Monthly Archives: August 2010

Fatshion Friday #2

by bigliberty

O hai there friendly fatties, welcome to another installment of Fatshion Friday!

Last week we gazed in horror at wide striped eye-blasting sacks, strap-missing goddess-styled frankendresses, and the Beaded Purple That Shall Remain Nameless. We also gazed in appreciation at flowing scarf halter dresses, lacy vests, and delicious corsets.

This week we branch out a bit. I try to hit different retailers and styles as much as I can (though, admittedly, the styles will almost always be alternative rather than mainstream). I might hit one more than once, especially for fatshion horrors, but I’ll attempt to inject as much variety (and price points) as possible. I also try to stick to new styles and offerings rather than older or clearance items — i.e., things that are still and will be for sale.

Fatshion Horrors

Winner

I remember this from kindergarten...

What is it about this outfit that makes me tear up, freshly-cut-onion-fumes style? So many things — the tackily accented floral print, the tacky matching hobo bag, the humungous-boyfriend-shirt look that hasn’t been in since ’93, the seemingly pointless capris — are they pants or huge leggings? Why is her shirt long-sleeved yet the pants are cropped? And of course, my least favorite color purple (and, despite my last post, I actually tend to like purple. Which is probably why it hurts more when I see its shades so abused).

And oh, purple-and-pink-and-flowers, it’s just over between us. Forevvs. Sorry.

Outfit is $25 from Jessica London.

Runners up

Just sew on any old shit up there --- gotta draw the eye from the rolls!

Next is another fatshion peeve of mine — ribbed tanks, meant to fit closely and SHOCK perhaps show the existence of rolls and/or belly, with some kind of cheap metallic plastic beads loosely sewn somewhere on the bust. You see, I remember this episode of “What Not To Wear” when it was described to the ‘too-fat-for-for-plain-solids’ woman that you wanted to have that beading or some other fake medallion on the bust in order to draw the eye up from the stomach and/or other ‘problem areas.’ I find these pieces of clothing tend to be very poorly made, with the price jacked up to apparently cover the $.001 spent on shitty beads and shittier stitching. It’s ugly, it’s low-quality, and it’s fat-biased. It definitely hits a few of my Fatshion Horror points.

It’s on sale at Old Navy for $7.99 (previously $16.50).

Now you too can wear Magic Eye...

Now, I have to own up to the fact that I’m often quite frustrated with Igigi. There are a few reasons:

  1. Most of your clothes are styled the same (gathered at the upper waist/under the bust, wrapped, full skirt).
  2. One word: polyester.
  3. Two words: high prices.

The above dress is what I like to call The ‘Out-on-the-Town-Fattie’ Loud Polyester Print That Makes You Wonder if Indeed You Did Accidentally Take a Tab of Acid. It’s everywhere on plus-size clothes sites; it’s one of those fattie-staples that plus-size vendors can’t seem to get away from. And, truly, it’s not a bad style in and of itself. But the loud print, the tight 3/4′s sleeves, the copious amounts of polyester—it gets old. And for $102 (really, Igigi? Do 90 yards of eye-bleedingly-loud-printed polyester REALLY cost that much??) it’s ticking off many of my Fatshion Horror points.

Fatshion Fancies

Winner

Ah, purple, you and I can be friends at last.

Since I’ve been bashing purple left and right, it’s only fair to show off an example of how I think the color can be styled in a pleasing way. Now I’m a huge fan of black lace done right, and of shaped bodices. The above brings both together. The only thing about this dress is that I wish it had straps or a slightly different top, but since it is an eShakti dress you can customize it! Woo-hoo! The dress is part of eShakti’s new fall line, and is going for $59.95. It’s customizable as large or small as you like for an extra $10, and the standard sizes go up to 26/28W.

Runners up

Want to touch, want to wear....

The above is available at the Crimson Gypsy, up to 3XL (26/28W). It’s pricey — $200 — but I’m willing to bet it’s as well-made as it looks. I’d love to try one myself, but at this moment in life can’t scrape up that kind of dough for a bodice.

Ah, the life of a careless poet...

There are several things about this lovely dress from Making It Big which Make Me Smile. First of all I’m getting a strong Renaissance Poet vibe, aren’t you? Secondly, the color isn’t too bright—it’s strong without being overpowering. Thirdly, the black stripe accents are tasteful and interesting. Fourthly, the shape is lovely. Fifthly (hee), the back lacing is an interesting touch. It’s a bit pricey for a largely rayon blend at $125, but it’s available in a size 1X (22W) through 5X (34/36W).

