LOOK: Plus London Two

So Saturday was finally Plus London 2 , an event I have been looking forward to for ages, and definitely did not fail to deliver.  The inaugural event was held in February 2011 and it definitely caught my attention.

In South Africa the lack of plus size clothing is quite depressing. There are one or two plus size retailers which are either overpriced and really old-fashion 'Tannie' clothes or you have cheap, shapeless, fall-apart clothing. Definitely not ideal. I always made a plan though and in my opinion have always succeeded at looking stylish - in my own way - despite a lack of resources. As you can imagine, in 2010, when I came across the UK plus-size blogging world I was crazy with excitement. Here were girls who were around my age and size who were wearing the most amazing clothes and really not giving a fuck about the body hate that so many plus-size girls face everyday.The sense of community is amazing and it is really refreshing and encouraging to finally find support with people who really understand your fears and feelings.

Anyway fast forward a few years and this time I was finally on my way to a Plus London Event! I was lucky enough to attend both the Anna Scholz studio visit and the evening event, both of which were really amazing.

I started the morning meeting up with Val, Gina, Mel and Mouna at Piccadilly Circus.I'm so glad I did as all of these ladies were so lovely and definitely eased my usual anxiety of turning up somewhere on my own. I was so hungry as I forgot to have breakfast and Mouna gave me the most divine biscuits from Belguim, I must find them as they were amazing! Upon entering Anna's studio we were  shown into a side room where there were racks of beautifully designed dresses. I'm definitely more of a 'black' girl, and there is very little colour in my wardrobe, but the bright colours and exciting prints on display definitely got me thinking. Seeing all the other ladies trying on the dresses and looking fantastic has convinced me that playing with colours and prints, especially for summer, is a must do.

Anna talking us through her S/S12 collection

Some of my favourite items from the collection. The snake skin dress was a huge hit on the day.

  

After lots of Prosecco and Hummingbird cupcakes and playing with some of Anna's creations, she spoke us through her upcoming collection and her method while designing. Her studio was amazing and I loved all the books she had and the moodboards that lined her walls. It was so evident that there is a definite thought process that goes into Anna's clothing and her inspiration comes from so many places. We then got into a discussion about plus-size clothing in general. Some of the comments were so interesting and it was great that we were able to have such an open arena to discuss plus size clothing and even throw some ideas to a designer who is clearly so passionate about the cause and designing clothing to celebrate not to hide plus sized figures.

Some pictures from the night event

After leaving Anna's I met up with a friend and spent the rest of the afternoon in Central London, we visited Liberty's, which is always amazing, and then went for dinner. After sliding around Trafalgar in the snow, I finally made it to The Strand Gallery for the evening event. I was a bit late so missed the beginning of the fashion show, but I did catch most of it. I know there were some issues with one of the brands and the models, but I must say despite all of the setbacks, the ladies looked so confident and beautiful on the runway.

The night continued with more wine and cupcakes (which were delicious, maybe even better than Hummingbird) as well as clothing from Asos and SimplyBe on display. There was a photo studio and the Elomi bra fitting studio which despite spending the good part of my night in the queue I never managed to get a fitting! I was quite annoyed by this as I had waited for so long, but in a positive light I met and spoke to some really lovely ladies while queuing so all was not lost. Finally one of the highlights for me was the Red Bows Boutique. If you do not know of Red Bows, it is a plus size vintage boutique which is run by the lovely  Michelle and features at a number of markets around London. Her clothes were amazing and I found the most gorgeous velvet jacket, which I hopefully should be buying very soon! I love vintage clothing, but I never find anything really great in my size, so Red Bows is definitely a heaven send which will add a whole new dimension to our wardrobes. I also fell in love with the leather waistcoat pictured above and saw so many ladies taking a good look at it!

I met some really lovely bloggers and was surrounded by some pretty inspirational women who are working very hard to bring the Fatshion and Plus size world to life! I will put up a page with links to all of the Plus London 2 blogs and if you weren't there and have a blog let me know and I would love to add you and read your blog! There are so many opportunities out there.

Finally I just have to say thank you to Claire for organizing such a wonderful and successful event. Your hard work was evident in all of the finer details and that is what made all of the difference.

All I can say now is that I cannot wait for the next Plus London event.

Xx