What's in my bag? - My VERY 1st video!

Hey everyone!

This is my very first Vlog, a what's in your bag? post! I was asked by Chattermonkey a few weeks ago to do this, and I have just got round to it.

I've had a couple of days not feeling too well... Annoying! I hate being off sick and not being able to do anything but lounge about on the sofa, I could have spent those 2 days doing blog stuff! I am better now though, and am going to be updating more! (That's the plan, at least...)

So, here it is...


Thanks for watching!

Monday Moan

Hey folks,

For people that follow me/other plus size bloggers on Twitter, you will know that an article published by 'Real Bodies Unite' has caused somewhat of an uproar in the plus size community of late.
To read the offending article, please click here for part 1, and here for part 2.

After reading these articles, I was angry, shocked and pretty disgusted. Here was a site, who claims to unite real bodies (Which is ridiculous anyway, we are ALL real bodies, whether we are a size 0 or a size 30) interviewing someone with very obvious body issues. Not only personal body issues, but belittling people who don't believe in what she says. I share with you a quote:

'Many of the plus-size community saw me as being ‘untrue’ to them or they perceived me to be on a preach fest. Many took it personally and I understand how it came across. They looked at me for so many years being happy to be big and all of a sudden I was saying, ‘look fat isn’t fabulous for me anymore. I’m obese and many of you are obese and when you say that word it’s not cool and it’s not something we should be promoting as such.’

First off, I am not having a go if people want to change their lifestyles or
diets. This is just not for me to comment on. For example, a good friend of mine
recently embarked on a massive lifestyle change and lost a lot of weight. She
was unhappy with how she felt and she changed something. I encouraged her and
supported her. At not one point did she ever say to me 'You know what Kat, you
having a plus size blog is promoting obesity'. I have absolutely NO IDEA of
where Vanessa got the information that we are promoting obesity. I can't talk
for everyone, but my blog is about ME. It's about the clothes I wear, the shops
I shop in and the outfits that I put together. Since when has any of that
promoted obesity?
Moving on to Part 2... (Yes, it gets worst...)

'Teens and twenty somethings are particularly easy to target if you sell them the
right ‘dream’ which in this case is plus-size fashion and that ‘fat’ = strong,
happy, comfortable etc.’ Until recently I drank that kool-aid up and I believed
it. I woke up with new eyes and strong consideration of the facts and I can
speak for myself without the need for a garment to do the talking for me.
To all those teens and 20 somethings who currently are overweight I would say,
enjoy the fashion because it’s beautiful but don’t use it as justification to
stay overweight forever. When the time is right for you, you’ll see that the
majority of obese people really are not truly comfortable physically or mentally
and those that are either in denial (and will hate you for pointing that out as
I used to be when someone questioned my health and weight) or luckily have not
yet suffered any health effects from their weight.'

The thing that made me most cross here is that it feels like she is talking on behalf of everyone that is obese. How can someone assume that because someone is obese that they are not truly comfortable physically or mentally? Maybe for her she wasn't. But I for one am comfortable. I have been overweight for as long as I can remember. I am also happy. Yes, it took me a long while to come to terms with these facts, but I can honestly say I am happy, content and definitely not in denial about my weight.

Something that also angered me about this is that teenagers could be reading this. Impressionable teenagers, teenagers who are maybe not comfortable with their weight. Are we not forgetting, that 'Real Bodies Unite' is celebrating bodies of all different shapes and sizes after all?

'Beth Ditto has a beautiful voice, mind and
kind spirit but she’s young – she
looks much older. Is that what I want to
look like? No, no matter how you dress
it up she’s a rich celebrity whose
overweight and we cannot all get away with
being that size and having that
much success whilst being high fived for it. How
many young girls out there
think they can be Beth Ditto?'

First off, yes she is right about Beth Ditto. She does have an amazing voice, and although I can't say I know her personally (unfortunately), when I have seen her in interviews, she has always come across very well and very genuine. Her size should NOT come into it. How can she not be high fived? Because, heaven forbid, she is fat AND successful?!

I decided to email Real Bodies Unite about this article:

Hi Sarah,

I am just emailing you to let you know how
disappointed and upset myself and a number of the plus size community are, about
the Vanessa Reece article on your website.

I think it was very poor form
to have someone with such bad body image interviewed on your website.

I write a blog, www..plussizebeauty07.blogspot.com, and this certainly does NOT
promote obesity. My blog, and I'm sure many other plus size blogs out there,
are written to show and to prove that no matter what you're size, you can look good,
fashionable, and *SHOCK HORROR* be happy at the size we are.

Have you ever considered doing an interview with someone in the plus
size community, to see what we are all about, instead of just taking
Vanessa's word for it?

I look forward to your reply,

Kat

I think this was a fair enough reply. I emailed this over on Thursday. This morning (Monday) I received this reply:

Hi Kat,

Thank you for your input.

I think if you had taken the time to understand our Real Bodies Unite website, you would see that I have carried out several interviews with a variety of people from many different backgrounds, like the designer Anna Scholz, model Linda Tatla and blogger Marie Denee to name a few and I intend to showcase many more women and men in the future expressing their opinion on body image.

THIS IS NOT A PLUS SIZE WEBSITE

This is about all shapes, sizes, ages and ethnicity working
towards the use of body, beauty and age diversity in the fashion industry. The
website also highlights people from around the world trying to make the same
change with their own campaigns so I do not believe my interview with Vanessa
was in any way disappointing.

