Y’all have probably noticed your pal Plummy has been getting some press as one of the new “fatshionistas”. Renata Espinosa over at the Daily Beast wrote an excellent article and within a week I got mentions in New York Magazine, Australian Cosmo and other places where, with rare exception, fat is a four letter word. And it’s been great. I’m thrilled. Just one question:
Can I just be a fashionista now?
It’s like my grandfather: he’s a good man, he’s Spencer Tracy at the end of the movie, yet every time he goes to the medical center he talks about his Lady Doctor. Lady Doctor. Now, my grandfather –who swore to me he had his kidney shot out in Okinawa, when in fact he was born with just one– cannot get a paper cut without giving me the vivid details about how it ALMOST bled so I imagine if ever he scooched down on a table with his feet in stirrups, draped in a sheet and all greased up to Jesus while some woman came at him with freezing cold escargots tongs and a meaningful glint in her eye, I’d probably hear about it. At dinner.
But no, she’s a woman, and so she cannot be simply a doctor, she has to be a Lady Doctor.
I’m fat, but I’m a lot more than fat, and my sartorial interests lie well beyond the fine art and subtle science of making sure my thighs don’t ignite friction fires when I run to catch the elevator.
I am, for example, outraged Valentino let Alessandra Facchinetti go. I wept delicately poignant tears when I saw the Lacroix show after the house had to file for protection. I read Paris, British and even occasionally American Vogue, watch all the shows, draw lines, form opinions, revamp my wardrobe and try to speak thoughtfully on what most people think is a silly, silly industry. I can throw down about Madame Gres’ draping or Balenciaga’s cutting with anyone this side of Parson’s or beyond, and yet after all that I’m still a novelty act. I’m still just a Lady Doctor.
Well I’m sick of it. I appreciate the nods, and the rare genuine attempts to avoid tokenism, but from now on –and I think I speak for the rest of my plus-size fashion friends when I say it’s fashionista now, not fatshionista and by the way: the doctor is in.
(stands and applauds)
Plumcake, I love you.
Comment by Twistie — August 4, 2009 @ 12:41 pm
Well said! The title of fashionista is not to be thrown around lightly, and you my dear, are one fabulous fashionista. Screw the fat part.
I bow down.
Comment by Emily — August 4, 2009 @ 1:30 pm
Seriously! Isn’t that what we’re all after? Toss the labels and get me some fabulous clothes in MY SIZE (no matter what that size is).
Wait: DON’T LABEL PEOPLE, LABEL CLOTHES…well, that’s not quite right either, but you get my drift.
Comment by that redhead — August 4, 2009 @ 1:36 pm
Plummy, I have a cocktail with your name on it for this one.
Actually, inventing a Plumcake cocktail would be an awesome idea. Something with a lot of gin served in a glass that sasses you when you drink it.
Comment by Leah — August 4, 2009 @ 3:12 pm
Plumcake, we’re just not worthy of you. That righteous screed deserves to be re-printed in every magazine and in the style section of every paper.
It was sort of like when Glamour did that photo spread on swimsuits, with Crystal Renn as the model, and they didn’t make any mention at ALL of her being a “plus-size” model. She just got the model credit at the end of the spread like any other model would. It was damned refreshing.
Comment by La Petite Acadienne — August 4, 2009 @ 3:12 pm
Amen, sister!
I don’t come here everyday to read about fat fashion; I come here because you live and breathe fashion *period*. Which is a lot more entertaining and educational for readers than one more blog by some skinny sorority girl type showing off her latest credit card damage from Forever 21.
Comment by Evie — August 4, 2009 @ 5:10 pm
Plumcake, you most definitely are a fashionista, period. However, I suspect that you are labeled a “fatshionista” (which, in my opinion, is a stupid word) because you blog for a site called “Manolo for the Big Girl: Fashion, Lifestyle, and Humor for the Plus-Size Woman.” You’re kind of putting yourself out there as a big girl who blogs about fashion for the big girl, so it’s no surprise that people try to pigeonhole you as such. Maybe a name change for the blog is in order? Because, really, while many of the fashion posts on this blog are big girl-specific, many of them pertain to fashion in general and are relevant to girls of all sizes. The humor and lifestyle? The Monday Hotness? The Friday Fierceness? The Big Reminder? The book recommendations and literary discussions? Twistie’s recipes and cooking posts? Relevant to all of us, I think. I know I’m not the only non-big girl who reads and enjoys this blog daily. I see it more as “Manolo for the Superfantastic Girl: Fashion, Lifestyle, and Humor for the Modern Woman.” I’m just sayin’.
Comment by Cat — August 4, 2009 @ 11:19 pm
I absolutely love the label fatshionista, personally — but it’s better as an in-joke. I don’t like other people throwing it around; you’re right, it becomes a way to other someone.
“She’s fashionable…for a fat girl.”
Similar to the way that I’m down with my (fellow) gay friends calling themselves/their friends “fags” but I would never put up with a straight stranger doing it. It’s completely dependent on context.
Comment by faye — August 5, 2009 @ 12:14 am
Who cares what size you are? I’m just waiting to find out how to drink from a glass without leaving lipstick!
Comment by megaera — August 5, 2009 @ 2:29 am
You have to toss it back like a Russian on his second bottle of Zubrovka. Not advisable when you’re dealing with Champagne, because of the ear-splitting burps that follow.
Uh, I read it in Cosmo.
Also: Plumcake, if it’s any consolation Tina Brown was “British editor Tina Brown” for the first three years she edited Vanity Fair. And that was the nicest thing she was called.
Comment by raincoaster — August 5, 2009 @ 4:47 am
Amen, Plumcake. On one hand, I think it’s really important for us to have a community of fatshionistas, because it allows fat women who are interested in fashion to have a safe space where they can feel empowered and not judged. On the other hand, it really sucks that we even need that, and that we can’t play with everyone else without having to put up a fight.
A surefire way to avoid leaving those lipstick traces on glasses is just to drink straight out of the bottle. Uh, not that I would ever be so uncouth.
Comment by Alexandra — August 5, 2009 @ 5:40 am
Actually, when you raise your glass to your mouth, if you can manage to discreetly lick the part of the glass on which you’ll be putting your lips, prior to putting your lips on it, the moisture from your saliva will help keep lipstick prints away. If you’re drinking anything that’s garnished with a lemon or lime, just rub it on the spot where your lips will go, and it should give the same result. It won’t completely prevent the lip mark, but it should be much more faint.
Comment by La Petite Acadienne — August 5, 2009 @ 8:38 am
Miss Manners actually approves that method. When asked whether or not it was proper to lick the sugared rims of the Spanish Coffee glasses at an intimate anniversary dinner, she replied that she couldn’t think of ANYTHING that would do a marriage as much good as a husband and wife locking eyes while slowly licking the rims of their cocktail glasses.
Comment by raincoaster — August 5, 2009 @ 10:08 am