Christine, Fashion Guru

I got a very weird, but very nice, compliment on the train this morning. I was holding on to the pole and reading (my default commuter position) when someone tapped me to get my attention. It was a 40-ish, heavyset woman, who asked me where I buy my clothes. Now, having been fat since some time around birth, I’ve spent my whole life learning to dress down my weight. I remember being in elementary school, and the other fat kid in my class would wear tight shirts. I would ask my mom, genuinely appalled, “But why? Why would he do that??” I was 8.
But when I slipped over to the dark side 4 years ago (also known as “Plus Sizes”) it created a whole new challenge. Now I had the double adventure of dressing down my weight while having this tiny little pool of stores I could shop at. Not good times. Bad times. Plus, buyers and designers seem to think that anyone my size should also be old. If you want anything in mumu shape, with lace overlay, or in mint green, you’re in luck. Young and fashionable? Not so much. Where were the clothes for the 30-something who was screwed with bad genetics and a fierce love for ice cream?!??!
So I totally felt this woman’s pain. And that fact that she liked my clothes enough to want to duplicate my style, of course, made her my friend for life. I gave her stores, departments, brand names, directions. That’s me—making the world more stylish, one fat woman at a time.