Wannabe Princess

Plus Size Fashion and Lifestyle in South Yorkshire

plus-size blogger based in Yorkshire.

Debz Louise is a plus-size blogger based in Yorkshire. Behind many nationwide campaigns such as #WeaAreTheThey & winner of Best Blogger at the UK Plus Size Awards, she talkas about life as a plus-size 40-something woman in South Yorkshire.

Black and Bling

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At the weekend I was lucky enough to be invited to the Hen Party of one of my good friends! The original plan was a picnic day in London (with a treasure hunt) and then to go to see a show at Wonderground in Waterloo. Unfortunately the weather put a dampener on our plans – so we ended up having dinner and drinks (what a shame!) in Leicester Square before we went to see the show in Waterloo. If you haven’t been to see LIMBO at Waterloo then I can not recommend it enough! The show was breathtaking and Wonderland is fantastic – really worth a visit!


We also paid a cheeky visit to M and M world in the afternoon too! It wasn’t my idea honest šŸ˜‰



The dress code was ‘black and bling’ and people didn’t appoint! As you know, I don’t really tend to wear black so I did wonder what I was going to wear. Then I remembered that I bought this black sparkly dress from Excite clothing last  year on eBay and thought it was perfect. 


Ignore the badly posed, selfie style photos – I really need to work out the timer on my camera.
Anyway to go with the theme I wore a set of silver bangles from Primark and a frog sparkly necklace from Love Ur Curves.



Dress: Excite Clothing
Pink Leggings: Love Ur Curves
Bangles: Primark
Frog Necklace: Love Ur Curves
Shoes: Primark
Ear Rings: eBay

What did you get up to this weekend?

Debz 

x

Gym’ll Fix It! My Sisters Story From The Otherside Of The Coin.

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Anyone who knows me personally will know that my little sister has
lost quite a lot of weight over the past 2-3 years and fantastically well she
has done at it too! But, after a conversation with her tonight (YAY for sister
time) I realise that we all take for granted just what weight loss does (or
doesn’t do) for you.
I’m not going to get into facts and figures
because we all know that I feel those arenā€™t important, being happy in your own
skin is far more essential that wearing the jeans size that the media says you
should. What is important is that she set herself a goal and stuck to it – as
she does now!



Would You Ever Ask Someone What They
Weigh?
I don’t think I have ever asked someone
what they weigh! I am not sure I would even ask someone their dress size
(unless it was for practical reasons) let alone what the scales read when they
take the (sometimes brave) step to step onto them.
My sister told me today that since she has
lost weight, she has been asked how much she weighs more times than she cares
to remember… She recalls that when she was ‘fat’ no one ever asked her this.
It seems that people see the transformation she has gone through has given
people a reason (excuse?) to ask her what she weighs… This isnā€™t just
friends, but work colleagues and people she barely knows!





You Look So Much Better Now!

You would imagine that our media obsessed
world would lead to compliments of “you look so much better now you are
thin” which she says happens… But that isnā€™t where it ends. She gets
comments such as “Oh, have you put on a bit of weight, you look so much better
for it”… She hasnā€™t gained weight & to be honest, is that anyone elseā€™s
business? People telling her she looks better thin, others telling her she looks better (when they think she is) bigger… How is anyone supposed to win!?
I don’t want to go into personal details
of her life (and I have asked her if I can blog about this) but it made me
realise (once again) that it isnā€™t just fat people that get comments on the way
they look. She has worked hard at her body and yet people still tell her she
looks good thin, or that she looks better a bit bigger. Not people whose
opinion she has asked for or even someone who has entered into discussion with,
but just people who feel it is their right/obligation/job to comment on whether
she looks good at whatever weight they think she looks better at.
To me, she has always been beautiful and I
would never comment on it and she’s my sister – why other people think they
should is baffling… I am sure she is not the only person who goes through
this. In fact I know she isn’t – many of us deal with peoples comments on OUR
body every single day.
Let’s all just
remember we are not put on this earth to be visually pleasing to other people
at all. We are put on this Earth to live our life exactly how we want & we
do not and should not live our life in a way that just pleases others. If
people do not like the way we look then they can simply choose to look the
other way!
Be-You-Tiful
Debz xx

