Adele + Cosmo = Smoking: The New Cosmo Grrrl

While perusing the newsstand, dodging headlines about Kim Kardashian's wedding, I glanced  at Cosmopolitan's December issue. Speaking to all women, no matter what shape or size, Cosmo's cover girl is Adele. Wearing a sexy, bodice hugging leopard print top by Dolce & Gabanna, and staring boldly with her smoldering eyes next to this provocative cover line, "100 Best Sex Tips of The Year," she steals the show.

I'll always be a  Cosmo Girl at heart and it's nice to see a curvy Cosmo Grrrl!

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What I'm Reading Now: The Refresher Course for Plus Size Fashionistas

As high end retailers like Saks Fifth Avenue pull the plus size department from their brick & mortor business, adding to the confusion and frustration of the plus size shopping experience, along comes a fresh update on plus size fashion.
"Keeping it Curvy. Confident. Chic" by Marie Denee, editor in chief of The Curvy Fashionista,®  gives readers a strategy and plenty of encouragement on just how and where to find their curvy style and fit.
Once a stylist, always a stylist; I'm rotating my seasonal clothes this weekend, pulling recurring trends from my archive, and tidying up my closet. I can vouch for all Denee's tips.
Even though magazines like Marie Claire have begun to acknowledge plus size style, this book fills the void, regardless of whether you need to give your wardrobe a complete overhaul or just a seasonal tune-up. A great style guide, "Keeping It Curvy. Confident. Chic" cuts to the chase. You'll find everything you need to know to get dressed NOW and more.
Click here to buy Keeping it Curvy  @plussizeblogger's special price of $6.99.
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The End of an Era: Saks Fifth Avenue "Clothes" SalonZ

What Would Adele Do?

I never thought  I'd see this day. After years of  trying to convince designers and retailers to make clothing in plus sizes for curvy grrls, it's a sad day when  a store like Saks Fifth Avenue decides that the only way to cater to this demographic is online, and closing Salon Z.
I took a friend and client shopping at Saks a few weeks ago and was shocked and disappointed with the lack of selection. The sales associate rattled off name after name of recognizable brands who were no longer making clothing in plus sizes.
NPD, a market research firm on Long Island, New York, has said that sales of plus size clothing don't add up to correlate with the statistic of how many women in America wear a plus size. But if the number of American women actually wear a larger size, then why aren't they shopping?
Or, are they not being counted? The questions abound.
A conversation with a colleague confirmed the number of women who want fashionable clothing is still "at large."
But, she said the woman who wears a size 12/14/16 is still "The Forgotten Woman."
Anyone remember that store? A class act and one that will never be forgotten...Nancy, whereever you are.
What to do? We've got to get our act together sisters, because it's never been harder to shop, even though there is a plethora of choices online. And returns are rarely free, postage that is.
A recent swimsuit purchase caused me a lot of grief, because even though I measured myself, the swimsuits didn't fit that great. And...they were on sale, all sales final.
It used to be that a store like Nordstrom hid the intimate apparel and swim wear in the dressing room.
So the way to get rid of us is to get us out of the stores??
We're omnipresent on Twitter, on Facebook on MySpace...but a virtual grrrl still needs to get dressed.
A few years ago, as the former editor in chief of a now defunct but pioneering magazine called BBW, I went on record that there wasn't anything we couldn't find.
That may still be true, but now it's harder to find...at brick & mortar.
I don't sell, I tell. And I'm telling you, we've got to get our act together, one voice, much like the civil rights movement of the sixties....and tell these retailers what we really want, and then put our money where our mouth is!
Are you listening?

Is Plus Size Dead? Long Live The Queen, Size That Is

New York Magazine interviewed Marquita Pring, article headline: "Meet the New Girl: Marquita Pring Wants to Phase out the Term 'Plus Size'."
She's gorgeous, and she likes the word Curvy. I do too, but it's important to understand how we got to Curvy.
In the timeline of fashionable female body type silhouettes, curvy has a prominent role. Aside from the Flapper Girl of the Roaring Twenties, and sixites "it girl" Twiggy's influence on mod style, women have had some junk in the trunk or up front, depending on what century or decade. Bustles, corsets & farthingales are just the tip of the iceberg when we consider the lengths women have gone to alter their shapes.
BBW, the acronym for Big Beautiful Woman, was coined by Carole Shaw, who had been a broadway performer and singer, when she founded the magazine with this name in 1979.
The need for women's apparel in larger sizes at retail became glaringly obvious as women entered the workforce in droves during this decade. Carol Shaw was beautiful, proud and brave and she worked it, garnering a recognition for an acronym that has been co-opted as a term used mainly in online personals. Queen size was an attempt to be polite but cute. Queen size didn't really catch on, except for panty hose sizing and mattresses! By the year 2000, the term Real was being used more and more to describe a woman of size. I was an editor of one of the first online portals for this customer, RealSize dot com. Founded by Nancy Kaye, an early adoptor and not plus size herself, RealSize dot com was a fun and informational, magazine style portal with interactive sales features that let you purchase the clothing showcased in the fashion pages. Real Simple magazine (unrelated to anything plus size) was founded in 2000, capitalizing on the concept of authenticity. Fast forward to the 21st Century, and the online explosion of opportunity and options for every woman, but particularly the younger plus size grrrl, whose voice is as real as her authentic self. Taking a cue from the confidence women of size in ethnic cultures regally bare, curvy girls started popping up, strutting their stuff in cute, short, tight, colorful and sexy clothing, mostly available on the internet or in stores like Torrid. The Curvy movement has steam, stamina and sex appeal! Just look at some of my gal pals on Twitter! @CurvyMagazine, @CurvesandChaos, @Curvatude.
At the recent Full Figure Fashion Week LA, founded by Gwen Devoe, I met up with a lot of curvy girls.
The torch for Plus still burns bright, no matter what you call it, fueled by the ongoing need, passion and desire for stylish clothing that fits at all price points.

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Buxom Chick: H&M Online Plus Size Collection to Launch

Buxom Chick: H&M Online Plus Size Collection to Launch