Photoshop Used to Make People Skinnier

by bigliberty

This should be required watching for all size activists. This is what we’re up against — it’s so, so easy to do this, it’s considered as standard in photo editing as removing blemishes or an unwanted seagull from the picture. Blargh.

TRIGGER WARNING: It’s not as extremely fat-hating as I’ve heard, but it’s not fat-friendly. A lot of ‘hurr-hurr-ing’ about making her butt look smaller and so on. I suggest those who are sensitive to that kind of thing mute the volume. It’s visually self-explanatory, anyway.

Fat People Didn’t Exist in History

by bigliberty

Except that, well, they did.

Here’s a picture of my great-grandparents and their kids (my grandpa is the little boy on the right):

My body type is extremely similar to my great-grandmother’s on the left, and I looked like the girl in the middle when I was a little girl.

So much for no fat people in history (this photo is about 100 years old).

Fat Heroes in Science Fiction

by bigliberty

I’m doing  a research project on fat heroes/protagonists in science fiction, and am curious if any of my readers are familiar with fat heroes/protagonists in particular. Fat heroes/protagonists from books, short stories, movies and comic books are all cool, but they definitely have to be clearly painted in a positive light.

I’m having a hard time thinking of any off the top of my head.

The second part of the project is the investigation of supporting characters (including villains) which support the ‘positive’ criterion (or sympathetic, if they’re villains). I’m sure there are many more of these.

Any tips are greatly appreciated! All the information I gather will be integrated into a post of its own, at some point in the future.

Restrictions: science fiction, tending more towards hard sci fi or social sci fi. Extra points for older stories. :)

Fatshion Friday #1

by bigliberty

Welcome to Big Liberty’s first Fatshion Friday!

So let’s get right into it, shall we? Because I have stumbled across some truly trying fatshion horrors and truly tremendous fatshion fancies to share with you all.

First, let’s enumerate what I typically consider a “Fatshion Horror”:

  1. Sack-like, shapeless garment. Esp. if sacks aren’t in season.
  2. Anything specifically constructed/worn in order to cover up ‘problem areas’
  3. Loud, crazy prints that look either like grandma’s wallpaper or an elephant painted them
  4. Pointless clothing. This includes pointless ruffles, beading, etc meant to ‘trick’ the eye away from ‘problem areas’
  5. Terrible materials in an otherwise nice-looking piece (read: most of Igigi’s dresses)

Fatshion Horrors

Winner of the Week

OMGWTFKITTENBBQ?!

The above dress hits points 1, 2, and 3 nicely. You have the obvious sack-like nature of the garment, pointless and unshapely sleeves, and a ridiculous print that, if ever in fashion, wasn’t in fashion anywhere close to this decade.

Runners-up

Hmmm….

Sometimes the Goddess Toga style can look good. Sometimes it just looks like you forgot to attach the other strap. To me, it all comes down to proper draping. Apparently the designers at Avenue disagree, having pumped out this monstrosity.

Blinded by too much gauzy purple! GAH!

A couple points on this one. First — HOLY PURPLE, BATMAN! Second — where the hell are the rest of the sleeves? I’ve heard of 3/4 sleeves, but 7/8 sleeves? Third — is a ‘front V’ part on the skirt EVER attractive? Fourth — BLINDED BY PURPLE! Fifth — is this supposed to be clothing for someone around the age of the model and, truly, under the age of 85? Because the last time I saw that gauzy beaded sack design work was on a flapper, and that was closing in on 100 years ago, my friend. Sixth — I ATED THE PURPLE BERRIES! UGHHH…TASTES LIKE….BURNING…!

Fatshion Fancies

Winner of the Week

Okay, I’m just going to wipe that drool puddle off the floor…just hang on a sec…there we go. So this dress makes me tingle largely because of its brilliant silhouette. For a pear like me, you just can’t get better than a fitted bust and a tiered flow from there on down. The halter is a nice touch as well.

Runners up

Hai Avenue? Make mor of the abuv, plz.

What do I like about this black, lacy, zip-up vest? Well, it’s black—and lacy—and zip-up. What could stand to be improved? I’d prefer a silver zipper rather than gold. To me black lace and gold don’t go together (except in 1991).

Oh, hai corset. I think I’m in love. Uh, with the corset of course, not the lady! (okay, a little bit with the lady…getting a strong Christine Daae vibe, rowr) Goes up to 48D. I don’t really know how to purchase corsets…do you just purchase your bra size? I’d love to try this puppy out.

