Full Figured Fashion Week Opening Night!

DAHLINGS -

Last night was the opening of Full Figured Fashion Week! And what an opening night it was! Boulevard, an exclusive club downtown, was filled with creme de la creme of plus-sized fashion. The fabulous Marie Denee (http://thecurvyfashionista.mariedenee.com/ ) greeted me at the door, dressed in a black creation by Cha.Nel.Karam (who later presented an AMAZING runway show). Gwen Devoe of Devoe Productions was rushing about getting things ready. When she took the stage, she was stunning in a white bustier and pencil skirt with large white rosettes on the front. And she also made a very entertaining mistress of ceremonies!

You have no idea how validating it can be to be in a nightclub filled with beautiful women, all plus-sized (except, oddly enough, many of the sponsors), dressed in their best. There were feathers, long gowns, short dresses, sequins, maxi dresses, and so much more, worn proudly by women, black, white and Latina. Your faithful correspondent wore her green custom-made gown by Mad Couture. It looked great, but a nightclub filled to bursting with clientele...well let's just say a lighter dress would have been more appropriate. Sweating is something I avoid at all costs. In honor of Sonsi, the major sponsor for this event, they were serving Sonsi-tinis, a pink cocktail.

I met my fellow members of the Curvy Collective, women who are considered to be important figures in the plus-size industry (I blush, but not really). Stephanie Danforth of Life-Sized Radio; the incomparable Christina from Musings of a Fatshionista; Aimee and Erica from Madison Plus; the author of The Big Girl's Blog (who prefers to remain anonymous), and several others.

On to the fashion! The runway shows were spectacular, not only because of the clothes, but the confident swagger of the plus sized models. Unlike anorexic fashion models, these women worked it, even smiling! How often do you see that on the runway? There were ten designers in all, but I do not have time to do them all justice. However, more will be written about them in the ensuing days!

The Angel Alternaltive, designed by Angel Meyers, were a series of maxi-dresses. They were all very pretty, but unfortunately the dress worn by Angel herself was so spectacular (a shiny animal print long-sleeved column dress) that her designs suffered slightly in comparison.

The offerings from Kiyonna was, as expected, gorgeous. I would have snatched up every piece of the runway. Particularly the black lace dresses. One of my pet peeves is that so many plus size designers only make empire-waisted clothes, ignoring those of us who are not pear shaped. However, Kiyonna redresses the balance somewhat (pardon the pun).

Pure Energy for Target and Just My Size, were, well, meh. Particularly the latter. They were touting their new line as fashion-forward, but that's if you think fashion-forward is sprinkling glitter on large-sized t-shirts.

More of the designers (and more photos) will be up tomorrow, but I must dash and get ready for tonight's Plus-Sized Model Competition, hosted by Ruschell Boone, reporter for New York One.

And do not forget, tomorrow I will be on a panel, "The State of The Curvy Community," hosted by television personality Sharon Quinn, along with Erica Watson, Plus Size comedienne

Marianne Kirby - Blogger from The Rotund and co-author of Notes from the Fatosphere
Yuliya Raquel - Founder/Designer, Igigi
Golda Poretsky - Founder of Body Love Wellness

At the centrally located Hotel Pennsylvania, Madison Room, 33rd Street at Seventh Avenue. Trust me, you can't miss it.

Now to find something suitably ventilated for tonight!

Ciao,

Elisa & Bucky the Wonderdog

Vassiolios Kostetsos To Plus-Sized Women: Drop Dead!

DAHLINGS –


Having Full Figured Fashion Week on the horizon, June 16-19 in New York City, the epicenter of the universe, reminded your faithful correspondent of an interview I did with Vassilios Kostetsos during February’s Mercedes Benz Fashion Week.

(The title of this entry is a paraphrase of a famous New York Post newspaper headline; look it up.)

It was bitterly cold, both inside and outside the tents. The runways were overheated, but the main lobby was frigid. (That was the reason that I fell ill and couldn’t do proper reportage, to my shame.)

