LOVE FOR PLUS: Spotlight on Tess Holliday

Name: Tess Holliday (Real name Munster)
Age: 29
Size: 22
Height: 5'5"
From: Mississipi, USA
Mission: "Beauty is not a number, it's a state of mind."

Tess is the first plus size woman to be signed to a modeling agency, MiLK MODEL MANAGEMENT, she is not your typical plus size standard model, she is a real girl and her body represents a group that for the longest time has been excluded from the fashion world. She had tried out for modeling gigs previously but was told she was too short and too big to model, she didn't give up and scored a few jobs with makeup brand Benefit Cosmetics and even participated in a David LaChapelle photoshoot. She was named one of the world's top plus size models by Refinery 29, Huffington Post, & Vogue Italia. Aside from being a model full time, she is a makeup artist, blogger & activist.

"Modeling really helped my confidence because
I started seeing myself in a different light.
I started seeing myself like, 'Wow, I'm actually pretty.' 

FIND HER ONLINE:
http://www.tessmunster.com/
https://www.facebook.com/TessMunster?fref=nf
http://www.milkmanagement.co.uk/details.aspx?nav=2&modelid=802616&subid=12271&mainsubid=802616&a=78

LOVE FOR PLUS: Summer Wedding Guest Look #2

This June I will be attending a less formal day time wedding, so I don't want to be overdressed, since its a more casual affair.  My original idea was to go retro with an emerald dress I found in Torrid.com, but when I ordered the dress it was too big on me and the fit was not so great so I had to act quickly and come up with plan B.

As my main piece I chose "Woman in the Office Dress" from ModCloth.com. This little dress has a pinky/red floral print on a mint background with yellow piping detail, very Summer/Spring. The dress will be light and casual but with the right accessories, wedding appropriate. I picked up some light pink and white jewelry from Forever21, a scarf to use as a coverup and a pair of flats from ModCloth.com.

Since I am trying to keep it fresh and comfy during the summer, I will put my hair up in a bun and use a light pink bow for a cute girly touch. I will keep my make up simple using earth tones and shades of pink.

LOVE FOR PLUS: Summer Wedding Guest Look #1

    Summer is a popular time for weddings and finding a nice outfit for a formal wedding can be a bit daunting when its hot out. Stick to light fabrics, soft colors like pastels and you are golden! I suggest that you also look for outfits that you can throw a light cardigan on for the more modest parts of the wedding and then you can take it off for the not so modest ones ;)

    I choose to go with a long dress from ModCloth.com - ALMOND I EVER WANTED, an etherial floor length dress with a lacy sweetheart bodice and a beige/almond color skirt. For covering up a little, I will use a beige or white pashmina since I could not find a white lacy cropped cardigan or shrug at a reasonable price. To keep the look delicate I chose some accessories from TOP SHOP and Forever 21 that had a similar feel with touches of gold and pearly stones. For shoes, I have some old nude pumps, not too high, that seem perfect to finish it all off.

    I decided to keep the hair simple with a sock bun and my make up light by using the Urban Decay Naked Pallet 3 which has some soft pinks and purple hues (I got mine for Christmas as a gift, but there are many other similar pallets that are less expensive and work just as well) - There are millions of tutorials on youtube showing you some looks using the NAKED 3, a really nice tutorial by one of my favorite youtubers is this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvhHsjgpZAc by Cora @ (VINTAGEORTACKY)

The look is girly, youthful and elegant, but simple:

BLOG ACTIVITY

    I have not been the best at keeping up with the blog, but I want to make an effort to post at least once a week. I'm starting by making a new series called "LOVE FOR PLUS", since I'm finding some pretty nice websites with cute and youthful plus size looks.

    Fashion tends to focus too much on the slim/skinny girls and forgets about the rest of us. I work for a fashion company and I see that all the styles created are only focused on the missy (size 6 - 8) client and the buyers who purchase our looks then choose to buy woman size or plus size customers but when I fit the styles on the plus size model, they are not flattering at all because the styles were not meant for a bigger body like ours. Plus size design focuses on making styles that hide the bits we don't like or takes attention away from them, for most of us that is the midriff area/tummy area and under arms bit that we all love to hate.

   As a plus size girl I understand the difficulties we go through when we need to buy clothes. We find ourselves wanting to wear cute outfits that are trendy and make us look nice and its a struggle to find something we are 100% happy with because most things are unflattering, frumpy, too old or just down right ugly. I have the same problems for a big chunk of my life too until I found TORRID (TORRID.COM), now my holy grail of clothes. Now, cute and trendy plus size clothes are expensive, which is a down side, but the good thing is that there are always sales* and clearance sections on Torrid, so I tend to watch out for those.

   Recently I also discovered ModCloth.com, I will make my first purchase soon, but the great thing about this site is that it has a wide variety of things for us plus girls and reviews are available for each style. Customers also submit their pictures wearing their purchases and the site has a "look book" section for inspiration as well as to see the fit on the other customers that choose to share. So far what I see different than torrid is that ModCloth has yet to get the sizes and proportions just right, but they seem to be working on it. All styles have a vintage feel to them and they are very cute, my advice is just to read the reviews before purchase, they tend to be helpful and customers as well as the site will let you know what is true to fit and what you need to order a size bigger or smaller.

