among each other is something that happened in my communities growing up - people didn't have much, and to make do we would help each other out. This wasn't really something I had much access to in my family, because there was just two of us, and my friends were all thinner than me at the time. BUT I saw how passing stuff on helped people - when you needed a white shirt for a job interview, someone could help you out. When I was unemployed, the swaps in Leeds helped me in a similar way - they gave me access to new clothes, both practical and frivolous, even though I couldn't otherwise afford them. It's for this reason that I always encourage people to come to swaps even if they don't have much to swap themselves.

There's another dimension to fat swaps too, for me, that comes with clothes that don't fit you anymore. I *still* hoard clothes sometimes, even though mainly I have enough now. I was pretty poor growing up and used to diving for things that might fit me when I saw them - whether I liked them or not didn't really matter. It's an instinct I still have. I've kept badly fitting clothes for the same reason, for *just in case* purposes. Being able to see other people look amazing in stuff that doesn't fit me anymore, or never did, takes away the shame of stuff not fitting right, of those feelings of shame that still sometimes come. It feels amazing to pass clothes on to other strong fat people.

Swaps are a way to play with clothes, to connect with other fat folk and joke about how shit fat sized clothes are. They've been a space to try stuff on and experiment outside of a traditional gendered shop setting - to laugh and explore and support others too. It's a way to build fatshion community outside of the BUY BUY BUY model, and that's really important right now.

This dress sat unfinished in my project pile for MONTHS. I started it at a hectic point during my MA, and put a not very successful lining in. This weekend I was a bit restless and found it again. I'm trying really hard to finish some of the craft projects that have sat around in my house for ages, so I decided to take the lining out and finish the facings/hemming on it. I'm so glad I did because it's cute! Also, I really like shifts lately because my hair is reaching that almost 60s pixie stage.

Dress, handmade (with a £7 remnant)
Tights, M&S
Shoes, Dorothy Perkins  £7.50

 

No apologies for the somewhat awful mirror shot/unglam work location here. Some new finds here - a t-shirt dress from Dorothy Perkins that is so good I may have also just ordered it in navy, and some new sale loafers. Teamed with some accessories you've seen loads of times, cos that's how I work.

Dress, Dorothy Perkins, £12
Belt, passed on by a friend
Shoes, Dorothy Perkins, £10
Scarf, old vintage stock
Earrings, Primark, £2

 Okay, so I'm wearing a lot of black lately apparently! This is still quite amusing to me, but whatever. This mesh top was one of my favourite buys this year, it was from Inspire at New Look and is actually a body/leotard. Today I'm wearing it with a somewhat ancient pencil skirt and a belt, so it looks almost like a wiggle dress.

Face close up:

 

My lipstick is lime crime velvetines in suedeberry, and is basically the best wearing lipstick I've ever owned! It was a pay day treat last month. 

Body, New Look inspire, £15

Skirt, Forever 21, £8.25

Belt, Dorothy Perkins, £7

Shoes, Office, £7

Earrings, £2, Primark

Excuse my somewhat awkward pose! So lately I've found myself drawn more towards wearing lots of blacks, which is funny given how garish I have traditionally dressed. I'm really liking my blonde almost pixie and lots of black + obnoxious lipstick right now. I wore this to go potter around a market with my dad.

Top, clothes swap, free
Skirt, Deptford market (one of my favourite tat hunting grounds!), £5
Belt, passed on by a friend
Necklace, Tatty Devine, gift
Hoops, 75p, Primark
Shoes, eBay, £20

Today (work):

Striped tee, passed on by a friend
Belt, Dorothy Perkins, £7
Skirt, Dorothy Perkins, £15
Sandals, Dorothy Perkins, £7
Jacket, ASOS, £32
Necklace, Tatty Devine, birthday present
Bag, car boot, £3

The price of everything

I've always felt a bit of an odd fit in the fatshion world, cos I can't afford to buy things. Now I have some disposable income, but even with that I probably can't buy things full price. Over the 3 years I've been blogging, I've worn some of my clothes countless times - I guess until they've fallen apart in a lot of cases. In this time I've been on the dole, on minimum wage, on a pittance of university funding, and generally speaking not particularly well off.

Part of the reason I started blogging here was because clothes have always mattered to me (not necessarily fashion, but clothes themselves) - because they've been a way to express myself and explore who I am, no matter how little spare money I've had, and whether I've been shopping at jumble sales or high street shops. I'm a constant re-mixer, because what I buy has to go with EVERYTHING I own. I've learned to thrift through years of having few other options. I've never had a lot, but I've always had fun making things work for me where I can.

