NEW YORK FASHION WEEK: TORRID FALL 2017

“The collection is about art and expression—and the fusion of those two things. We also explored the idea that apparel should reflect the many sides of a woman—she’s never just one thing. The overall result is a juxtaposition between feminine and hard-edge artistry,” -Torrid designers Liz Munoz and Kim Sippl.

Torrid, fashion brand for women sizes 10-30, debuts its first New York Fashion week collection, heralding a bold new move towards increased diversity and inclusiveness in the fashion industry. This is not the first time a plus size fashion retailer has shown during NYFW (anyone remember Lane Bryant with Anna Nicole Smith on the runway) BUT its the first time in a very VERY long time.  

 The front row had your usual celebrity and high profile bloggers like Adrienne C. Moore, Actress, Orange is the New Black; Britney Young,Actress, GLOW; Shannon Purser, Actress, Stranger Things; Miss Jay Alexander, TV Personality, America’s Next Top Model; Ashley Nell Tipton, TV Personality, Project Runway Winner.  It was nice to see that famous people were in attendance but I would have liked to see influential individual of nyfw there.  I think they are needed in order to report on the show as well as the changes to NYFW but that is just my opinion.  

The show represented the Torrid woman as she is today.  Bold, beautiful and badass.  There looks were filled with hard edge corsets, leather moto jackets,  flowy capes, flower tops and other feminine pieces.  This created a contrast of hard and soft  to encompasses the many sides of a woman.

 The collection was also peppered with signature, hand-painted elements. NYX Professional Makeup’s neutral palette and Redken’s loose waves enhanced each girls’ natural features, along with shimmering gold nails courtesy of Essie.

The Torrid runway show also served as a showcase for the brand’s third annual Model Search competition, serving as the semi-final competitive round for the top 10 finalists. These finalists hit the runway before going on to the third and final round of competition, where the winner is chosen by Torrid friends and fans. 

You can see some fear in the girls and their walk but hey this is fashion week...wouldn't you be scared too!!!

These brave ladies who are seeking to earn the “Face of Torrid” title did an great job and their family and friends in the audience must be so proud of them.  Cant wait to see who won the title.  

Overall it was a great to have Torrid show during fashion week.  Could there be some improvement, yes but this is the first showing during fashion week and mistakes in whos invited, whose sitting front row is going to happen.  Yes the show was ready to wear and some may think that is not fashion week like but as a community I think it was a very good show and a very good thing.  Torrid stayed true to their brand of rocker chic and I thought they showed many trends seen in other fashion week shows that would apply to their brand.  

Some may think that is not good because they are not following the status but isn't this the industry that locked us out for TOO MANY years!!!! Lets applaud our effort not compare and give each other a hand praise when women closer to our body type make their way down the runway.  So yes, Torrid showed ready to wear but lets applaud the fact they were at nyfw before criticizing they were at nyfw.

photo credit Dan Lecca &BFA 

Move Fashion Forward Campaign with Dia & Co.

Today Dia & Co., personal styling and subscription box company for the plus size women, took out a full page at in the New York Times calling for ALL fashion designers to start being size inclusive.  This would call for them to not stop at a size 10 but to go up to a size 24 to include the plus size market.  The ad is published on the first day of the most recognize fashion event in the world, New York Fashion Week. 

With 67% of the population being over a size 14, its crazy that in 2016 such an ad has to be done.   Designer should be more than happy to carry every size in order to gain over half the population and gain more revenue.  Why hasn't the industry as a whole changed?  Most think it has to do with the brands loosing their skinny target audience and being rejecting the brand.  We all see that that is not true.  When Christian Siriano made a line of plus size clothing for Lane Bryant, put plus size models on his runway and dressed some of Hollywood hottest plus size starlets, his fan base increase, his brand presents increase and revenue increased. 

He is proof that the old way of fashion is dyeing.  I'm here to say that the old way of the fashion industry is rapidly changing with the rapid change in technology, population and social media. 

I applaud Dia & Co.  for giving am opportunity for designer like Kate Spade and DVF to recognize the change in fashion and move with the times.  Plus size designers have already seen the change and done something about it.  A lot of plus designers and retailers have added size 10/12 to gain that "not so plus" market. Now its the designers turn to do what's right. 

So what can you do to help the movement?

Join in on the campaign and let your favorite designer know you want them to be size inclusive.

Copy this picture, or the one above, and post it to your social media page with hashtags #movefashionforward

#nyfw

Make sure to @ the designers 

Also visit Dia&Co campaign site www.dia.com/movefashionforward also
Check out Dia &Co. HERE to see what this company is all about.

Tweet, Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram this movement today!!!!

#style@anysize

NYFW FINAL SHOW: SMART GLAMOR FALL 2016

photo from smartglamour.com

The final show I attended for NYFW was the Smart Glamour fashion show for their Fall collection.  The show started with a video of the models talking about model inclusion and body positivist.  It was an emotional video filled with truth.  It was refreshing to see women of all shapes , sizes and races expressing themselves in the most raw way.  

After the video finished the fashion show began.  The collection was filled with color and surprises.  From mix material dresses jumpers that are perfect for the office to statement bomber jackets the collection was in one word Bold. 

The great thing that I learned was that all items start at a size small and go up to a 6XL.  Also items can be custom made to fit your body to a tee.   

Here are some of the outfits that I absolutely loved from the collection....

Can you believe these are jumpers!!!

To see more from the collection and purchase visit www.smartglamour.com 

Video the full fashion show below

Thanks to smart Glamour for making such an inclusive fashion show.  This was a great way to end my fashion week!!!