    Other sites worth mentioning are first, FOREVER21.COM , they have a plus size section, much bigger online than at the store. I purchased one or two things before, but for me it was harder to find things that I liked or fit me well, so I'm not the biggest fan, but still. Secondly, there is SIMPLYBE.COM, which is a british shop online, I have never ordered from the site, since its a bit expensive and does not have a ton of variety for my taste, but I have heard some people online reviewing purchases and they seemed to like it.

   SO! Here is the plan. I have some Spring/Summer events coming up for which I need to purchase some clothes and I thought that I could share with you the outfit ideas I have for the events. I may just post the selected outfit including pictures of the clothes, accessories, hair and make up or in some cases I will post multiple outfit ideas for the event and later show you the one I picked.  My hope is that these posts will be helpful or inspiring to others.

*Signing up for torrid.com e-mails will keep you updated with their latest offers, flash sales, coupons and other cool stuff.  If you become a DIVA you get %5 off of every purchase, see torrid.com for details. (I AM NOT BEING SPONSORED BY TORRID)

TREND ALERT: Purple Lipstick

Are you bold enough to rock purple lips this season?

FASHION ON TV: Once Upon A Time

     Once Upon a Time is a wonderful ABC show about the classical fairy tales we know and love but with a really interesting new twist. The Evil Queen, Snow White's step mother, vanishes all fairytale creatures to our world in order to find her happy ending. The show takes place in a little town in Maine called Storybrook, where all the fairy tale characters live but have forgotten who they are and they live normal human lives with struggles that resemble those of their real lives. When Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter, Emma is brought to town by her biological son Henry, things begin to change in town. On the first episode it is revealed that Henry was adopted by Regina Mills, mayor of Storybrook and the evil queen who made it all happen. Henry knows the truth and is desperately seeking to reveal it, but knowing that he is just a kid, it would be too hard to convince regular adults that his story is not just the imagination of a child gone wild. He also knows that his real mother, Emma, is the "savior", the only one who can make things right. Regina is not pleased with Emma's prescience in Storybrook and will use all her "connections" and her power to keep things in her fantasy world as she always wanted them to be, where she is happy and in control of everything and everyone.
     Regina Mills/Evil Queen is played by the beautiful and talented actress Lana Parrilla. Parrilla is fit to be queen, she is poised and graceful and she is so good at being bad that you just really hate her character. I love it! Of course, the acting is very important, but the wardrobe! Oh, the wardrobe! I absolutely love what the costume designers and stylists for the show have done. Keeping in sync with the theme of evil, they dress up the queen in dark colors, deep purples, shades of reds and black most of the time, but they give her very elaborate prints and textures that make her look expensive. Accessories are nice statement pieces like big hats, capes, crowns, tall neck pieces/collars and extravagant jewelry. Her Make up is also done up to go with the character's feel: very black false eyelashes, bold berry lip colors and winged eye liner. For her hair she often wears extensions and creative up-dos with pins or feathers, they tend to get creative to match the outfit.
     When we see Parrilla as the mayor she is very modern and conservative, but still elegant. Her "everyday" wardrobe mostly consists of neutral colors like gray, black, white and beige most of the time. She wears well tailored suits and fitted dresses that show off her nice figure. I would say most of her wardrobe as mayor is very Calvin Klein-ish. Her make up is a lot more subtle, as she is suppose to blend in to her role as a town official, but her lips are always a variation of red.
   
Shows like this make fashion fun on TV, they have very little restrictions when it comes to wardrobe because the storyline allows for it, they can go crazy with what they give us on screen:

 As the Evil Queen Regina:

Incredible lace head piece with a very detailed cape and leather outfit.

Long velvet dress with metallic thread.

Feather coat with organza high collar.

Photoshoot for Entertainment Weekly showing off her style and evil queen ways.

Leather outfit complete with musketeer style hat, small cape, gloves and pants.
I love this purple and black tapestry-looking riding coat.

As Mayor Regina Mills:

Conservative outfit with deep green coat, gray blouse and black pencil skirt complete with black pumps.

Belted gray extended shoulder dress with front drape at waist.

I guess you can say that bad girls do have more fun...at least with their wardrobe in Once Upon a Time.

POST SERIES: MUSES

Muse: America Ferrera

Occupation: Actress

Origin: Los Angeles, CA - USA

Best Known for: Her roles in "Real Women Have Curves", "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" and "Ugly Betty"

Age: 28

    America Ferrera has transformed herself in front of our eyes. She started out as an unknown chubby girl with real talent. As usual people just took notice of her appearance before her skills, but she broke through and mad a name for herself just as she was. She was first noticed when she starred in the film "Real Women Have Curves" a coming of age story about a girl who struggles with her self image. After the movie she was casted in other films and on her own TV show "Ugly Betty" an adaptation of a Colombian telenovela. The show was a hit and so was America. 

Her transformation from Betty to America now.

     America, like many actresses in Hollywood, changed her image as she grew famous. As many actresses when they hit the big time decided to change her diet and exercise routine to slim down to fit in to the scene. She did however stay healthy, unlike many other actresses. If you look at her, she still has her curves and she remains a down-to-earth gal. I like her attitude and her sense of style. Big girls can take a look at her and get inspiration. She knows her body and knows how to dress in a way that favors her shape and shows off what she's got.

America's weight loss, before and after.

America in a modest Rachel Roy gown at a red carpet event.

America was featured in the cover of Cosmopolitan for Latinas in Nov 2012.

Ferrera slimmed down to a very healthy weight and she looks fantastic.