Skater Girl Indulges

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I know I rant quite a lot about body image issues, but as a BBW blog I feel it is important to also bring you plus size bargains andĀ  clothes that I like. I know that as a self-confessed fat chick it can be hard to fit clothes you like, that fit, that you can actually afford.
One of my new-found faves is ASOS Curve. I know I am quite late to the party with this website, but I really am loving everything that they have on offer at the moment.
Last week I picked up this bargain of a grey skater dress and decided to wear it to Club Indulge on Saturday.
Skater Dress With Sweetheart Neckline And Short Sleeve
I really like the fit of the dress and the fact that it is long enough to wear without leggings – although it would look pretty funky teamed up with leggings. That is the beauty of a dress like this, the choice is yours! I found it very flattering around the bust and it was more than comfortable to wear all night. I bought a size down from my usual size and it still fit fine. For just Ā£15.00 in their current ASOS Curve sale, it really is a must have for any wardrobe. Get yours here
I teamed it up with my other new found love – a necklace from Black Heart Creatives. I have three of these now – I’ll blog about my other favourite necklace another time. I got comments on my necklace all night long, with loads of other ladies wanting to get their hands on one!
I wore the outfit to Club Indulge – which is a relatively new plus size party that was held in London Bridge. Held in champagne bar right next to the Hilton Hotel the summer mixer event did threaten to be ruined by rain but actually the 4th Club Indulge was quite possibly my favourite one yet. The next one is at the end of August and if you haven’t been to one before, I would recommend it!
The night did get a bit blurry – I blame the wine!

 

Dress: ASOS Curve
Shoes: Primark
Belt: Yours Clothing (old season)
Necklace: Black Heart Creatives
What did you get up to this weekend?
Debz x

How Important Is It To Be Liked? A Look At Social Networking

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It pains me to say it, but I don’t know much about growing up in this modern world – it has been a very, very long time since I was a teenager trying to find my place in this world. What I do know is that gone are the days when your main worry was being picked last for the rounderā€™s team during PE – whoever devised that as a good idea for school children needs a very stern talking too and possibly detention.

Now we have the whole new world of social media, whereby we’re competing for likes and follows and shares on our photos and funny stories. If we post a photo and only 4 people like it, does that mean we’re fat and ugly?

I am a social network whore, quite possibly to unhealthy limits but I love it! Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram – I have, use and love them all.

However, as an uncertain 14 year old I am not sure that my love of all of these pages would be the same? I can imagine being an unsure teenager and posting a photo of myself – if none of my classmates liked it, I can imagine the devastation that could follow. All you want is the guy that sits at the back of the class to notice your photo and like it – is that really too much to ask!? Gone are the days when you can imagine that he smiled at you and that would be enough – now we need the physical evidence that someone LIKES our photo almost as a validation that they like US! (I am talking in very broad terms here)…

Without being dramatic I can imagine it being a slippery slope – your classmate posts a photo of her pouting and wearing too much make up, you go one step further and post a photo in your bikini, or some proactive pose just to get more likes that her. It seems like harmless fun and in many cases it is – but I feel we should be teaching our younger generation that the only ‘like’ they really need in this world is their own! The truth is that as a 14 year old, the people we rely on so heavily to like our photos probably wonā€™t be the same people we celebrate our first pregnancy with or when we sign our mortgage, so the grand scheme of things they really don’t matter.

Then we have the flipside that the confusion of these photos can cause – a boy posts on your photo “wow, sexy” and you like it – have you given him permission to look you up and down and take in every inch of your body when you see him? No! But the posting of your photo and the liking of his comment might lead him to think so!

