Plus Size Style and Fashion Blog
It’s been a hot minute, hasn’t it? My last post was in mid October and my last Instagram post was at the end of October. A time, indeed. It’s been an unexpected hiatus of blogging, and honestly? There’s been just no spark to actually do anything outside of existing the last two months. That’s the joys of mental health struggles, right?
Continue Reading…What a year the past two weeks have been, right? Between the US doing god-knows-what, the UK messing up Brexit and Covid responses… Well, it’s all a bit difficult right now. So I’m going to start the third week of 2021 with a repost from last year. Today’s post is yet another self care list, but one that I think is important as we navigate difficult months. So, here’s some ideas for looking after yourself in lockdown 3.
Continue Reading…Well friends, happy lockdown 2! England’s locking back down for another month, and with it comes more anxiety and worry than before. Or just a feeling of loss and being bored by it all. We’re currently four days in, and honestly I feel a lot and nothing at all at once. As a person who suffers from depression, self care is a massive part of my life, and so today I wanted to share with you my ever-changing self care list that you can use as lockdown self care ideas!
Continue Reading…At the moment the world is a weird, angry and lonely place. Everyone is terrified about the next steps, what will happen to their livelihoods, family and financial states. I’ve been at home for three weeks now. And I’m currently out of work and I’m having a difficult time. So I wanted to share with you some tips for self care in self isolation to help alleviate the stress a little. There’s nothing crazy here — just reminders to keep going!
Continue Reading…Well hello friends, on this fine day of it absolutely pissing it down! Hope you’re all well and yet another storm isn’t ruining your day/weekend at all. I’m trying to look at the sunnier side of life at the moment, so let’s get colourful with this plus size 60s style!
We all know how it goes, since it’s the same thing every year. Christmas is over, the decorations come down, the cheese gets finished and life is back to normal after a holiday break. And it’s not easy getting back into the swing of things at all. The world is burning around us (literally, as the Australian bushfires are killing entire species), your feeds are full of diet franchises and ‘skinny tea’ adverts and the credit card bill you took a hit on has come back to bite you in the arse. So here’s some ways to beat the January blues that I’m doing to keep myself happy and healthy.
It’s now 2019, and we’re well into being bombarded with the usual bullshit. I don’t know about you, but I get bored of seeing adverts for gyms and diet groups every January. And the phrase “New Year, New Me” just makes me roll my eyes. Although the start of a new year is often a good push to start new and better habits, the expectation is always tough. So before I get into some plus size style today, I want to take a second to say some things;
Everything that you are right now is great. You don’t need to lose weight. You don’t need to be organised. And you certainly don’t need to be rising to expectations that anyone other than you choose. Resolutions are bullshit, as we are all so often forced to set unobtainable goals. The last few years I’ve opted out of “Resolutions” in order to not set myself up for failure. I hope you guys will, too!
I’ve set no goals for my year. I have things that will be happening in 2019, of course. In the summer I’ll be moving in with my boyfriend, and I’ll possibly work on a different career path. Hell, I’m brushing up on my Japanese, too. But none of this I’m sticking under the “resolutions” tab, because I’m not going to pressure myself into constantly feeling like I’m not achieving enough.
I took a bit of a break from social media as well as blogging over the Christmas/New Year break, which this ties in with. As everyone was telling the world the great things they want to do with their year, I wanted to distance myself enough to not compare myself to others. I mentioned in an Instagram post about how the end of year always makes me feel like I’m not doing enough to be more like my peers. And that little break really helped me out with feeling better about who I am and what I’m doing.
Okay, okay, there’s one thing I want to do more these days. I’ve found myself in a bit of a rut with my everyday style, so on my days off I’m trying to dress up a bit more. And since my boyfriend got a shiny new camera for Christmas, I also want to document more everyday outfits. Instead of just showing off sponsored items, you know.
So in that spirit, I dressed up my favourite everyday skirt with a new-to-me cardigan for Sunday lunch. Sadly, Earl Haig Hall which featured in an old blog post closed this past Sunday, so we said farewell with a roast dinner and some pints.
In my last post I mentioned Rubylea turbans, and this time I’m showing off my custom-made Carmen turban. I’m going to say right off the bat that this turban is a lifesaver at the moment! Recently, I’ve been fading my hair colour out to get a refresh and root lift, and my poor hair is going blonde in places! So I’ve been spending a lot of time hiding it in hats and turbans.
