I was so excited this week to see this piece outlining some “fashion rules” from Beth Ditto.  Now here’s a woman who has created her own fierce style and is not going to let anybody else dictate how she should look.

But everywhere you look, there are people out there lining up to give fat people advice about what to wear (and not wear.)  Don’t wear horizontal stripes.  Wear black.  Wear Spanx.  Don’t forget your high heels.  Wear A-line dresses.  Don’t wear halter dresses.  There are so many thin people eager to tell us fatties how to “camouflage” our bumps and rolls to make us look “more acceptable” and at least “three sizes smaller”.  Well, I call bull cookies on that nonsense.  We don’t have to camouflage a single thing, baby. You know what we fat people should actually wear?  We should wear whatever on earth we want.  We should wear big horizontal red stripes and mini skirts and tube tops and sequins and blue jeans and white cotton–whatever makes us feel good.  Because I believe that an important part of “being the boss of our own underpants” as Ragen Chastain so wonderfully describes it, is deciding which underpants we want to wear.  Cotton granny panties.  Fine.  Hipsters, bikinis, french cuts, tangas and thongs?  Yes, of course!  You get to choose whatever panties make your fanny happy.

That’s not to say fat fashion isn’t challenging sometimes.  This week, I also ran across this delightful tumbler feed called “WTF Plus Size Clothing Manufacturers” that calls out clothing retailers and fashion designers for some of the more disastrous offerings hung on the plus-size clothing racks.  This wonderful site allows you to laugh through your tears as you contemplate some of the desperately ugly things that make up the limited choices available in plus-sized clothing.  There’s no question that us larger folks have fewer choices when it comes to fashion. And we are usually asked to pay more.  Sometimes we are asked to pay a LOT more.

So yes, it can be challenging to pull together a look that expresses your own unique and personal style without creating a credit card bill that arrives like the angel of death at the end of the month.  Sometimes it can be a real challenge to find just the right outfit to fill your heart with glee.  Maybe you’re just a person who doesn’t care that much about clothes and shoes and jewelry and hats and purses and stuff–which is also totally cool.

Just remember, that at the end of the day, the only rules of style that need concern you are the rules that you create for yourself.  Oh, and if you’re going to be the boss of your own underpants, make sure they are FABULOUS!

Love,

The Fat Chick