In the spirit of the Olympics…

I love to workout–as long as I have cute workout clothes. Athleta.com has a variety of work out and active wear clothing in sizes XS-2X (0-20). Not every garment comes in every style, but there are quite a few items available sizes 16+, with Petite and Tall sizes, as well.

I am always glad to see stores where “regular” sizes and “plus” sizes peacefully coexist.

Where do you find cute workout clothes?

Rhumba Panty - $ 26.95
From: HipsAndCurves.com

Panties, knickers, undies–whatever you call them, this is their day. August 5, 2008 is FreshPair.com’s 6th annual National Underwear Day, “the ultimate avenue for celebrating underwear” (because there wasn’t enough underwear celebrating in the world before?).

I always seem to end up back at Lane Bryant for my panties, but I thought that the Rhumba Panty from HipsAndCurves.com seemed appropriately celebratory. And, kudos to FreshPair.com — they carry plus sizes, so you may find some party panties there, too.

Where do you get your favorite undies? Any recommendations?

If you’re reading this post, you’ve probably noticed the lovely, leather-clad (yep, that’s a leather dress–sizes 1X and 2X) model peeking around the corner of the sidebar to the right. I’ve been experimenting with placing advertising on the site, and when I saw this skyscraper banner for Hips & Curves, I just couldn’t resist featuring it. And when I saw the full-size image below, I was completely captivated.

I’ve always loved Hips & Curves. How can you not love a company that greets you like this:

You’ve come to the right place if you are looking for intimate apparel and plus size lingerie in the newest, sexiest and hottest styles. We believe your gorgeous curves are made to be flaunted, caressed, adored - and adorned - in the latest and greatest plus size lingerie styles.

They have a tremendous selection of styles from bridal to bad girl, and they even feature extended sizes. I love sexy lingerie, and this is definitely the place to go if you’re feeling a little naughty.

But, there is more to this particular ad than just a hot leather dress. The model in this photo is absolutely stunning. I love the power of her pose, with legs for days and real-looking thighs (I have thigh issues). Hips & Curves is using the tag “Provocatively Powerful” on their home page, and I would say that this model fits the bill. She’s in no way plus size, but when was the last time that you saw anything other than stick thighs in a bathing suit or lingerie ad? Not that there’s anything wrong with stick thighs, but they aren’t the only thighs that deserved to be photographed.

So, enjoy the glamazon. And if you want to buy that leather dress or just want to check out Hips & Curves, you can click on the ad or on the picture below.

She’s keeping it curvy–hope you’re keeping it curvy, too.

Corset Leather Dress - $ 129.95 Corset Leather Dress. Leather corset dress has boning for shaping and support, lace-up back and detachable garters.

Source: Robbie McClaran for TIME

Thanks to Rachel at The-F-Word.org for her article on Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s (CNN) report in Time magazine and on his CNN blog. Gupta reports enthusiastically on the success of the Body Project, an eating disorders prevention program that not only educates women as to the source of “the thin ideal” (marketing messages) but also incorporates “civil disobedience” in its curriculum.

Since 2001, more than 1,000 high school and college students have participated in the Body Project, which works by getting girls to understand how they have been buying into the notion that you have to be thin to be happy or successful. After critiquing the so-called thin ideal by writing essays and role-playing with their peers, participants are directed to come up with and execute small, nonviolent acts. They include slipping notes saying “Love your body the way it is” into dieting books at stores like Borders [and on mirrors in public restrooms] and writing letters to Mattel, makers of the impossibly proportioned Barbie doll.

Gupta remarks that the Body Project is “seeing remarkable progress so far in an area that has seen few if any truly effective programs at all.”  What makes this project more effective than most? Studies have shown that media education is not enough ( See the previous post: Media images make us feel bad–and it’s getting worse). Women and girls are more educated than ever about the plastic nature of media images; however, our body dissatisfaction continues to increase. Could it be that the effectiveness of the Body Project is the combination of education and activism?

Knowing that we are daily manipulated by media images can create a feeling of helpless and powerlessness The activism of the Body Project gives the participants a sense of personal power in the battle against external messages.

What I love about this approach is the simplicity–a Post-It note on a mirror is about as easy as it gets. So, I challenge everyone: be a body activist. If you must, begin with your own mirror, and move from there.

I’ve got my Post-Its–mirrors of the world, watch out!

I just got back from a very early matinée of “Sex and the City” and I loved it!  You have to check all plausibility at the door (but you had to that with the series, to), but the movie is a great love letter to the fans.  I’ll comment on the details later (I do have a couple of boos around body image), but I would like to comment on how fabulous Jennifer Hudson looks.  She rocks the Sex and the City look, and she is not playing the standard “fat friend” in her role.

I’ll take one of every outfit she’s wearing!

