10 RULES FOR BIG GIRLS

Guess which “Rule” I love? If you can’t guess, then you clearly don’t know me.

1 - Leggings Are Not Trousers
2 - Do NOT Wear Crop Tops
3 - Always Wear Black
4 - Mini Skirts Are a Big No-No
5 - Stay Away From Prints
6 - Baggier The Clothes, The Better
7 - Always Cover Your Arms
8 - Don’t Wear Strappy Tops
9 - Loose Some Weight It You Want To Wear THAT
10 - Wear What The Hell You Like
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In this World, there are too many rules that we must live by - most I agree with, some I do not. So why is it that when it comes to fashion, we have to follow a certain list of rules for our body shape and size. Why not just wear what you want, as long as you feel good. Why should it matter what you wear? 

I will admit, I do get paranoid. Paranoid that the two teenage girls sitting at the bus stop giggling are laughing at me. Or perhaps the woman who just quickly looked me up an down without a smile on her face thinks I look like a joke. These thoughts do cross my mind time to time, but then I remember that often enough when I look someone up and down because I love their outfit, and perhaps I have my resting bitch face on without me realising. There are times where I need to ask E or my friends if what I am wearing is “Okay” - this is mostly for confirmation that I look on point - but majority of the time I will feel fierce and confident in my own skin and my  outfit because I know what I love. I love fashion. 

The “Rules” that are written above are things that I have heard from friends, family, colleagues or even thoughts that have crossed my mind once in a blue moon. But I need to ask “Why Not?” to every single one - with exception to Rule number 10 which my question to that is “Why the HELL not!?” Let’s pick apart these points in a bit more depth, shall we?

1 - Leggings Are Not Trousers 
This is one rule that I made up for myself. I have seen too many women wearing thin black leggings where you can see right through them and I was always so scared that that would happen to me. I have also seen a lot of women who opt to wear leggings as trousers with short tops and I don't have the confidence to do that, and I don’t know if I ever will. So this rule is in place for me and my tummy, because I don't want anyone seeing that. This being said. When other curvy women wear leggings - of a better quality - with a normal top or crop top, then I am like “Yaaaaas Queen!” because I want that confidence. 

2 - Do NOT Wear Crop Tops
Speaking of crop tops, I think that ANYONE can wear a crop top. It is just about how you style it. A s a grown woman, I have personally worn a crop top once… just… once. It was a cute black crop tee with big white eyes and teeth on it - like a monster in the dark. I wore it with a leather biker jacket and a gingham midi skirt. I loved this look. I even shot this look and posted it on my Blog for the World to see and I felt great. The thing is, I never wore this top anywhere. I only wore it to take cute photos and then it just sat at the back of my wardrobe for about 12 months before I converted it in to a pyjama top. I did this because I didn’t feel comfortable showing my midriff. I have always hated that part of my body. Always.

3 - Always Wear Black
This one has always confused me. I can understand that wearing a full black outfit can give the illusion that you are slimmer but I don’t see why women should stick to this rule 100% of the time. I wear a full black outfit every day for work and I love styling a black outfit using different textures, but I never think “God. I look so skinny today!” I just think “Yaaaaaas Queen.” Okay. Perhaps that is a little vain. But do you get what I mean? I don’t wear 100% black to look slim. I wear it for work.

4 - Mini Skirts Are A Big No-No
Once, a good friend of mine said I shouldn’t wear short skirts especially with bare legs and I just agreed and pulled on a pair of black tights. Now. There are so many things wrong with that previous sentence - grammar might be one of them. YES I can wear short skirts and YES with bare legs and WHY didn’t I stand up for myself? Because I am weak and I constantly seek acceptance from others. That is something that I need to work on myself. I love my legs. They are my favourite feature. They are long, shapely and not to make myself sound like a Amazonian Woman, but I do not have that much cellulite and do you know what? Even if I did, who the hell cares? I’m gonna wear my short skirt with pride and bare legs because I really don’t like tights. I only wear them if I haven’t shaved my legs.

5 - Stay Away From Prints
When I worked in fashion retail, I was dressing a wall display in the plus size section and I was styling the clothing by focusing on the biggest trend of that season - clashing prints. I was in heaven styling my dream outfits and what pieces I would be taking home on pay day, when a customer came up to me and complained that the prints were too loud and that “…all fat women should stay away from print.” I was so confused because I didn’t understand why she thought that way. When I started to show her how I would style prints, just in case she didn’t feel confident in how to style them she turned round and said “I don’t think fat women should wear [prints] because it will draw attention to them and they don’t want that.” Well. I just stood there even more confused because I want ALL the attention. But this being said, that is her opinion and I wasn’t going to stand there and disagree to shove my opinion down her throat because I think everyone suits prints.

6 - Baggier Clothes, The Better
I love a good oversized baggy T-Shirt and Jumper but that is more for comfort and style. If I wanted to wear one of my baggy Tees then I would pair them with a pair of skinny jeans, chunky hoop earrings and a messy top bun. I love that look, I think it looks quite 90s Hip Hop but you have to accessorise the look. If I were to rock a baggy tee with baggy jeans or trousers then I would feel really uncomfortable, because I would feel bigger than I am. 

7 - Always Cover Your Arms
My arms are probably one of the areas of my body that I hate, and I know that I am not alone on this. But this rule was created by me. I really do not like my upper arms and I don’t feel comfortable showing them off. So this will probably be the only rule that I will commit to just a little. But I feel like I need to stop worrying about my upper arms. They are arms for christ sake. Arms!

8 - Don’t Wear Strappy Tops
One Summer, I decided to wear a strappy top because… you know… it’s Summer, its hot out and this girl needed to cool down. One of my friends turned round to me and told me that it was showing my back fat. So I just reached for my cardigan and pulled that on to hide my back rolls. This comment made me feel so horrible and it made me feel like I can’t wear anything that would show my flesh.

9 - Loose Some Weight It You Want To Wear THAT
Now this one hurt. This comment was made when I was admiring a beautiful dress in Topshop and although the comment was made in a joking manner by an old colleague and it really hurt.

10 - Wear What The Hell You Like
Whilst writing this post I started to realise that maybe I never used to hang out with the right kind of people because all of these comments by “friends” are awful and this is why THIS is my favourite rule. This is the rule that I love to follow. I also love to say this to anyone that might be second guessing their outfit choice. Wear what the hell you want because it is your body and NO ONE should tell you what to do with YOUR body.

Which “Rules” do you follow? And which “Rules” are you going to ditch?

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