Intro...kind of.

I say kind of because knowing myself like I do, I'll probably forget something important and have to do an Intro Part Deux or something...

I imposed a 3 month shopping ban on myself over a month ago because I tend to be very impulsive when it comes to clothes I love, and therefore feel I MUST have. As a big girl (and I always have been, I don't remember the last time I wore a size 13), I go through several emotions when I see something I love...what if I wait and it sells out? What if when I come back for it, it's not available in my size? I am SO going to regret not having that in my closet! etc. etc.

As a bigger girl, it's not as easy as walking into a store hours before an event and coming out with 2 or 3 outfits that I love. The fact, however, that so few clothes out there in plus sizes make the cut (so to speak) forces me to be a planner, but also to be creative. Why wear something off the rack when I can cut a seam, add some safety pins or some fabric paint, and have a one-of-a-kind outfit? (My mother used to HATE that I would do that, btw, because in her eyes I was ruining perfectly good clothes, until she'd see the finished product and realize how much cooler it looked)

I have the luck that though I have always been larger than my friends, I have always had good proportions (the kind that I've been told would make me a BOMBSHELL if I lost weight, but I digress) so I have always had great luck with buying clothes online, which is perfect because that's where most plus size clothes are available (even Old Navy, which is where I got practically ALL my clothes for a long while, doesn't have plus size clothes in store, only online). I've never had to have any item of clothing taken in or let out because the clothes are basically cut for a person like me, assuming of course I buy the proper size.

Well, in the past week or so, I've discovered SO MANY sources online for plus-size fashion...bloggers, shops (most of them in the UK, mind you)...I've just been so inspired! I want to have some part in ALL of it, but I'm having a hard time figuring out how I can contribute...I lack the funds that most of these women seem to have ($230 on ONE casual dress? I'm sorry, I just can't. That's almost a week's pay in my current part time situation), and my current wardrobe is mostly business casual stuff that I don't dare alter too much because I have to have variety in what I wear to work, and slicing up my dresses and cardigans will limit my choices. Should I start a blog about creating the perfect big girl wardrobe from scratch on a budget then?

YES.

It might be a slow start at first, because like I said previously, I am smack in the middle of a self-imposed shopping ban, but that doesn't mean I can't comment on the current state of plus size fashion, or that I can't make wish lists for my triumphant return to shopping, etc.

So here I am, your friendly neighborhood Frugalista Fatshionista. Rawr.