#Blizzard2015 has given me so much time to reflect on my blog (especially since it’s too messy out to take personal style pictures). I started my blog on Tumblr in September 2011.
I can’t believe it’s been 4 years since I’ve done this. I remember starting it because a good friend of mine told me that I should start one since I loved to fawn over so many plus size bloggers that I still subscribe to today. I remember when I first signed up for Tumblr and I was so eager to go into blogging. I never thought about competing with other bloggers or getting free clothes, I always thought this was my chance to show people my art.
I remember interviewing people from my hometown and highlighting plus size women who rocked their outfits so effortlessly. Here were my first few:
And then I started taking pictures of myself with phone cameras:
…and then I started to look more into the plus industry, which helped and hurt. I started to deviate from just showcasing beautiful plus size women and my personal style to trying to replicate what everyone else was doing. This what the first lesson I learned:
Always go back to why you started something. If you are ever lost, go back to the starting point.
You will find your happy space. But, reading up on what other bloggers are doing helped me a lot as well. Learning that having a professional pictures taken really helped me because sometimes my pictures were so fuzzy, you couldn’t tell how beautiful the garments were.
Camera Phone VS Canon IOS (as you can see, I love teal and leopard together lol).
I also learned that it’s important to keep up with the trends as well as showcase your personal style. If you are truly talented, there’s always a way you can do both. I always loved that I was showing women an alternative way of dressing at thrift shops, but it was just as important to let women know they should patronize brands that support us fully.
In the beginning, I was only showcasing a few brands at a time because I was so focused on trying to bring some order to my blog. But, as I got into blogging, I learned that you can have a sense of order but you don’t have to lose yourself in the process. After all, THIS IS MY BLOG!
So moving forward, I want to go back to my happy place when it came to blogging. I want to feature women who we don’t see showcased everyday and mix them with the super stars that we see everyday. I want to continue informing women about being healthy at any size and not waiting until it’s too late to take control over your health.
I want to express the unpopular opinions and feelings towards the plus industry. There are many times I sit back and watch the same industry that I’ve grown to love crush my spirits and even make myself internalize my feelings towards my body differently. I want to go to different plus size events to take pictures and have fun with women who look like me…not the events where people judge me. Like I’ve been told, “Plus Size Industry is a Catty Industry.” I went to an all female school and I know catty lol…I don’t mind catty. All you have to do is stay away from it and do what you do! Plus, one my closets friends is a trailblazer in the industry…not a catty moment in sight when we are together lol!
With that being said, allow me to reintroduce myself:
My name is Chardline Chanel-Faiteau and I am a blogger and style curator for plus-size fashion. Every single day, I am driven to be the best woman I can for myself, my community and for my readers. I have always had an interest in government, law and politics, but fashion was optional. As a bigger woman, I was routinely excluded from the latest fashion trends, cheering on the sidelines and never a participant. I was also disconnected from my own personal style because I lacked the access to fashionable clothing in my size. More restrictively, I lacked the confidence and the outlet to express my personality through clothes. Limited offerings in the plus-size sections of department stores forced me to do my best and get creative with the available options.
In recent years, the ubiquity of plus-size blogs radically changed the way I viewed the plus-sized industry, plus-sized women as a whole and more importantly, myself. I attribute the robustness of the plus-size industry to bloggers, designers, and merchants alike that serve the plus-size community in their respective capacities. My blog has experienced its own revolution from merely curating fashion trends and styles to spotlighting plus-size women, sharing tid-bits about my life, and speaking self-love, confidence, creativity and abundance with each post. I genuinely enjoy sharing my experiences and resources with my plus-size sisters, especially on the topics of beauty, fashion, health and fitness. Realizing the strength and breadth of my voice, I actively work to bring awareness to the underrepresentation of plus-size women in mainstream media and will continue to advocate on their behalf.
Although I enjoy experimenting with various styles, playing with colors and pushing the occasional envelope, my heart skips for the women who are slowly discovering their flair for self-expression through fashion. Clothing choice not only represents state of mind, but also richness of personality. Fashion communicates long before speech, and my clothing always speaks my language. The journey to personal style and ultimate comfort is a pleasant rollercoaster of self-discovery, trial and error, and experiments. I proudly display mine, and encourage more women of size to begin journeys of their own and most importantly, stay the course.
Thanks to everyone who’s been following me from day one, you guys truly keep me pushing in all facets of life…not just blogging.
Lastly, I’ve put together a slide show the progression my blog has made over these past four years along with the people who’ve helped me improve along the way. Hope you enjoy it!!
Click here!
Toodles!
Yours is the 1st plus size fashion blog I’ve subscribed to. Makes me feel better about myself, seeing other plus size women who look good. Thank you.
I am so happy to hear this Yolande. I legit just read a comment before yours that said “Honey Ur too fat consider losing weight coz u look ugly as fuck!”
My family has always bashed me for my weight since I could remember. I remember crying a lot because I didn’t know how “fix it” . Throughout college, I had to learn how to dis-internalize these feelings about myself. Around 2012, I finally learned how to dissociate my weight with determining my success, my failures, how I viewed myself, how I viewed society as a whole, etc. Imagine if that process wasn’t so stable, comments like these actually ruin someone’s progress. I am not sure why these people even exist…and 9/10 it’s because it’s self deflected hate or she can’t stand to see the sight of a confident woman who doesn’t care what skin she’s in.
But, I saw ll this to say, THANK YOU!!! I hope I get to meet you one day.