I am proud at any size

Hej med jer,

(English summary below)

Ovenstående citat er stjålet fra Lady Gaga herself! ;-) Men det opsumerer rigtigt godt det budskab jeg gerne vil give videre til jer.

Som I måske har bemærket er jeg igang med et vægttab, en kostomlægning og en generel livsstilsændring. Det er ikke fordi jeg ikke accepterer min krop eller er stolt som jeg er. Det er vigtigt for mig at signalere at jeg tror fuldt og fast at man skal elske sin krop i "tykt og tyndt" og ikke være flov over den man er selvom man måske inderst inde har et ønske om en dag at tabe sig.

Jeg tror ikke på at man skal gemme sig, bare fordi man ikke er lige der hvor man gerne vil være. Mens man venter... Venter på at de 10, 20, 30, 50 kilo skal forsvinde, så man kan begynde at leve sit "rigtige" liv. Ja, jeg har selv været der, jeg har spildt ÅR af mit liv på at have ondt af mig selv, hade min krop, hade det faktum at jeg ikke bare kunne tage mig sammen og få tabt de kilo der holdt mig tilbage fra at leve mit liv. Det gjorde jeg så for ca. 12 år siden. Men ved I hvad: jeg blev jo slet ikke lykkeligere! Mit liv kom ikke pludseligt i gang. Verden havde jo ikke bare ventet på at jeg blev tynd. Da jeg begyndte at tage på igen, indså jeg at langsomt at jeg måtte acceptere mig selv som jeg var, tyk eller tynd, var jeg jo den samme person. Lige så klog, stædig, elskværdig, sjov, selvstændig, osv, som jeg hele tiden havde været. Min vægt definerede ikke hvem jeg var som person. Og jeg var også smuk, selvom det tog lidt længere tid for mig at indse.

Det var en kæmpe lettelse for mig endelig at komme dertil, hvor jeg kunne se mig selv i spejlet og sige: du er smuk som du er. Den selv-accept ønsker jeg for alle kvinder, tykke, tynde, høje, lave. Alle kvinder fortjener at føle sig smukke. 

Min "kur"/kostomlægning skal altså ikke ses som et udtryk for at jeg i virkeligheden ikke accepterer mig selv og min krop som den er, men at jeg ønsker at gå ind i en ny fase, hvor jeg først og fremmest spiser sundere og bevæger mig mere. Igen, betyder det ikke at fed automatisk er lig med usund og tynd er lig med sund, men med sund kost og motion går man ikke galt i byen.

Jeg har sat mig et mål, mest fordi det hjælper mig med at holde fokus. Mit mål er en størrelse EU42, altså den mindste plus size størrelse og den største "almindelige" størrelse. Måske jeg ændrer mening undervejs og stopper når jeg er glad. Det er vigtigt for mig at føle efter hvordan jeg har det, for mit primære mål er fortsat at være glad.

Hvad det her betyder for bloggen ved jeg ikke endnu, men jeg vil fortsat poste og stadig fokusere på mærker for plus size piger eller i hvert fald mærker der inkluderer plus size piger. For "size diversity" vil altid ligge mig meget nært.

The headline is a quote I have borrowed from Lady Gaga herself! ;-) It sums up very nicely, what I want to say. 

As some of you might have noticed, I have started a diet or a lifestyle change. Not because I do not accept my body as it is or that I am not proud as I am. It is important too me to convey the message that you should love you body "through thick and thin" and not be ashamed of who you are, even if you deep down would like to loose a few pounds (or a lot). 

I do not believe in hidding, just because you are not where you want to be right now. While you are waiting... Waiting for the 20, 40, 60, 100 pounds to go away, so you can start living your "real" life. Yes, I have been there! I have wasted YEARS of my life, feeling fat and ugly, hating my body and hating myself for not loosing the weight. But 12 years ago, I lost the weight. But, you know what: I was not any happier! My life did not become fabulous all of a sudden, the world did not actually wait for me to be skinny! And when I started to gain the weight again, I slowly began to realize that I HAD to accept my self as I were. Thick or thin, I was the same person. Just as smart, stubborn, lovable, funny, independent, etc, as I had always been. My weight did not define me as a person. And I was beautiful too, it just took me a lot longer to realize that. 

When I finally got to where I could look at my self in the mirror and say: "you are beautiful, just the way you are" it was a huge relief. That kind of self-acceptance I wish for all women, fat, skinny, tall and short. All women deserve to feel beautiful.  

So my "diet" is not a because I do not accept my body as it is, but I am ready to enter into a new phase of my life. A phase where I, first and foremost, embrace a healthier living a some more exercise. Again, fat does not automatically equals unhealthy as well as skinny does not automatically equals healthy, dot eating healthier and doing more exercise most be good for something ;-)

I have set myself a goal to keep up the motivation. My goal is not to be skinny, I have tried that and did not like it much. So I have set my goal at a size EU42/UK14/US12. The smallest plus size and the biggest "regular" size. I think that must be my natural ideal: the best of both worlds :-)

What this whole thing will mean for the blog, I have not decided yet. But I will definitely keep posting as before and I will still focus on brands for plus size women or at least brands that includes plus size women. Because no matter my size, "size diversity" will always be a subject close to my heart.

