Dear Vicky Chandler
Here I was, spending a Sunday morning on my sofa catching up on Sunday Brunch when someone tweeted a link out to your article (For those who haven’t seen the 10 Fashion Staples Every Plus Size Girl Should Own article you can read that here).
I must say I found in quite enlightening, I had no idea that as a short, fat girl I should avoid wearing ankle boots or that pencil skirts should be a certain pattern depending on my size. Of course, I already knew that my fat body should never be dressed up with horizontal stripes – every fat girl knows that rule.
I had no idea that the shape of my jeans mattered to a stranger on the internet, who would spend their time writing an article to tell me that delicate necklaces are a no no or that I shouldn’t wear tops with a spaghetti strap – WHO KNEW!
I am of course, being a sarcastic little princess today because I think you, your rules and your body shaming are disgraceful. I feel sad for you that you need to write an article on how strangers should or shouldn’t dress. Your weight loss is great and I am happy for you that you are happier in your skin but just because when you were 5 stone heavier you wouldn’t wear halternecks or thought that you looked bad in cropped length jacket that doesn’t mean that your rules fit everyone.
So… Just to prove my point I put a call out to the people who live a life breaking your silly, pointless rules & just look how good they look whilst they do it!!
Rule: “steer clear of wide-legged jeans if most of your weight is carried on your bottom half… FYI NO SUPER SKINNY”
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| Skinny jeans on Arched Eyebrow |
Rule: “Big designs are a no-no…”
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| Leah |
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| I stay right away from big designs…. *Sigh* |
Rule: “Stripes are the hardest pattern to tackle, but the key is to avoid horizontal ones”
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| Meeeee! |
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| Emily from http://www.fashion-north.com/ |
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Kim from Call Me Kim looking good in stripes!
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Rule: “I’m afraid that studs and delicate necklaces just don’t cut it”
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| Kathryn in studs and a delicate neck chain – shock horror! |
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I love Lauras studs!
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Rule: “Pencil skirts… If you’re bigger on the bottom half, stick to a solid colour, preferably darker, and pair this with a lighter coloured top. If you’re slimmer on the bottom and want more of a curved effect, a brighter, more daring pattern will do just the trick.”
| Kathyrn looking great! |
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| A pencil skirt AND ankle boots from Georgina at http://www.shemightbeloved.com/ – Sin City! |
Rule: RE Jackets “Avoid anything cropped and instead opt for hip length and longer”
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Kathryn from http://www.misskathrynsmisstakes.co.uk/ in a great cropped jacket!
Rule: “Not to state the obvious, here, but spaghetti straps and halter necks don’t do us any favours”
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| Georgina from Fuller Figure Fuller Bust – Spaghetti Straps, Halterneck and a moustache – winner! |
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Halterneck – OOPS!
Rule: “PLEASE, avoid ankle boots that seem to cut your height in half”
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| I see no problem with ankle boots here! |
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| Sarah from http://plussizeproud.wordpress.com/ breaking the ‘rules’ as usual! |
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| Leah from http://justmeleah.co.uk/ |
Ladies (and gents) STOP listening to these rules complied by strangers to tell you what you should and should not be wearing.
If you put something on and YOU think YOU look good and you like it on YOUR body that is all that matters. If you don’t like ankle boots or halternecks that is fine too – your body your rules! And as these photos show – the rules people make up mean nothing anyway because they look FABULOUS!Do you have pics that break these rules?? I’d love to see! Send them to me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter and use the hashtag #IBreakPlusSizeRules
A massive thank you to all the bloggers who raided old outfit posts, instagrams, dropboxes and more to help me put together this amazing collection of photos – you’re all rule breakers and I couldn’t be prouder! Some of the photos might be in a mismatch order because they came through so thick and fast on Twitter and Facebook. I couldn’t use them all but they were all brilliant!
Lots of them were hard to know where to place on the rules, because you all break numerous rules within one outfit – love it!
Debz xx
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.
Thank you debz for encouraging the biggest giggle I've had all week- what's vicky on about?
There's was tears when I saw the halterneck examples (as I former halterneck hater I found them now really flattering) and delicate necklines. If I follow her rules all I'll have in my wardrobe is knickers.
I feel a little sorry that she has to progect her body insecurities onto others.
X
I love this post, I wear what I feel comfortable in! You tell her! and the rest of them
The saddest part is that these "rules" are all things I´ve heard a thousand times. People just keep adding more and more rules for us and telling us it´s for own good -clearly we´re like 2 year olds and cannot dress ourselves.
I own a plus size clothing store and I can´t tell you how many women have looked at me as if I´m crazy when I suggest a sleeveless top or something with horizontal stripes. It´s maddening.
Rules are made to be broken.
If all big girls followed this advice, they would look as boring as a catalogue for a conservative political party – no thanks!
While I am not a bigger girl, I suffer trying to find any outfit that I enjoy wearing and the more restrictions women put onto other womens' dress, the more we perpetuate the chains around our own necks. Lack of confidence is consistent through the whole size spectrum, and feeling like we are wearing the 'wrong thing' holds many women back.
There is no need to tell others how to dress – no body is the same as another, regardless of size, and how to look one's best is dependent upon how one feels in what they are wearing! If you feel gorgeous, others will take note.
Stay fabulous.
i think ive broken every rule there lol and ive just bought some killer ankle boots that look fabtastic on my short legs lol ^_^ silly rules
It makes me angry if someone tells me to not wear something. I'm a free person even if I'm fat so I can wear whatever I want. If someone think that that is wrong, they should try and live a bit more as they have too much time on their hands.
LOVED this article! Thanks for sticking it to Vicky – who the crapballs does she think she is anyway??!! All of the ladies in the photos look gorgeous, stylish and it's inspired me to try and be a but braver with my fashion choices!