The Campaign for Clearer Clothing Sizes

Forgive me for constantly banging on about dress sizes and sticking up headless photos all the frickin’ time, but when I saw the campaign that Gemma at Retro Chick had set up, I knew it was something I had to get behind. As well as sharing a first name, Gemma and I share very similar views when it comes to UK clothing sizes. We’re fed up of the huge variations, vanity sizing, and obsession with numbers. And what is even worse that obsessing over the label in your clothes is walking into a shop and having absolutely no idea which size to try on in the first place…

Why it’s time to throw out those incentive jeans!

I recently did some talks on the Ideal Woman catwalk at the Ideal Home show about dressing to make the most of your body. It was in a similar vein to what I did at BNTM Live – I concentrated on my belief that we need to stop looking at our bodies and seeing a series of flaws and ‘problem areas’, but we should pick out the good bits instead, in order to start on a positive note. It sounds obvious, but I’ve met plenty of women who struggle to pick even one thing they really like about themselves, and I think that’s a terrible shame…

On size 14 as the ‘ideal’ and other revolutionary ideas…

Earlier this week the Daily Mail published an article about our new Equalities Minister, Lynne Featherstone. She made some comments over the weekend about the media’s portrayal of women, the ridiculous ideals that young women have to live up to, and the amount of tiny, airbrushed models we see in publications every day. She even suggested some kind of kitemark system for images that have been digitally altered. “Advertisers and magazine editors have a right to publish what they choose, but women and girls also have a right to feel comfortable in their own bodies.” She said.

So far, so good. But she then suggested that girls would be better to aspire to the curvaceous figure of my current girl crush, Christina Hendricks, rather than the impossibly thin models on the catwalk. “Christina Hendricks is absolutely fabulous. We need more of these role models.”

This, of course, led the Mail run with the shock headline “All women should aspire for hourglass size 14 figures, claims new equalities minister.” Talk about paraphrasing…

Zzzzz! Julien Macdonald picks on plus sizes.

I remember writing a review of Project Catwalk during its first season and jokingly photoshopping a pair of devil horns onto Julien Macdonald’s head after he made one too many nasty comments about the contestants.

In early episodes of the show, it quickly became obvious that the Welsh designer was filling the Simon Cowell role in the show, a comedy villain who loved nothing more than tearing the contestants to shreds.

And it seems nothing changes. Madonald will soon return to our screens, this time judging models, not clothes, in a new series of Britain’s Next Top Model. And whilst the show has a new look and a new face at the helm – Elle Macpherson – one thing it will no doubt be recycling is Julien’s tendency to spout unnecessary vitriol.

This week’s gem? Well, apparently, “If you’re a size 14 in room full of size eights – you’re in the wrong room.”

Size ain’t nothin’ but a label

I was overwhelmed by the amazing response to my recent guest curator post on Etsy. Before listing my picks from the site, the team very kindly let me wax lyrical about Big Girls Browse and why I started it, and it was lovely to see some of the reactions from the Etsy community.

One comment in particular really stood out to me. Niftyknits said “I’ve been trying to pretend I’m still a UK14, not 16…but this gives me the courage to say heck – I’m a 16!!!”

I was so touched when I read that, because it sums up the exact reason I started this site. We live in a world where there’s so much stigma attached to a stupid number printed on a clothes label, and there shouldn’t be! Your dress size does not define who you are.

Once-fat Karl Lagerfeld has another anti-fat rant.

Karl Lagerfeld has once again conveniently forgotten that he used to be fat and decided to moan about the use of normal women in magazines. “No one wants to see curvy women,” said the designer, on hearing the news that Brigitte, one of Germany’s top-selling magazines, was making a move to include ‘real’ women on its pages rather than professional models. This isn’t the first time the Kaiser has whined about bigger women, either. When he created a line for H&M, he complained about his clothes being made up to a size 16, stating he designed only for slim women. Well, Karl, we seem to remember you cosying up to Beth Ditto at one of your shows not so long ago…