-Karina

The Grey Concept - Shame on you HM!

Hej med jer,

(English summary below)

Jeg undskylder på forhånd, for der kommer nu et langt, surt indlæg...

Jeg har idag fået en email med H&M's nyhedsbrev og her ser jeg de reklamerer med deres nye linie "The Grey Concept" som er en kollektion der er rock 'n' roll, casual og ret inspireret af Rick Owens (som jeg jo eeeeeelsker ;-)) Fedt tænker jeg og klikker ind for at se nærmere på kollektionen, desværre kun for at opdage at den kun går til en størrelse 40. 40! Hos H&M svarer det i forvejen nærmere til en 38, fordi deres størrelser ofte er så usandsynligt små i det. Jeg forstår det virkelig ikke! At lave kollektioner der er så små er der virkelig god forretning i det?!

The Grey Concept by H&M - A concept for non-fatties!



I forvejen er jeg SÅ irriteret på H&M i øjeblikket. Jeg har gennem længere tid haft på fornemmelsen at de er holdt op med at føre en størrelse 46 i butikkerne (i hvert fald i og omkring København), for jeg kunne aldrig finde en eneste ting i den størrelse. Flere medarbejdere har bekræftet at de ikke længere fik størrelse 46 hjem, "for deres kunder var mest de mindre størrelser", men man kunne stadig købe 46 hos HM+ og online. Efter at have fået samme besked og testet min teori af på andre plus size piger i et forum på nettet, besluttede jeg at sende en mail til H&M's kundeservice, hvor jeg udtrykte min skuffelse og bad om ikke de ville forklare om jeg havde misforstået noget eller hvordan og hvorledes.

De svarede (efter mere end en uge, fantastisk service!) At jeg havde fået den forkerte information i butikkerne og de skam stadig førte en størrelse 46 i HM+ og i udvalgte dele af deres dame-sortiment, men at deres udvalg følger deres efterspørgsel og derfor får de flere af nogle størrelser end andre og at deres store butikker med alle koncepter typisk har det største udvalg, og de mindre har et mere begrænset udvalg.

Nu er det jo bare sådan at jeg shopper i de allerstørste H&M butikker der er, den på Amagertorv (der vel nærmest er deres danske flagship store), den i Field's og de andre på Strøget. Her har jeg de sidste 6 måneder ikke kunne finde et eneste stykke tøj i en størrelse 46 (udover hos HM+). Alligevel mærkeligt, hvis alt skulle være udsolgt i alle butikker i de sidste 6 måneder. Måske, som én i netdebatten foreslog, arbejder der en tyk pige i H&M der køber det hele til sig selv... Ja, måske ;-)

I en tid hvor det ENDELIG ser ud til at kurver og det at være plus size bliver mere og mere accepteret og udvalget indenfor mode bliver større, vælger Skandinaviens største tøjkæde altså en anden retning. De satser på mindre og mindre størrelser i stedet (og don't get me wrong, dem skal der selvfølgelig også være tøj til, men det ene burde ikke udelukke det andet). De var ellers på vej til at komme i min gode bog igen efter deres Inclusive kollektion sidste forår, men den blev ligesom ikke fulgt ordentligt op. De har selvfølgelig HM+, men efter min mening er den slet ikke fashion forward nok, der bliver ikke taget nok chancer, den repræsenterer slet ikke det H&M ellers står for, som den highstreet kæde der er allerførst med de nyeste trends.

Jeg er så skuffet. På egne vegne, selvfølgelig, men lige så meget på vegne af kampen for større accept af forskellighed i modebilledet, på vegne af kurvede kvinder der i forvejen har et begrænset udvalg i de danske (fysiske) butikker.

Dette er udtryk for mine egne personlige oplevelser og teorier, H&M må meget gerne komme med et indspark og forklare mig hvordan det hele hænger sammen, hvis de skulle være interesserede, men jeg må indrømme at jeg har svært ved at købe den forklaring de hidtil er kommet med.

This is a (non crazy ;-)) rant about H&M and their new collection "The Grey Concept" that is cool and Rick Owens-inspired, but sadly is only available up to a size EU40/UK12/US10. Really H&M?! And when considering that most og H&M's sizes run quite small...

