The Sunflower Miracle of Gay Gardens
“Luck” is where preparedness and opportunity meet. I had the preparedness of having asked for help and received generosity from people who love me. (Thanks especially to my soil sponsor mother!) Receiving is an important energetic part of asking for help!
I had the opportunity of the chipmunk or squirrel who gathered seeds either from last year’s sunflowers or a neighbor’s bird feeder and buried them in my containers. THE CUTEST SANTA CLAUS MOMENT.
My Favorite Fair Trade Tee Shirt Store is Having a Rare Sale!
Jamie’s designs are so awesome and the whole store maintains ethics that are important to me! All garments are fair trade, sweatshop-free, and WRAP certified. They are hosting a rare sale good through Friday for 15% off orders $40 or more! So many good gifts for friends or self!
CODE IS: cyber
Gender and Size Inclusive Activewear, Swimwear and Underwear Brand TomBoyX!
It’s pretty special to be a queer person with a Lesbian mom. It’s nice to have that in common, even as my mom and I are as different as you can imagine a Glitter Mega Femme and a Tomboy can be (or, in astrology speak I’m a Capricorn and she’s a Cancer–we are literally opposite signs). Last year on a visit to mom in her Lesbian village in the woods deep outside of Seattle, she proudly showed me her TomBoyX bathing suit covered in jelly fish. She has never been this excited about a bathing suit in my whole life, so I knew it had to be special.
My Uphill Battle to Interrupt Fatphobia with Tee Shirts
In justice circles, the general call is for shirts that go up to size 6X. This is difficult to find but I basically made it my mission to do it. I feel especially hurt by so-called intersectional feminist stores that don’t carry plus sizes, or barely make it to a 2X. I wanted to create a different experience for my customers.
It is really hard to find a size inclusive line of tee shirt blanks.
Overcoming Stereotypes and Busting Out My Own Style
As I absorbed the other lies I was taught about being a fat woman—that I was not sexually attractive, I better not wear anything revealing and I should try not to draw attention to myself—I lost any desire to discover my own style and perform my gender. Performing gender is a way of showing your internal gender identity externally—usually through clothes, accessories, and maybe make-up.
Thigh Chafing aka Chub Rub Prevention in Bathing Suits!
I got the following question in my comments about a topic I’m very passionate about–thigh chafing aka chub rub prevention!
What about swimming? How do we go swimming with bikini bottoms but still prevent the chafing?
I’m so glad you asked! I’ve never actually found swimming to cause chub rub for me, but I have definitely had moments at pool parties and beaches where I needed to surreptitiously apply chub rub prevention for out of the water wandering and socializing. It’s hard to find a clandestine spot to rub something between your thighs out at the beach, and you don’t want to wait until it’s too late!
More Thigh Chafing (aka Chub Rub) Prevention and Treatment Strategies
One of the blog posts that continues to get the most traffic for me is my original post about thigh chafing prevention. The summer is hot and sweaty, if you have any fat at all in your thighs regardless of your gender you may be prone to getting uncomfortable rashes between your legs. You can also get rashes anywhere skin touches and gets sweaty like under bellies or arms. I have heard reports from men who wear jeans that they can get chub rub on the parts of their thighs that meet above the leg holes.
Finding great prevention for chub rub revolutionized my wardrobe because I never thought I could wear dresses. Chub rub prevention allows me such versatility!
Why Plus Model Tess Holliday’s Media Blitz is an Important Moment for Fat People Everywhere
So the other day I got a phone call from a reporter friend of mine at the New York Daily News (one of the big dailies in NYC) doing an article about plus size model Tess Holliday (formerly known as Tess Munster) being signed to a modeling agency. Tess is unusual because she’s only 5’4″ and a size 22–much different proportions than the standard for plus size models. By the way, even though plus size models are modeling clothing worn by women of lots of different shapes and sizes, the “industry standard” is under size 14 and 5’8″ or taller.
I did the interview and my quote is good and meaty. I had a lot more to say than what my quote could fit, so here are my thoughts on why it’s important that Tess was signed by an agency and the resulting media storm.
Marimacho Clothing New York Fashion Week Show Spring/Summer 2014
When I was asked to attend Marimacho clothing’s New York Fashion Week debut last weekend, I was thrilled! This is a company that is focused on sustainability–creating garments that are long-lasting, quality pieces that are meant to be investment pieces in wardrobes. Not just disposable fashion that you wear for one season or less, these are pieces made in New York City at a woman-owned business and not in sweat shops.
New Strategy for Thigh Chafing aka Chub Rub: Butt Paste
All that is to say that people bring up thigh chafing to me all the time and I’m ever exploring ways to prevent and treat chub rub. This summer I talked about it briefly to a couple of folks and I was given the tip that this all-natural diaper rash cream called Butt Paste is great at preventing chub rub.
Flower Bois, Summer Trend in Butch Fashion
Nicky pointed out to me at the last WHAM BAM! that floral prints are all the rage in the queer scene–especially for the masculine of center crowd. “Flower bois,” they said (pronounced “bwah” here). “They’re everywhere.”
They were right. I’ve been seeing it everywhere. Florals are all over menswear. I love it, especially because it’s a little gender bendy. It’s the same reason I love pink on butches–it’s one of my favorite colors and I like butches. Together, it is pleasing. I love a bold floral print and I love seeing it on my fashionable friends.
Shabby Apple Review and Giveaway!
Shabby Apple reached out to me as a fat style blogger person to find out if I was interested in doing a review and giveaway. I had never looked at their site before, but was delighted to find a lot of dresses in the style of vintage clothing, many of which are available in plus size.