Some of you are looking at the title of this blog post, like 'Girl,bye!',BUT if you are a fat girl you know exactly what I'm talking about. We live in a time where the word aesthetic is thrown around quite loosely (Shoutout to tumblr.com I guess). What does it even mean? According to urbandictionary.com :
Relating to something that looks good or pleasing to the eye.
or
Something that tumblr weirdo's say way too often and use it for every damn thing under the sun. A generally annoying word.
Something that tumblr weirdo's say way too often and use it for every damn thing under the sun. A generally annoying word.
I agree with the first definition, and just threw the 2nd one in for giggles. This blog post is basically going to attack this idea of one singular fat girl aesthetic. While people that wear straight sizes (0-10), are granted the liberty of dressing however they please and still fitting a particular aesthetic. Plus sized people, are not granted that same luxury. You can be a size 6, and rocker/gothic or a size 4 and bohemian chic- and it's all sunshine and rainbows. Your size when you're straight sized doesn't affect your style. I AGREE! So why isn't this the case for all people? There is an unspoken expectation that fat people, women specifically MUST look a certain way. There most certainly is a "fat girl aesthetic", and if I'm being honest most of us cannot afford it.
Let me rewind a little bit for those of you who are completely oblivious to the struggle we (plus sized people) call shopping. Most mall retailers did not carry a plus size section 10 years ago. Let that sink in. The average size woman in America wears a size 12-14, that is considered plus sized. 10 years ago, the average woman would have struggled to find retailers in her local mall that carried her size. To say the fashion industry has treated fat people like an unwanted stepchild, would be a gross understatement. How are the most visible parts of your society, ignored by an entire industry? In the words of someone's jamaican aunty "Dat nuh mek it". In comes the internet in all it's glory, blogging became an outlet for many plus size women, it then turned to vlogging. Instagram became super relevant, and now we have snapchat. My point is plus sized women are influential, and the internet became the gift that never stops giving. Online retailers started popping up left,right, and centre. When the average shopper isn't finding clothes for their body, and their favourite youtuber/blogger is talking about this new site that has a plus size section...you do the math. What we ended up having was a domino effect. The big bad fashion industry just need a little competition, they need to see that all these fat people they've ignored would actually pay for cute/fashionable clothes if they were given the chance. Initially online retailers were able to charge an arm and a leg, because they knew it was slim pickings. Once the industry noticed the plus sized people, they started loosing up their grip on the extra inches of fabric. More stores starting carrying their straight sizes up to an XL aka a 12, some even started including XXL aka 14. The miraculous happened, brick and mortar stores that carried EXCLUSIVELY plus sizes started to be a thing.
Fast forward to this present day. Social media is the driving force of ALL things trendy, if you disagree... I don't know which rock you're living under. As I previously mentioned, retailers are doing better. It's 2017, and I can give you a list of stores that carry a beautiful range of sizes. BUT, and of course there is a BUT. Fat people are still expected to have this put together aesthetic. For that I in part blame the industry, and in part blame the faces that we've made poppin'. Here is why in my humble opinion the blame is 2-fold. Firstly, they only advertised version of fat people we see is one that is together & super trendy. You won't see a fat person, that is edgy and gothic advertised because they want to pigeon hole us. They pigeon hole us, because foolishly they believe we'll only buy the version of ourselves that they've branded as acceptable. Secondly, these figures/faces that are well known in the "body positivity movement" are always put together. Mainly because they are celebrities in their own right. If i'm on tumblr, or instagram searching through hashtags such as : #effyourbeautystandards, #honormycurves, #bodypositivity, #psootd I would find extremely familiar faces. What I think fat women fail to realize, and when I say fat women I mean us regular degular ones...these women we look up to,admire,idolize are sponsored. These brands that we are supporting, and throwing our hard earned coin at are literally contacting these women, and sending them merchandise and PAYING(i ain't mad child, believe me!) them to show it to the world. Some of these women have contracts with these companies, they are in partnerships! There you have it my friends, the driving force behind this singular "fat girl aesthetic". It's the media we love and crave, and the people we aspire to be- they reinforce it in our heads subconsciously everyday. We scroll, and we see them done up, looking absolutely glamorous...and we sigh and digress.
I write this to empower y'all, but to empower myself first. BUN this narrative that says I must look 100% done up every time I leave my house. I'm not less than when I'm having an off day. I'm not ugly when my uniform consists of jeans and a t shirt three days in a row. Today, I looked grungy, and I felt spectacular. There was nothing special about my outfit, but I appreciated the fact that I went to work in clothes that I felt good in. I ignored the apprehension within, and rocked the heck out of my distressed boyfriend jeans, and t shirt. If you are big, or have felt "too big" to pull off the look/trend... I say go for it. Your body isn't offensive, you're not too wide to wear a horizontal stripe. You're not too fat to try a crop top. Wear what you please, create looks and leave people inspired by your authenticity. It's 2017, new year, same ole me.
Fast forward to this present day. Social media is the driving force of ALL things trendy, if you disagree... I don't know which rock you're living under. As I previously mentioned, retailers are doing better. It's 2017, and I can give you a list of stores that carry a beautiful range of sizes. BUT, and of course there is a BUT. Fat people are still expected to have this put together aesthetic. For that I in part blame the industry, and in part blame the faces that we've made poppin'. Here is why in my humble opinion the blame is 2-fold. Firstly, they only advertised version of fat people we see is one that is together & super trendy. You won't see a fat person, that is edgy and gothic advertised because they want to pigeon hole us. They pigeon hole us, because foolishly they believe we'll only buy the version of ourselves that they've branded as acceptable. Secondly, these figures/faces that are well known in the "body positivity movement" are always put together. Mainly because they are celebrities in their own right. If i'm on tumblr, or instagram searching through hashtags such as : #effyourbeautystandards, #honormycurves, #bodypositivity, #psootd I would find extremely familiar faces. What I think fat women fail to realize, and when I say fat women I mean us regular degular ones...these women we look up to,admire,idolize are sponsored. These brands that we are supporting, and throwing our hard earned coin at are literally contacting these women, and sending them merchandise and PAYING(i ain't mad child, believe me!) them to show it to the world. Some of these women have contracts with these companies, they are in partnerships! There you have it my friends, the driving force behind this singular "fat girl aesthetic". It's the media we love and crave, and the people we aspire to be- they reinforce it in our heads subconsciously everyday. We scroll, and we see them done up, looking absolutely glamorous...and we sigh and digress.
I write this to empower y'all, but to empower myself first. BUN this narrative that says I must look 100% done up every time I leave my house. I'm not less than when I'm having an off day. I'm not ugly when my uniform consists of jeans and a t shirt three days in a row. Today, I looked grungy, and I felt spectacular. There was nothing special about my outfit, but I appreciated the fact that I went to work in clothes that I felt good in. I ignored the apprehension within, and rocked the heck out of my distressed boyfriend jeans, and t shirt. If you are big, or have felt "too big" to pull off the look/trend... I say go for it. Your body isn't offensive, you're not too wide to wear a horizontal stripe. You're not too fat to try a crop top. Wear what you please, create looks and leave people inspired by your authenticity. It's 2017, new year, same ole me.
That picture is from my tumblr, and I thought it was fitting with this blog post. Share it if you want, but don't forget to send em here to the blog. Also pictured me feeling myself, even if I don't fit the fat girl aesthetic.
