Category: OOTD

Stories in Black and White

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Earlier this month I had the pleasure of attending VoWcon (Voices of Women Conference) as always to be expected from 4 Real Women International, INC. it was a wonderful and inspiring event with a diverse set of honored guests that included Award winning -journalist and Spectrum NY 1 News anchor, Cheryl Wills and Brandi Inez Sutton of the Metropolitan Opera. The theme for the conference this year was all about breaking barriers in all parts of your life and highlighted the need to share your story.

With 4RWI CFO, Angela Fletcher & 4RWI Founder, Norka Blackman-Richards

What made this VoWcon17 even more special was the fact that it was also the book launch of Real Women’s Stories – a powerful, inspiring collection of short stories by and about real women. I had been invited to submit a chapter for this book earlier in the year and it was approved to be included in the published text very soon after I sent my first draft. Ever since I was a kid I’ve had the goal to be a published author so the fact that my first published work is actually a chapter about a personal life experience is pretty surreal, nevertheless I can officially add “author” in my resume while also take pride in the fact that my words may help and inspire someone going through similar challenges to the ones I had.

The books!

As one of the authors of the anthology, I knew I would be expected to attend the conference so back in the summer I had already made plans for an outfit to the point that just needed to find the right shoes for it. However a little less than a week before the event, I was asked by my editor and the 4RWI team to wear white, which worried me because I can literally count on one hand the amount of white items in my closet. With no time to shop I put in my request for my Dia box and got this lovely dress from the new Nanette by Nanette Lepore collection.  Continue reading →

Disney Fangirl Fashion feat. Little Petal

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Being plus size and a huge Disney, Harry Potter, Anime, J-rock, and Marvel fangirl is really not easy. For one thing, when it comes to shopping for geek/nerdy tees, and cosplay apparel it is rare to find pieces in sizes larger than an XL for women.  Then there is the expectation that one should only choose characters that are of your same race. As I mentioned before in an earlier post,  cosplaying is often seen as something that should only be done by those that “can truly emulate a character as depicted in comics, film and video games.” This obviously leaves people of color as well as plus size women like myself out or at risk of getting highly criticized by the geek community.

For this reason, when it came time to order my  Little Petal convertible dress, I had originally chose the Korra dress because I figured that that was a character I could get away with cosplaying, but when I started communicating with designer, Danielle Ward I changed my mind.  As a body positive designer and business owner, she doesn’t believe in things like size limiting who you can dress up as, rather you should think of who you see yourself as. For me that made the decision easy – Esmeralda from Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

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Not Ideal But Real

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When I think about how my style has evolved in the last 5 years I get amazed about the change. After college I wanted to get out of my self-imposed uniform of jeans, polo shirt and a sweater so I began working on bringing out the different sides of my personality in my personal style; my favorite being the most obvious. I bought pieces not because it it happened to fit and cover my body but because they were what I wanted to express of myself.

Fashion, and more importantly style, is about who you want to be, dressing the way you like and owning it. For me this also includes challenging widely accepted beauty standards  that advertise ideal beauty so it is nice to know that there are brands that are willing to help push against this as well.

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theCURVYcon 2017 Recap

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After the awesome time I had at theCURVYcon last year I knew that I would be attending the next one. I liked the very idea that Cece and Chastity had to move it to New York Fashion Week so that plus size fashion would be showcased and celebrated at the same time as straight size fashions. If anything the date change challenged the fashion industry to take notice that they are missing out. This year I was granted the chance to have the Platinum experience which was only made better by the fact that I got to share it with friends some of which I met last year, as well as my best friend, Jade.

Map of the con showfloor.

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Back To School Werk

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The first day of class has always been a bit of a runway show for me. It all started when I went to Pre-K in an outfit my mother  styled for me. I grew up in a household where most of my clothes were  carefully curated by my mother to ensure that I looked my best even though we were of the working class. She would always point out that being on a budget should never take away your style.

Super casual and cute for my very first day of school. I seriously want this skirt back though.

So it should come as no surprise that, much like how I go about choosing  my annual planner, I became selective of my outfit for my first day of class to the point that I splurged from time to time. It does set the tone for the school year after all.  While I actually don’t have pictures of every look I have fond memories of reach of those 20 outfits (Pre-K to Grad school) and I remember the thought that went behind each of them. This hasn’t changed even as I made the transition from student to part time professor. For this back to school season, I’ve partnered with Lane Bryant to show my style for my first full week back to class. I have styled two looks, both are classroom appropriate but very different.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post; clothes were provided by Lane Bryant  for feature, but all opinions are my own.

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