How Has Fashion Failed Your Body?
Plus Beachbody, PIZZA T-SHIRTS, and a playlist to make you cry.
Friday Thread: Can We Please Talk Fat Fashion Fails.
As we were finishing up Tuesday’s newsletter about dressing for book tour, Corinne had the very good idea that I should also tell you about the things I bought that absolutely did not work out. Because this is actually the most common shopping experience, right?
If you’re straight-sized, you’re also used to clothes not fitting, of course. But you can often blow through a stack of options in a dressing room and leave all the discards behind, only paying for what works. When shopping IRL is not an option—and it isn’t for me unless I drive an hour and even then, most brands that stock my size online won’t bother to have it in the store—you end up ordering multiple sizes of everything online. And paying for the privilege to realize just how many items of clothing are sized wrong, or proportioned oddly, or just… bad because they haven’t thought maybe at all about how clothes fit fat bodies. Because, as Corinne says, ankles don’t get fat at the same rate as butts.
This whole process is maddening, holds your credit card hostage and is definitely not a sustainable way to shop. But it’s all we’ve got right now. Clothes not fitting can be a minefield, but I think there can be so much catharsis in naming: This is a Clothes Problem, not a You Problem. (The queen of calling out size-inclusive fashion fails is Teri, and I will never stop laughing at this.)
So please share! What’s the worst (or saddest or funniest) time that fashion failed your body?
Regale us with your tales of the swimsuit top that wouldn’t cover one single boob, the skinny jeans that cut off circulation, the 3X that was actually sized for a size 8, and more.
I’ll post a few of mine in the comments too (yep that’s for paid subscribers only—join us!).
PS. Straight-sized folks, you’re also welcome to share, but let’s all remember we’re trashing clothes, NOT BODIES.
Friday Links & Recs Are Here To Stay
Last Friday’s poll and discussion thread was pretty decisive on this question, so we’re keeping links for now! I may experiment with alternating links and threads once I’m working around my kids’ summer schedule. But this week, you get it all.
First up: I went to the global premiere of Your Fat Friend, a documentary by Jeanie Finlay starring our beloved Aubrey Gordon and my new biggest dream in life is for this brilliance to replace Super-Size Me as the health teacher documentary-of-choice just fucking everywhere. Here’s the trailer. Magic.
Such a good summer dressing tip.
We’ve talked about Burnt Toast merch and I have yet to get organized or figure out how to do it really well (and I def don’t want to do it badly/not size inclusively!). But! Some intrepid Toasties have taken it upon themselves and this photo made my ENTIRE week:
That’s a pic of gold star readers Margaret Stansbury, Caroline Thomas and Laura Klavon, who is the designer who made these “priestess of the Indulgence Gospel” tees and YES THE CROWN IS A PIZZA. I’m dying. Laura put the design up here and will be donating all of the proceeds to the National Network of Abortion Funds. (Available in XS to 4X.)
AND BT reader/fellow Substacker Mikhal reached out to share her wife Iris’s beautiful new song (also on Spotify). A lot of brilliance in this space, friends. I am so here for it.
Really grateful, as always, when Ragen Chastain tackles a story I haven’t had the bandwidth for, and here she is dealing with BeachBody’s rebrand to “celebrate all bodies.”
That NPR sugar piece was a trainwreck.
If you’re going through A Thing, or just need a good cry, I cannot recommend highly enough this playlist by Maggie Smith for her new memoir You Could Make This Place Beautiful.
Book Update
So much love to the excellent Recovery by Ginny Jones for including a Fat Talk shoutout.
Did a great interview with Priya Clemens for KQED’s Forum and then we took some listener questions and it went where you’d expect.
Really enjoyed this conversation for KCRW’s Good Food Podcast.
Also this great lunch chat/Insta Live with Anna Sweeney.
And ADORED getting interviewed by the brilliant Brittany Luse and producer Liam McBain for NPR’s It’s Been A Minute—one of my favorite pods!
Instagram Swimsuits have failed me so many times. Looking at you, Summersalt and Andie Swim, with your promises of size inclusivity and very cute colors and SIZE CHARTS FULL OF LIES.
I found both brands totally lacking in boob support, and also inconsistent sized across styles. So be warned you have to order a lot to find anything that works i do have two bikini bottoms from Summersalt that did but brands ALSO have VERY tight return windows so those two pieces ended up costing me about five swimsuits in lost $$$. Sigh.
I'm in a straight-size body, but my sister, who has Parkinson's and uses a wheelchair, needs help with her wardrobe and that has fallen to me. This is what that entails: I go to visit her and we talk about what she likes. (Bottoms in solid neutrals, preferably black; tops with stripes and polka dots.) I show her examples on my tablet and she gives a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Everything has to be a pull-on -- no buttons, no zippers. Everything has to be able to withstand institutional laundering. I have to order in multiple sizes, drop them off, have her try them on, then return what doesn't work. Last round, none of the pants worked because they were too long; my mom pointed out that I should probably be ordering "petite" pants. This reminds me -- I have to prep a return today.
I'm not complaining. I appreciate the knowledge that has brought to me, sad as it is. Just as fashion could do better by size inclusivity, it probably would find a lot of willing consumers with disabilities that limit their fashion choices. My sister loves clothes more than I do and still reads Vogue every month, knows what the trends are.