Yes, Vanessa has changed her body image
perspective and this is for her health and her mother’s health, we should be
congratulating her on being so brave and willing to help others if they are not
happy in their skin. She was not happy and wanted to make a change.

We are talking about health and happiness; the ‘plus size community’ shouldn’t be
discriminating against individuals for their decision to change their own body
image.

Kind Regards
Sarah

Does anyone else find this response a little bit rude? A little bit, I don't know, patronising, maybe? (Lesson number 1: NEVER patronise me!)I do not appreciate the CAPS LOCK. I also do not appreciate people mincing my words. I did not say once that I was discriminating against anyone. I also stated in my email that I was available for interview. Something that i thought, was a good idea. I wanted to put across my (Our?) views about this article.

You know what else is kind of sad? That Vanessa was part of the community at one point.

So, What does everyone think about this article? Am I just over reacting? Or do you see my point of view?

OOTD - Winter woolies

Hey everyone!

It is absolutely freezing here in the UK at the moment! I'm not very good with cold weather at all, I would much rather it be warm rather than cold. I'm sure it's going to get colder too *groan*

This is what I have been wearing the last couple of weeks to work. Not exactly the same clothes, but the same kind of idea: Jeggings or leggings, with a longline jumper and boots. It's hardly exciting either, but I thought I would show you all as most of the items are new.

I got this necklace in Asda! I love how it looks almost antique and is quite chunky. It's also quite heavy and is a really nice length. It's really pretty and I've hardly taken it off since I bought it last week!


The boots I bought in Evans summer sale. I think they must have been really old stock they just found in the warehouse and put online! They are so comfy and warm for the winter. They are wide fit, which means I can wear them with some chunky socks, and the calf width is wide too, which means I can also wear them with skinny jeans.


It's just a really basic, comfortable outfit. The leggings are made to look like bleached jeans which I really love. I think it makes a change from plain black leggings.

The jumper is from Primark. They have a really good range of knitwear in at the moment, and quite a few of the size 18s in the selection are roomy. I also bought this jumper in camel and in purple as well. If you are a larger size than me, (I am generally a 22/24 on top) I would definitely recommend trying these.

The snood is from Primark too. It is so warm! I didn't realise until I looked at the photos that it looks like I'm wearing a neck brace! I normally slouch this down a bit more than in the photos.

Oooh, before I sign off, a big HELLO to my new followers! (and old ones, obviously!) Please don't be shy and feel free to contact me and say hello, I love chit chat!

New Blog Layout!

Just a very quick post to thank Natalie (who runs 'Extra large as life') for updating and redesigning my blog!

I wanted something clear, professional and I also wanted the colours black, white and pink. Not for any particular reason, just that they are my favourite colours, and I think they go well together! I wanted the London skyline as, quite simply, I love London! I get really excited about going to London, even though it is less than an hour away from where I live. It gives me butterflies when I'm there, London makes me happy!

Natalie offers a really friendly service and works to suit all budgets. If you think your blog needs a make over, please contact her by email, Natatree@gmail.com, or tweet her on twitter @Natatree.

What do you think of my new layout/design?

Yours Clothing day out

I was so excited to get an email from Devon a few weeks ago inviting me to a day at the Yours Clothing office and Warehouse in Peterborough. Monday was the day of the big event!

I made my way to Kings Cross to jump aboard the train with Devon, Lauren, and Georgina. When we arrived in Peterborough, we were joined by Carla and Steph. We were picked up by Yours Clothing and driven just out of the town centre, to their head office and warehouse.


When we arrived, we were joined by Leigh, and had a delicious lunch (total way to a fat girl's heart!) whilst we chatted away about fashion, blogging and, well, pretty much everything!

After lunch, (After my gigantic slice of fresh cream chocolate cake to be precise!) we all gathered around the computer and showed Leigh our blogs, and told him a little bit about them. I found this really interesting. We were all fashion bloggers, yet we all have different directions, and we all have different styles. It was really nice to find out a little bit about why we blog, and how we got into blogging. Leigh also showed us the Yours Clothing website, and all the different features on it, and asked us what we thought of them.

After a lot of gossiping and giggling, we were then shown around the warehouse. As you can see below, it was boxes and boxes and rails and rails of pretty clothes!

We were then shown into the 'catwalk' room! This is where the catwalk feature on the website is filmed, and where the photos of the models in the clothes are taken. This was FUN! We all walked the catwalk and posed, I felt like a proper model!

From the top: Lauren, Devon, Carla, Steph, Georgina and me!

We got to look in all the offices and meet all the people who work there as well.

Next we got to try anything we wanted on. A rail was brought in of clothes that had been selected, and we were also allowed to select items from the website to be brought up from the warehouse. It was really interesting to see the items in the flesh, and to have a good laugh together trying things on.
I tried this dress on:
(sorry for the poor photo quality)

This dress was SO perfect. The shoulders were really puffy, it's velvet and was really well fitting.
Also in the board room was this mannequin:

I tried this dress on! It's really heavy and has so much detail in it. It's also really classic. I think anyone could wear it, young or old, and it's a style that I don't think will ever really go out of fashion. (sequins and sparkle are ALWAYS in fashion in the world of Kat!)

I had such a lovely day out. It was really nice to meet such a friendly, enthusiastic team at Yours Clothing, and I also got to meet Georgina and Carla for the first time. (Who were both adorable)

Thank you to Yours Clothing for giving all of us the opportunity to come and see you, and Thank you to Devon for inviting me!