gisela ramirez

Gisela Ramirez is a Sydney-based clothing designer who had her first official fashion show last week in Darlinghurst. Yet another reason why I want to move to Sydney! It looked like an awesome show and I wish I could have flown in, just to see it and be there (and ok, the goodie bags would have been fabulous too).

I’ve admired Gisela’s clothing for a while now, seeing most of it on Tumblr, reblogged by fashionable fat people, but seeing the clothing all in the one spot, with the gorgeous models in them was amazing to see, just in the photographs. I can’t imagine how fantastic it would have been to see in person.

One particular group of outfits caught my eye – everything about them was against the usual fashion ‘rules’, especially the fashion ‘rules’ for fat people. The main part of the outfits consisted of a cropped top in white, some models wore shiny bright-coloured leggings as PANTS and giant high heels, others wore very little on the bottom. Veritable fashion “faux pas” for sure. The sheer mix of clothing would have probably utterly horrified some fashion people. The writing on the crop tops? “Fuck Flattering.”

I just about cheered when I saw the outfits. I may or may not have clapped, at least. Finally, a designer, designing clothing for fat bodies, that is fat themselves and GETS it. She gets the rejecting the dominant beauty paradigm, she gets challenging preconceived ideas of fashion and flattering. I feel, through her clothing, she wants to create a dialogue between people, to discuss prejudices, to bring visibility to fat bodies by the clothing they choose to wear. To make a political statement in a hot outfit – I won’t be ignored, I won’t be pushed aside and I won’t be made fun of. This is what I want to see in my designers. I can’t wait to see more clothing from Gisela.

(Image Credit)