From the clothes, to the apartments, to the men, this movie is all about the “female gaze,” or at least one interpretation of that gaze.  I’ll have more on that later, and I’m excited to hear what you think of the movie.

First: Forgive the vanity of this exercise.

Second: Apologies to the guy I met last week who hates it when people turn nouns into verbs. If he thinks “Google” shouldn’t be used as a verb–as in, “I Googled it”–then he’ll pass out if Spanx becomes a verb.

Am I a sell-out if I wear Spanx? I rarely wear them–I figure, I’m curvy and cinching in my gut and my hips an inch or so isn’t going to make a difference. However, I do have the occasional outfit that I believe looks more refined with the addition of some shapewear underneath.

At the Clinton Kelly event, he really pushed the idea of shapewear, so I decided to conduct an experiment. I wore the same dress (3 part construction–defined bust, defined waist, and a skirt that flows away from the body–à la What Not to Wear) two days in a row, one day with Spanx, one day without. The Spanx clearly takes away some of the width of my hips, but does it really matter? What do you think: Spanx, No Spanx?

Spanx/No Spanx

Clinton Kelly (cohost of TLC’s What Not to Wear) is Macy’s ambassador of Special Sizes–Plus and Petite. Clinton was in Atlanta today at Macy’s Lenox Square to host a fashion show featuring Spring trends as available in Macy’s Plus Size department. I used the opportunity to Twitter. (If you aren’t familiar with Twitter, it’s a type of IM/blog. You can see my Twitter text in the far right sidebar.)

There were several hundred curvy women in the audience, all anxious to see Clinton Kelly and his suggestions for Spring. He hit the stage like a rock star–his presence and energy were impressive. He spoke frankly and honestly about What Not to Wear and about the state of plus size fashion. Here are a few highlights of his presentation. I’ll save my take on the clothes for another post.

Behind the Scenes at What Not to Wear

“Looking good is not easy.”

1. It takes one hour of filming to produce one minute of the show. He and Stacy usually spend 30 minutes per mannequin just explaining the rules.
2. The featured contributor spends 2 full days trying on clothes. S/he will try on hundreds of garments to get 7 outfits. Sheer volume creates successful outfits.
3. Every woman gets a bra fitting. Clinton’s suggestion: if you have maintained your weight, a bra fitting once every 5 years should suffice; however, for every 5 pounds gained or lost, a new bra may be needed.
4. The secret of the participants’ success? shapewear and tailoring.
5. Regarding tailoring–no one can expect clothes to fit off the rack. And (painfully for most of us), you may need to go up a size to fit your largest part and have the rest of the garment downsized. (And though I know size is arbitrary and should mean nothing–it does.)

Fashion

1. Color, texture, pattern, shine–try to combine these in every outfit, which includes accessories and shoes.
2. Any given season there are numerous trends–there are currently 20 trends in fashion right not. If you want to follow trends, choose one (or a few) and pair them with classics.
3. Jacket tailoring tip: if you have broad shoulders, have the sleeves of jackets narrowed from the elbows to the wrists to create a sleeker look.
4. Clinton described plus sizes as “marginalized” and said directly, “If you are on the ends of marginalized sizes, your SOL, if you know what that means.” [Yes, Clinton, we do.]

Philosophy

Clinton shared his own experience as feeling like a gawky teen–tall and skinny. He became interested in clothes because “clothes are the great equalizer.” He encouraged the audience: “quit comparing yourself to other people,” because, “you are perfect in your imperfections.” Lovely sentiment that is good for everyone.

In the post about Chloe Marshall (the size-16 British beauty contestant), I touched on the notion that positive articles/images about women who are anything other than stick thin are often accused of “glamorizing obesity.” I exclaimed:

One kind word about loving even a “normal” body and that’s glamorizing? Then what do you call the media treatment of thinness? Idolizing thinness? Deifying thinness? Canonizing thinness? I don’t think we have a word in our vocabulary.

Apparently someone in France heard me.

French lawmakers try to outlaw skinny propaganda

By DEVORAH LAUTER

PARIS (AP) — In image-conscious France, it may soon be a crime to glamorize the ultra-thin. A new French bill cracks down on Web sites that advise anorexics on how to starve — and could be used to hit fashion industry heavyweights, too.

The groundbreaking bill, adopted Tuesday by Parliament’s lower house, recommends fines of up to $71,000 and three-year prison sentences for offenders who encourage “extreme thinness.” It goes to the Senate in the coming weeks… (Click here for the rest of the article).

According to the article, the fashion industry is not the only target of this legislation. The law is also aimed at pro-anorexia websites that teach readers how to become anorexic.

