After hearing about the Exchange for Change program, my friends and I were intrigued at the idea of clothing swaps. I’d never been to one before, so I wasn’t quite sure what it involved. Most of the larger scale clothing swaps I’d heard of were full of small designer wares, and didn’t interest me in…
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I was really trying to avoid saying anything about this as a great deal has been said already and the body image debate exhausts me at the best of times. But I’m going to say something anyway. Jennifer Hawkins is on this month’s Marie Claire. Supposedly completely unairbrushed. And naked. This is to raise awareness…
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I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. If you don’t celebrate Christmas, or observe any other religious occasion, I hope you had a nice day off anyway. Me? Well, I have now learned not to buy my sister clothing for Christmas. Or at any other time of the year. It is my own fault though….
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I used to have reasonably long hair. From childhood up until grade 12, it never got shorter than my shoulder blades. It was something I hid behind. I’d always been told that fat girls can’t have short hair. They need to have hair framing their faces. They need to have a little length. To hide…
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A few weeks ago it was my sister’s birthday. The sister whose ultimate aspiration is to buy from the front of the clothing racks, rather than the back. I carefully listened to her for months beforehand, to see if she would inadvertently give me a hint as to what she wanted for her birthday. She…
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I spent four days in Sydney last weekend. And each day I wore or tried on things I shouldn’t be wearing or trying on: 1. Wore a playsuit on the way down. My sister’s exact words were: “I will not be seen with you if you wear that.” To top it off? The playsuit is…
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This column is going to be a solicitation column this week. Oooh dirty! Ok, not really. I’m heading down to Sydney with another fat and fabulous person tomorrow afternoon. Can any Sydneysiders recommend us places to shop? I vary from a 12-20 and she’s around a 16-22. Doesn’t just have to be clothing though—shoes and…
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I used to be a voracious magazine consumer. It started with Girlfriend and Dolly in my younger years, moved on to Cleo and Cosmo in my teenage years, and settled at Marie Claire and Shop ‘Til You Drop in my … not so teenage years. I’d pore through the pages, taking in every fashion spread,…
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It’s hot. Oh so hot. The weather has done the usual thing and bypassed spring all together and gone smack, sweaty bang into summer. I hate it. I’ve lived here all my life and am still not used to the humidity. It honestly makes me want to just flop on the ground and cry. This…
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“Are you really going to eat that?” I’ve heard this before. Plenty of times. Chances are you’ve heard it before too. Fat, skinny, in-between, we’ve all probably heard this sentence at some time in our life. Directed at us, directed at the person at the next table. It isn’t an exclusively female question, but the…
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This week, my mother and I attended a Melbourne Cup function. We got all frocked and fascinatored up, put on our heels, ate and drank all day. Our table was in prime viewing location: right near the front entrance. This meant we could see everyone who came in and out of the venue. And there…
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I love fashion. I’m not so sure fashion loves me. My personal style is rather feminine, I barely wear pants or jeans and I love headbands and bright lipstick. I believe fashion is a political statement. What we wear reflects who we are. We may not think it as we put on those pair of…
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Being fat can mean you’re conspicuous. Being fat and a woman, doubly so. No matter how much try and hide yourself, you’re there. I spent years trying not to take up too much space. I was so completely conscious of the way my hips brushed against desks in the classroom, the size of my thighs…
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Recently, Karl Lagerfeld, the Kaiser, the current designer for Chanel and his own line made some comments in regards to fat people and clothing. He said, during an interview with the German Focus magazine (translated on Same Same website): “These are fat mummies sitting with their bags of crisps in front of the television, saying…
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