In any event, back on February 16, a number of scriveners were invited backstage to the runway tent for a five-minute-interview each with Greek designer Vassilios Kostetsos. It was an icy night. We waited outdoors until the PR crew finally got its act together and led us in. With only five minutes, I decided upon the one question among the several I had written. It was a question I ask every designer I meet:

Would you ever consider designing for a woman my size?

The inevitable answer is a glazed, disbelieving stare, followed by something along the lines of “fashion is for everybody” (translation: are you kidding?).*

The designer was extremely tall, extremely thin, in a tiny brown reptile skin jacket that barely covered the top of his chest, and blondish hair that had been painstakingly styled, gelled and sprayed to look like a frayed plate on one side of his head.

So I asked Mr. Kostetsos this question, including the request that he not say “fashion is for everybody.” I did not have to worry.

His English was not very good, but his answer was clear: no.

Stunned, I asked if that meant he felt that plus-sized women didn’t have the right to wear his clothes.

He nodded, saying (with a great many hand gestures) “Pret-a-porter, yes.” But plus size customers were...“difficult—they want everything. You give them four designs, they want twelve, then they want twenty, all of them." As if customers who weighed over 80 pounds did not deserve to have the radiant majesty of his attire desecrated by their adiposity. "I do not design this. The clothes they look wrong, they look strange. The clothes are not made for those bodies.”

To be quite frank, I was so stunned that I could not think of anything further to say. But then I was ushered out so that the next journalist could have their turn.

To give the man his due, it is hard to imagine a larger woman (or any woman for that matter) wearing this:

But these? Seriously? They would look strange on larger women??

I loudly beg to differ. It is only that his mind is even tinier than his sample sizes. As long as top-flight designers continue to enforce this prejudice, women will continue to starve themselves to emulate the stick-insects that wear these creations down the runway.

As it stands, I hope that every smaller woman who reads this blog will decide against wearing them, since the rest of us cannot.

Ciao,

Elisa & Bucky the Wonderdog


* the only exception has been the exceptional Marc Bouwer, whom I interviewed last September. You can find that earlier entry in this blog.

Fashion Week: Custo Barcelona Does Fringe And More Fringe

DAHLINGS:

As you might have guessed by now, I am not what you would call a “club kid,” so perhaps I am not the target demographic for the Custo Barcelona men's and women's show on Sunday night in the Tent.

The music was a floor-shaking David Bowie remix, with “Dream Genie” heavily featured. This was apropos, as a few of the outfits looked like cheap I Dream of Jeannie knockoffs. Designer Custo Dalmau likes to call his fabric “yarns,” which translated into endless bathing suits with brightly colored crochet-look ponchos over them. There was more fringe on that runway than a herd of 1960s go-go dancers. Go ahead and call it texture if you like.




The male models were all exceedingly handsome, if handicapped by their clothes. There was one interesting suit in a mottled pattern:


One poor juvenile had to wear an outfit with fringed sleeves and wide fringed gaucho pants that reminded one of nothing so much as a maraca player in a 1930s Spanish musical. And I am by no means a fan of the newest trend of male clam diggers, as dear darling Mama used to call those strange mid-calf pants (as distinct in style from cropped pants or flood pants in that they have no inherent style).

During a lull in the day’s activities, an IMG employee remarked to your faithful correspondent that she has never seen the models as thin as they are this year. Given that they normally look like they had been released from Auschwitz hours before the shows that is quite a statement. But it is true; some of the models’ thighs, seen close, are absolutely painful to see.

Backstage, before I was trapped next to the diminutive Mr. Dalmau (cf. my earlier post) I watched the male models being posed ala New Kids On The Block; they were quite adorable in their own clothes, if a tad on the underfed side. This sign hung by the entry to the runway:



Now at least I know why models never smile...take a look at the sign on the right side. However, the rest of it is quite inspirational, in a vapid sort of way.

Ciao,
Elisa & Bucky the Wonderdog