On the 1% increase of obese and overweight in the US

by bigliberty

If you haven’t yet seen the article from Reuters: More than 70 million US adults obese, US agency says

And here’s a link to the actual CDC report

Hey look, the obesity level in the US is remaining steady!

Oh wait, the article didn’t say that? The carefully timed flood of press releases on a ‘report’ from the CDC, an agency already over-reporting the levels of ‘overweight and obesity’ as well as stocking their site with all sorts of scare-graphs and claims of an ‘epidemic’ (and not to mention the same folks that claimed 400,000 deaths per/year were ‘attributable’ to obesity when it was found later that the figure was closer to 30,000 deaths/year) seemed to say:

WE’RE IN AN EPIDEMIC FATTIES OMG OMG CHILDREN WILL DIE ETC!

Or, what the CDC actually said:

Over the past decade, obesity has become recognized as a national health threat and a major public health challenge. In 2007–2008, based on measured weights and heights (1), approximately 72.5 million adults in the United States were obese (CDC, unpublished data, 2010). Obese adults are at increased risk for many serious health conditions, including coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, type 2 diabetes, certain types of cancer, and premature death (2,3). Adult obesity also is associated with reduced quality of life, social stigmatization, and discrimination (2,3). From 1987 to 2001, diseases associated with obesity accounted for 27% of the increases in U.S. medical costs (4). For 2006, medical costs associated with obesity were estimated at as much as $147 billion (2008 dollars); among all payers, obese persons had estimated medical costs that were $1,429 higher than persons of normal weight (5). In 2001, the Surgeon General called for strong public health action to prevent and decrease overweight and obesity (3). [EMPHASIS MINE]

A few things:

  1. Correlation doesn’t equal causation. The public health dollars scare tactic was calculated by taking the sum of ALL diseases ‘correlated with’ obesity and adding them together. That means there was a crapload of thin people with heart diseases, diabetes type II, certain cancers, and who suffered strokes that have been lumped in with all the fatties to make that percentage look as high as possible. Misleading.
  2. I don’t see a margin of error stated in the report, except a very narrow confidence interval of 0.7 – 1.4 percent. Really that — that — is what’s getting shouted from the rooftops of every science news agency and crappy local evening news station in the country? Really?
  3. Again, it bears repeating: A 1% increase over two years does not an epidemic make. Nor are we currently in an epidemic by any reasonable definition of the term. The fact that the CDC is bearing down on us with these imprecise scare-words means this is about politics and keeping themselves in the green, NOT about the actual fucking health of Americans. Anyone who hasn’t read Greg Bear’s brilliant Darwin’s Radio, please do.
  4. How is obesity a major public health threat again and, if this is true, how in the world has it just ‘become’ so, given that obesity rates have been leveling off for the last few years (isn’t it something like 5 or 6 years now, since 2004)? I smell a press release.

Methinks the CDC is working to ramp up anti-obesity fervor for something. To garner more support for the “Let’s Move” anti-obese kids program? To garner more support for some kind of new, wider initiative (since my guess is that “Let’s Move” hasn’t been generating any real results, surprise surprise)?

And then there was this lovely gem from the NY Times busting open the current HHS anti-obesity funds and focus: Antismoking Efforts Lose Ground to Obesity Fight

Shortly after the first lady kicked off the “Let’s Move” program, the administration awarded more funds to fight obesity than tobacco through two big new money sources for preventive health. The funds, totaling $1.15 billion, came from economic stimulus and health care reform legislation. They still provided more than $200 million for tobacco-use prevention, but much more to grapple with obesity.

Scary. Nice that part of the economic ‘stimulus’ package was funds to stimulate hate! Oh, dearie. It’s so funny I forgot to laugh.

Scarier still: apparently the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is involved. For extensive analyses of some of their anti-obesity initiatives, check out this link.

What do you think of all of this?

Fat and Polyamorous

by bigliberty

Hi all,

I was wondering if any of my lovely readers identified as polyamorous. I’ve recently come out as poly and am very interested to hear about any experiences another fat and poly person might have had (esp. since I’m still a real n00b at this point).

Do you find that being fat makes a bigger, lesser, or the same difference in the poly dating world as in the  mono dating world, for instance? My guess is that it would make less of a difference since lots of poly people seem to already be engaged in the alternative world, but I have no practical experience to either verify or reject that guess.

(for those who don’t know what polyamory is, Franklin Veaux has a set of fantastic essays on the subject – “Polyamory – What, Like Two Girlfriends?“)

Thanks in advance for any comments!