While I agree with the intention behind this legislation, I really have problems with this approach:

1. Who decides what “too thin” is? How is this decision made? It is just as unfair to penalize the naturally thin, or even “underweight,” model as it is to penalize the naturally larger, or even “overweight,” model.
2. If depictions of underweight bodies are outlawed, how quickly will depictions of overweight bodies be outlawed?
3. No way is this really going to happen anyway. Even if French government “outlaws” ultra-skinny in France, how do they control the images and ideas generated beyond their national boundaries?

The Curvy Life advocates size inclusion and body acceptance, no matter the size. Further, I believe that health and fitness should be the goal, not the attainment of any particular weight or size. Sedentary lifestyle and poor diet harm our bodies. It is a myth that somehow an observer can look at a person’s outward appearance and judge that person’s health, or lack thereof (this would render most medical testing unnecessary).

Banning one type of image or another is not the answer. Allowing for a diversity of images and a broad definition of beauty is a better solution.

And, while I shouldn’t be amazed by this consequence of the discussion, I am: in places where I have read general comments about this article, the responses have been full of fat loathing (See the comments at ajc.com for an example). So, somehow, fat is always the villain, no matter how body image is discussed.

Finally, I’ve got to include a link to Matthew Krell’s article Fat-Bottomed Girls, Make the World Go Round at StreetProphets.com. He provides some nice commentary on French attitudes toward free speech, but you’ve got to appreciate his shout out to the curvy girls. (As for the video in the post, I can’t decide if I’m amused or just disturbed.)

I have always loved April. My birthday is at the end of the month, Spring is in full swing–I like to think of April as my New Year, thus making me the perfect April Fool.

So, I’d like to thank Harriet Olivia over at Too Fat For Fashion (one of our favorite blogs) for the link to the article in Sunday’s The Independent on the size acceptance movement in the UK (Gotta love the title: We’re here. We’re fat. Get used to it.). There are so many wonderful curvy girls there doing wonderful curvy things–here are a few from the article:

Chloe Marshall, a size-16 Miss England contestant (How gorgeous is she?)

Plus, The Real Girl Band: a plus-size girl group with a new single out

Just As Beautiful: web-based plus-size magazine

Songstress Adele (pictured above): winner of the first ever Critic’s Choice Award at this year’s Brit Awards

Kate Dillon: the new face of Marina Rinaldi and my all-time favorite plus-size model

And, not mentioned, Beth Ditto with Mika on The Brit Awards.

I’ll have more details on each of these as the month progresses.

Here’s to kicking April off with a bang!

MSN.com has an article on Tina Fey this morning, with links to her SNL “Mom Jeans” skit and 30 Rock’s “Muffin Top” song.

Hey, “everyone knows the most delicious part of the muffin is the top!”

The tips so far this week have all involved signatures–a walk, a song. So, Tip #20 involves a signature item:

Wear your superpower piece.

Most of us have one–that item of clothing, that pair of awesome shoes, that breathtaking piece of jewelry–that makes us feel powerful and sexy. When you find yourself feeling bad about your body, pull out your superpower garment and soar.

Love Your Body Month Tip #15:

Buy (insert favorite style here) lingerie.

I’m a fan of the lacy, racy stuff, but whatever your flavor–pretty, funky, comfy, silly–treat your body to something that makes you feel your best, most powerful self.

This is a great time of year for lingerie–post-Valentine’s should provide you with selection and sales. Check out our Shopping links for some great resources.

Enjoy!

I mention the blog The-F-Word in the previous post, but I wanted to mention another awesome site: Too Fat For Fashion.  Both of these sites have striking artwork and are full of great commentary and resources.

Another Curvy Life friend sent me links to these three IGIGI outfits (available from size 12+):

Tailored Portrait Collar Dress in Navy

Little Black Dress

Wide Leg Pants

A friend of The Curvy Life sent me this fantastic list of resources. I’m going to add these to the Blogroll and Resources list, but she gives a great breakdown on each, so here’s the list:
Body Image: Feministing, Margaret Cho (used to be plus size), Nikki Blonsky (plus size actress, now has her own TV show), About.com (Plus size fashion resources)

Clothes: Kiyonna.com, SizeAppeal, Alectra.com, Benina & Lu.com, Igigi.com, Ulla Popken, JJill.com, Alight.com, Newport News, Eileen Fisher, Calvin Klein, INC, MaxStudio size XL fits size 14-16. Evans (a UK plus store that has an online site, and is much hipper than Lane Bryant.)

Custom Clothing: TC2.com (developed 3D body scanning technology), Mytwindressforms (custom dress forms)–If there’s a way to commercialize it, TC2’s technology could be used to create affordable custom clothing. I think they use it in London to reduce the price of custom men’s suits ($900 instead of $2000.)

FIDM.com, the LA fashion school, has a ton of fashion related links
Largely Positive–an example of a body image website that might be similar to yours