This was kind of the last H&M drop that made my cup run over, as I have been suspecting them to (unofficially) remove their size EU46/UK18/US16 from the physical stores all together. In store staff have confirmed this to me (on several ocassions, in several stores) that they no longer get that size in stores, "as the demand is larger on the smaller sizes". I decided to write an email to costumer service to get an explanation, and they told me that: I had been given the wrong information in the store and that thy did still carry a size EU46 both in HM+ and in select parts of their women collections, but that their size range follows the demand and at the bigger stores there would be a bigger range to choose from.

The problem is that I shop at THE biggest H&M in Denmark and they have not had one single pieces of clothing in my size in the past 6 months. I am THAT unlucky to ALWAYS walk in to that store just when my size have sold out in everything? That would be a little strange, right? ;-)

In a time where it FINALLY looks like curves and being plus size becomes more acceptable in general and the selection in clothes an fashion becomes larger, the biggest fashion chain in Scandinavia chooses to go in another direction and chooses to focus on smaller and smaller sizes. And don't get me wrong of course there should be a selection for the smaller sizes as well, but one do not excude the other or so I think. This happens right when H&M where on their way into my good graces again after their Inclusive collection from last spring, but they never really follow up on that, even though I actually thought it was a great success. Ok, so they have HM+, but in my opinion it is not nearly fashion forward enough, it does not represent the brand of H&M as the high street chain that comes first with all the newest trends. 

I am so disappointed. On my own behalf of course, but also on behalf of the battle for a greater acceptance of diversity in the fashion industry and on behalf of all curvy women that have so limited options for great fashion in the (physical) Danish stores...   

This post is an expression of my own views and experiences, H&M are more than welcome to let me know how this whole thing adds up, and how I am wrong (if that is the case) I would be more than happy to listen and share their explanation with my readers. Because the explanation they have given me so far: I am not buying it.

-Karina



Bad lighting, bad blogger...

Hi guys,

I have been a bad blogger lately, I know. I have actually been wearing a lot of great fall outfits, but I have been working a lot lately, meaning that I am never home or even outside in the daylight. I am off to work before the sun gets up and not home until at has gone down again, which is why there are no good pictures to show you. I am wearing a lot of black on black these days (in the winter my rock chick side beats my ballerina side ;-)) and that really does not come out well on pictures taken with artificial lights and flash, even when I try to clean them up and edit the colours.

Maybe that is a sign that I should try and wear some more colour! I have bought a few items lately in colours (or at least not black) that I hope you will see in OOTDs very soon. For now here are a sneak peak of a few of the items.

 Orange dress from Asos Curve (via Ebay). 

The colour looks very different in the two pics. In reality it is a very nice burnt orange. Very in line with falls coulour pallet. I am going to style it with my blue suede shoes for a nice contrast or with black tights and black boots for a day time look.

Creme lace top with buttons in the back from H&M.

I love this nude creamy colour. And I am going to wear this top with black jeans, blue jeans, skirts, you name it! It is so great when you buy something so versatile. 

-Karina

Apple cheeks...

Hi guys,

I really like when other bloggers post baby pictures of themselves, so I thought I would show you a couple of mine as well.

The first one is a really nice brownish sepia picture and I must be around 9 months old in the picture. Notice the fashion forward combination of brown corduroy dungarees and the red/brown/white stribed tee. 

In the second picture I am about 5 years old and again very fashion forward with the green hat and a stribed tee.

Notice the apple cheeks in both pictures ;-) People always said I would grow out of them, but I never really did. I was a chubby baby a chubby kid and a chubby teenager. I have been bigger than the other kids as far back as I can remember and that was not a great feeling.

I went on my first diet when I was 6 or 7 and have been on a million diets since then. For me the journey to accept my body has been very long and I must admit that I do not think that I am completely there yet. I would really like to be as confident as many of the other bloggers in the plussize community, but somewhere deep inside me is still a little chubby girl that HATES being bigger than the other kids. I am struggling with that and I am determined to reach a point of total self acceptance some day.

This blog is one of the major steps towards me fully accepting my body. I am putting myself out there and hopefully through doing so, I will also come to accept myself.

How about you? Have you all embraced your curves 100%?

- Karina

First post ever!

So this is my first ever post and I just want to give you a short introduction to myself and the blog.

First of all, I should start out by making sure that I give credit to the guy whos painting I have shamelessly stolen for my header. Mark Schwartz is the name of the shoe designer/artist that have painted the eagle and the shoes. He makes beautiful paintings of shoes (you HAVE to love that! ;-)) you can see more from him here.

This blog has been on my mind for quite some time now and now I have finally decided to just jump in to it and become a fashion blogger.  This blog will be all about style and fashion, the main focus of course on the plus size side of fashion. I have always loved fashion and it is my clear conviction that just because you are not a size zero, you do not need to give up on fashion. I will be sharing my buys, tips and tricks, favorite pieces, favorite shops and of course a lot of outfits.

I hope I will be able to give other plus size woman out there inspiration to embraze their size and feel confident to wear whatever they want. Remember: Fashion is not about the size, it is about the attitude!

Karina