There's a cute post on Shapely Prose that uses the 'get a bikini bod in 2.5 minutes' articles in most magazines to talk about getting comfortable in a bathing suit.

Which reminds me of a question I had awhile back!
Poll #1191050
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

All weather being equal, do you feel most comfortable...

I personally think I look better not-quite-naked, or sometimes in dance costume. Clothes never quite feel designed for the shape of my body.

Y'all. I have to share a very important thought. LEG WARMERS RULE.

I was at the Target buying a humidifier so I stop waking up ill and a cheap scale for my how-much-does-my-weight-vary-in-a-day project, and I spontaneously bought some cheap leg warmers. They are the best thing ever for dance practice, which usually involves my big fluffy skirt getting hiked up to my knees.

Apparently I care a lot less about looking cool than I did as a small child in the 80s, people - because I'm still pretty sure they look dorky as anything. But I do not care. Keeping warm while dancing keeps muscles from getting all crotchety, and my calves are normally Walter Matthau.

The Kiyonna peeps sent me an email advertising those Spanx things (which is, I have to admit, cute in an almost-kinky way). And I was thinking, you know, I used to wear "control-top" stockings/tights all the time, yet the "body shaper" idea squicks me for some reason.

Why is that?
Poll #1043396
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Do you wear "body shapers" of some sort?

Whether you wear them or not, are they a good idea?

Random extra credit question - if you do wear anything that changes the shape of your body, how does that change the way you perceive your body when wearing or not wearing that thing? You could include bras in that, I suppose. Does it make a difference?

I used to be all "OMG you can see my tummy" if I wasn't wearing The Great Control Top. But bra vs. no-bra isn't a huge issue. So, I wonder.

If the whole Supreme Court / general Bush administration weren't enough to convince you, I bring you: the tragic re-emergence of the bubble skirt. Cause it was such a good idea last time.

Wear whatever you like, of course - I'm sure there's someone out there who could rock this skirt with creativity and irony.

Am I a bad person for thinking I wonder if that t-shirt comes in a girly design in a large enough size?

I mean, sure, I wouldn't actually pay money to an anti-choice organization to get one, but I'd consider it from a pro-choice group. If someone wants to call abortion (not to mention contraception and half the time fucking SEX ED, fucking idiots) "whacking babies", I will still defend that position and gladly take on the name of "baby whacker". Cause I would honestly rather whack actual babies than stand in the way of people having kids only when they want to. Period.

Something I don't get: why do all of Torrid's summer dresses feature tube tops and spaghetti straps?

I mean. Fat grrrl = larger breasts, often. Larger breasts = hard to find strapless bra. SO? Why would a company that caters to larger women market so many things those women couldn't realistically wear? Huh?

I'd like to imagine that they're all "RAWR, we're feminists! Fuck your fascist bras!", but they also sell [the world's least supportive and crappiest] bras.

I know a lot of you hate bras on principle, so feel free to just skip this entry. But I've tried out a bunch of bras recently and thought it might be of interest to some of you.

( Bra product testing )

hothead's swimsuit poll makes me want to cry.

I mean. How much does it SUCK that all these brilliant feminist women can't buy bathing suits? Or that it's mostly those of us who are so fat mainstream America can't stand to look at us who've finally said "fuck it" to the whole bathingsuit traumarama thing and just bought one on the internet and went out in it. Cause, you know, the only women who can stand to appear in bathingsuits are the ones who've been rendered INFUCKINGVISIBLE.

Clearly there's a need for some kind of hairy fat flat-chested tall thin too-white not-white-enough scarred scaly genderqueer angry fucking feminist beach retreat.

Blasted snow. It's been snowing all morning, and I wish it would stop the fuck up already or make a firm commitment to a real Snow Day. Either way. This middle ground of snow falling and falling and falling without me getting to nestle in my house is no good. Grump.

Also, it's March tomorrow, and I have a lot of very cute little spring things I'd like to be able to wear.

( Which reminds me [since some of the recently acquired very cute little spring things were made in China] of sweatshops and the debt the US owes China. )

I got these Flying Skirts pantaloons for late X-mas, and I think everyone needs to start wearing them immediately. I wore them under a long skirt to pick up laaaate dinner last night. They resolve all ill-fitting pants issues and are abundantly movement-friendly and practical.

Seriously, who says you can't wear bloomers to the office? No one would, if we all started wearing them.

This is cavlec's rant. She told me to talk about clothing.

So let's talk about pants. ( I hate pants. And winter. )

I could just wear skirts all the time, but sometimes it's cold, and tights and socks just don't cut it. So I put up with crap-fitting pants. What crap-fitting clothing item do you hate most? Share. I like the sharing.

The new, simpering face of Torrid.com.

For those of you who are permitted by arbitrary sizing guidelines to shop in "regular sized" stores, Torrid is the fat cousin of Hot Topic. It's general modus operandi is punk, rockabilly and goth clothes for young fat women. They sell cute stuff, and I have a lot of it.

The website used to be all reds and purples and had a very youthculturey vibe, not unlike the Hot Topic. And now it looks an awful lot like a Cosmo (the magazine and the drink both!). I suspect it's supposed to appeal to the late-twenties folk like me who are the store's big customers, but it just makes me sulky.

I cleaned out my closet this weekend. Because I AM GOING TO MAKE SPRING COME TO VIRGINIA if only by the sheer force of my now spring-shifted wardrobe. If sweaters for temperatures below 40 are in boxes, then no temperatures below 40 will be outside. Or so the thinking goes.

And I discovered that I have enough spring dresses to, if appropriate work attire weren't an issue, wear a different one every day for a month. If I add skirt or trouser and top combos, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have to repeat an outfit between now and July. Why do I keep buying clothes for spring when I spend every winter wearing the same black trousers two and three times a week? Oh, right, spring stuff is cuter.

Dude! WTF!? This is the sort of thing that makes me look like a terrible, overconsuming clothes monster. But hey, thanks to my bad shopping habits, three happy fat women who shop at Goodwill will now have black, 3/4 sleeve button-up shirts! And two will have nearly identical black v-neck sweaters. Hrm...

Cleaning out my closet always makes me feel like a badshoppingjerk. It's a small consolation that spring is actually the most responsibly consumery segment of my wardrobe. I almost never get rid of a cute spring dress.

I'm looking for a choice-friendly t-shirt to sport at the March for Choice/Women on April 25. Any suggestions? The perfect pro-choice march t-shirt just isn't falling in my lap here. I'd like something that's actually kinda cute and fitted, but with a message that might make you think "my god, does your t-shirt really say THAT". And preferably NOT something pink.

[ended up kinda cross-posted to WHB, with a list of resources for tasty feminist swag, none of it what I'm looking for.]