I've been putting the prices on what I buy ever since I started this. That's for a reason too - often what I wear can't be bought again by someone else (because it's second hand, or on super duper last one left sale), but I still want to be able to be transparent about where I find things and how I dress myself. I want to be able to show others who don't have a lot how I get by. Again, I feel like knowing the price of something is something I was brought up with, and dressing on the cheap is something I feel proud about. I also tag all of the items I wear so you can see the ways I've remixed something too.

I'm never gonna be the sort of blogger with a wardrobe of outfit options. My clothes will always be a little bobbled, and yes, I've worn that blouse a million times. I'm not on trend, I'm not invested in fashion as an industry, or in keeping up to date because of any sense of obligation. I'm mainly into finding ways to have fun dressing myself even when I have nothing.

Re-emerging from the end of my postgrad course, hurray! I've been thinking lots about what this blog is, what I want it to be and how I want to be present in the fatshion community for the future. Here's an outfit for now though...

Dress: handmade
Scarf: 50p, car boot
Belt, passed on by a friend
Sandals, Dorothy Perkins, £7

xx

I spent the last weekend doing fun things, including going to the Alternative Press Fair on Saturday. Seeing as I never make it out to North West London, I took the chance to hit some charity shops while I was there and found this Beth Ditto for Evans dress in one! I've been stalking these on eBay for YEARS, but they always go for lots and my budget is pretty non-existent, so I was pretty excited to find it for £8.99. Hurray thrifting!

On a side note, I'm wearing this today and I'm always amazed at how bold the Beth Ditto for Evans stuff was - it's all pretty unapologetic and I always feel extra visible when I wear one of the pieces I bought from it. I don't really feel like any collaboration has come close since, especially in terms of also being good quality and well tailored. Sigh.

Dress, Beth Ditto for Evans via charity shop, £8.99

Shoes, Dorothy Perkins, £7

Scarf, vintage, £1

So I optimistically decided it was summer and began my annual wearing shorts and no tights as much as possible recently, but er, apparently it's not anymore. I thought I'd show you folks a few casual outfits incorporating my favourite shorts, which are generally what I throw on most days. 

Shorts, New Look (available here), £15

Teamed with: 

(First Outfit)

Top, clothes swap

Scarf, vintage

Hoops, Primark, £2

Shoes, Vans, £25

(Second Outfit)

Top, Primark, £4

Denim vest, used to be a jacket, New Look

Shoes, ASDA, £4

And the most important latest addition to my self:

Done by Rose Whittaker at Haunted Tattoos, who is most highly recommended!

 

So I buzzed my hair about two weeks back, partially because I'd gotten fed up of styling the hairstyle I'd had and partially cos I felt like I'd been edging my way towards shaving it all off slowly anyway! It was a pretty good decision I think, I'm really enjoying dressing up again, and finding that I'm heading back towards vintage inspired femme-ier looks again, which is amusing! 

On another note, this dress was the best I've ever made! I wear it constantly, it fits just right and it works for a whole bunch of occasions. Good old Vogue V8615. 

Excuse the apparent miserableness of that day! Er, here's a close up of my collar chain which I haven't worn nearly enough. 

Shirt, New Look

Dress, handmade

Belt, Evans

Collar clip, ASOS

Shoes, Office

Hey folks! You'll have to excuse my super glam setting for an outfit shot today (it just gets worse...). I've had a stash of some brown fake leather in my fabric pile for ages, waiting to be made into a pleated skirt of sorts, and I decided to just go for it! I was nervous about sewing with fake leather but it was actually a dream - I used a denim needle and did a fair amount of topstitching but ultimately it took fewer adjustments than I'd anticipated. I was so excited to have finished it that I wore it out without hemming it, then finished it later.

In other news, I'm really loving the camo jacket I picked up recently at a blogger event So Fabulous were running (post about that to come...). It's lightweight, practical and I have been wearing it pretty much constantly since I got it.

Skirt, handmade
Dress worn as top, ASOS (available here)
Belt, clothes swap
Chambray shirt, New Look
Shoes, Office, (available here)
Scarf, vintage
Bag, car boot sale
Jacket, c/o So Fabulous (available here)

 

Long time no see, folks. I've had a tough few months, my dad went into hospital and is still recovering. I'm kind of rethinking what I want this blog to be lately too, so I'm less fussed about posting clothes all the time. Here's what I wore to hang out with some blogger babes last week, anyway. 

Top, ASOS curve via a friend

Skirt, Forever 21+

Belt, Dorothy Perkins

Necklace, Topshop

Tights, M&S

Shoes, ASOS. 

xx