I am sure that there has always been proactive poses and boys calling girls sexy, but it seems to me (and I am by no means an expert) that this is so much in our faces now… Boys and growing up to be men who think it’s ok to message a girl on a dating website and ask to see her tits or to pass her in a bar and smack her on the bottom. I know that this has absolutely always happened, but I think the openness of social networking has let the problem grow. We now have men who think that they can talk to women in a manner they would kill someone for, if they spoke to a female in their family in the same way – who think its ok to grope a woman as they walk past her however young she might be or to simply tell her she isnā€™t likeable enough. It is absoluetly not ok for men to do this and we need to make a stand and teach our children the right way to behave, so that they can grow up to be adults we’re proud of – notĀ lecherousĀ men or unsure women, who behave in such a way that they’re damaging other people with their actions.

I love, love, love social networking – the world of social media and bloggers has been an inspiration to me and so many others. It has bought me new friends and opportunities I never know – but I just hope that the trend of wanting ‘likes’ so badly doesnā€™t damage our younger generation, because as long as you love yourself the rest will fall into place – you do not need the validation of a certain number of Facebook likes to tell you that you are beautiful, any mirror anywhere will do that for you.

What have your experiences online been like?

Debz xx

P.S I fully understand that this article is in very broad terms and that both genders can be affected in much the same way. I am no expert in this field and this is just an opinion piece and nothing more – thanks for reading!

Where Can I Buy Confidence?

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Some of you may have seen that I was quoted in The DailyTelegraphs Wonder Woman section last week…

ā€œDebz, 30, is an internet marketer, who also runs a plus
size fashion blog Wannabe Princess. She knows Miranda through Twitter (thereā€™s
definitely a scene) and loves Club Indulge, although she says her size doesnā€™t
put her off going to mainstream nights.

ā€œIā€™d go anywhere, I donā€™t really care, but we all come along
to this together, so itā€™s a good opportunity to see people.ā€ Although she
admits: ā€œIf I canā€™t fit past someone here, Iā€™ll tell them to move, whereas in a
normal club Iā€™d feel like I had to squeeze past or go the long way round.ā€ā€

Apart from learning that I probably shouldn’t talk to
journalists when I am drunk, I was glad to have a link to my blog & some
new visitors – Hiiii!

Anyway, I guess write-ups like this lead to ‘normal’ people
discovering blogs and BBW websites etc. because it is something that they
wouldn’t usually Google to find.

I had a lovely email from a lady the day after the article
and it made me realise that the blogs that we all write (And I don’t mean this
in a big myself up way – I mean it generically across the board) are doing some
good!

” I stumbled accross your site through an article in a
paper about BBW night clubs. I was so happy to see this, you look so confident
and your clothes are fab…. I feel that in my life long quest to be thin I
have wasted so much time on being unhappy being fat. I have so much more
confidence now as I used to feel succesful when im thin and unsuccessful when
im fat! I am learning to accept me as a big person, not easy though, any tips
please, I love your style and confidence. xx”

I wrote back to the lovely lady (Hello if you are reading
this) but it made me think, how exactly do you ‘get’ confidence?

This has been saved on my computer for years, I do not know the original source – sorry!


A few years back one of the biggest things for me was
realising that many people suffer with the same body image issues – whether
they’re ‘justified’ or not. I started to post body positivity quotes that I
liked on my Facebook and I was surprised at the number of friends that related
to what I was saying. I always thought my thin, beautiful friends would never
understand how I felt but actually in this image-conscious world we are all
fighting the same battle.

What was also a big step for me was realising that if people
wanted to pick on something about your image/look/style they will – they’ll
call you out for wearing glasses, or having the wrong haircut or having the
wrong clothes.

This has been saved on my computer for years, I do not know the original source – sorry!


However the truth is that these people don’t own me – they
don’t have any bearing on my life or the good memories I make with the people
who do matter. Someone might make a comment in a nightclub or while I am out,
but they are the ones who spend their night concentrating on others – I am
usually so happy to be out with people I care about that I don’t even register
other peopleā€™s negativity.


I am not saying I am 100% confident – who is!! But what I am
saying is that any issues I do have are just that – my own issues. I do not
have to let any ill confidences I feel about my body have a negative effect on
my life – or even my day. 

Whatever size clothes you wear, you deserve to be
happy & have good people in your life, so never let the haters bring you
down!

This has been saved on my computer for years, I do not know the original source – sorry!


I hope you’re enjoying the sunshine

Debz xx

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