What I love about this particular turban is how the Carmen has so much volume. It’s amazing that something so simple can make such a statement! Even though my hair is unset and faded to peach, I still look super fancy.
My Carmen turban was lovingly custom made by Rubylea to compliment my hair, as this style usually cascades over the right side of the face, rather than the left. At first I wasn’t sure it would make a difference, but believe me when I say it does! Having it on the opposite side of your hair parting means it leaves way for lovely side swoops like this one. Although it also works amazingly if you go for a 60s-style fringe set close to your face.
If you part your hair to left like me, simply send her a message to get your custom turban! They’re SO worth it. I’m constantly wearing mine, and you’ll probably see more of it before winter is through!
I feel like this has been a ranty sort of start to the year, but at the same time – I think as I get closer to 30, I’ve lost a lot of the fucks I used to have to give. The only thing I can say that comes close to resolutions for me is that I just want to work hard, play hard, and fight for my happiness over others more this year. I’m kicking arse and taking names at the moment!
Turban; C/O Rubylea Shop
Cardigan; Old Banned Apparel
Skirt; Handmade
Bag; Old Vendula London
Its style Saturday today, but I wanted to take this week to do something a bit different from usual. Most weeks I’m dressing up to the nines to show my best side for you. Especially since I’m reviewing products a lot lately that deserve perfect imagery. However, this week I wanted to show you that it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, and that’s okay. So I present some very casual plus size style today!
I mention my mental health on here in the most fleeting way possible, usually a line in my first paragraph of each post. I do this because it’s a really important part of my day-to-day life, especially when I’m not in a particularly great way. Sadly, the last two weeks or so have been in that vein.
I have depression and anxiety, the former I’ve dealt with for a lot of my life, and the latter joined on in as I started to get older. Over the last few years, it’s gotten worse. Luckily, since moving to my current area two years ago I’ve been taken more seriously, and my doctors have been much better with dealing with mental health issues. London is notoriously bad for their mental health services, but thankfully Haringey council is one of the better ones.
A few posts back I mentioned taking it slower to focus on myself – before I was working two jobs, six days and a minimum of 50 hours a week. It was draining, let me tell you. I wasn’t happy, or looking after myself at all. My blogging started to wain, my creativity had practically died and I found myself wondering why I bothered constantly.
In that post on my latest sewing project, I mentioned how important creativity was for me, and how much happier I was cutting hours and changing things around. And I really do recommend taking more time for yourself – although I’m in a funk, it’s been so much easier than before!
I mentioned how I dress up a lot for social media, which is true. I do dress the way you see on my blog the majority of the time, but when I’m in a slump, I just don’t have the energy to look like that. Sometimes my depression and anxiety just makes it too hard to be that perfectly dressed person every day.
So when on a wander with my boyfriend last week, I decided to take some photos of my less-than-glamorous outfit. I had planned on dressing up with my hair done and showing off as I usually did, but the reality is that I just couldn’t bring myself to put the effort in. And it feels a little freeing, honestly.
This day was possibly the best day in two weeks. For some reason my anxiety and depression hit hard, and I’ve not been too well. My sleep is awful, my mood fluctuating rapidly, and don’t get me started on the tears. I dropped some milk and cried for an hour. It’s that irrational.
The weekend was a low point for me – I had such a difficult time going to a friend’s night because I believed I wasn’t wanted. I believed no one would miss me if I didn’t show up. The smallest part of me that knew it wasn’t true managed to push me there, and I really enjoyed my night. But to begin with I was skittish, on the verge of tears and my chest was hurting from panic attacks.
It’s not a pleasant thing to suffer with these things – and it’s so much more common than we’ve allowed ourselves to believe. Talking helps, that’s for sure. And taking steps to be honest with yourself and the people around you is the most important.
There’s no cure for depression. But there’s medication (I take paroxetine which has been great for me for a few months) which takes the edge off. There’s counselling and therapies of all sorts. And support groups, too. It takes a while to work out what works for you. Discuss with your doctor what could be best for you.
I guess in a way, I wanted to do this post to tell not only myself, but others that it’s okay to not be okay. It’s okay when you’re not a perfect version of yourself every day. And it’s definitely okay to wear your struggles with pride. I fight this constantly, so why shouldn’t I be proud?
Have a wonderful week, guys! And remember – you’re loved, worthy, valid and amazing.
Necklace; Handmade (Similar)
Dress; Boohoo (Similar)
Belt; Primark (Similar)
Bag; Vendula London (Disclaimer)
