Everything's Illegal

When I very first started out on my little self-love journey, it began as many journeys these days do- on Pinterest. I didn't know much about fashion, and even less about plus-size fashion. I wouldn't have been able to tell you what a personal style even was. One day after pinning about a ga-jillion recipes I was never going to make, I decided to do a search for plus size outfit ideas. That's all it took. I was addicted from that day on.

I began by simply trying to figure out what would and would not look good on my body type. Now, just figuring out what my body type was was enough to give me a headache. (I'm still not totally sure. Somewhere between apple and inverted triangle...maybe?) 

Once you've got that confusing mess figured out (hopefully) then you have the pleasant (NOT!) task of learning all the do's, and the many, many don'ts, for your body type. 

When I believed that this rule stuff was really important, I seriously wanted to pull my hair out sometimes. After reading article after article, I came to realize that there were very few things I could actually wear according to the rules.

No long skirts or dresses since I'm short. Nothing too short since I'm fat. Nothing too tight that will reveal my fat. Nothing too loose because that makes you look even bigger. Boot-cut jeans only. No long necklaces because that will draw attention to by huge boobs. No short necklaces because that will make my neck look even shorter. V-necklines are best.

Then it started to make no sense at all when it all started to get contradictory. Never wear belts because that draws attention to my "problem" areas. Belt everything (high up, of course) since it draws attention to the smallest part of my waist. Long, flowy tops with leggings are best because it hides my fat. Never wear flowy tops with leggings because it makes you look like an ice-cream cone. I seriously read all of these things for the same body shape. It felt like just about everything was "illegal" to wear.

Then, I discovered some amazing, wonderful plus-size bloggers who were just doing their own damn thing, and rocking it!

Beautiful, inspirational images from blogs like Gabifresh and Garnerstyle changed my world. The whole "Eff your beauty Standards" movement came into being and opened up my eyes!

I don't have to dress according to "rules" fabricated by other people to be stylish or beautiful. All, and I do mean all, that matters is whether or not I feel amazing in it, and if I like what I see when I look in the mirror. 

Hell, how many "rules" am I breaking wearing this pretty blue maxi dress? I have fair skin so I'm not supposed to wear bright colors. I'm super short, so no long dresses. My arms are fat, so I'm not supposed to be showing those. 

What-the-hell-ever. Rules are made for breaking.

Dress- Wal-Mart

Sandals- Payless

Gold cross-body clutch- honestly had so long I can't remember

                                          Thanks for reading! 

Playing Dress Up in the City

My husband and I decided to spend two days in Little Rock to celebrate our fourth anniversary. Little Rock is the largest town in Arkansas, and we were pretty excited to be headed to the "big city".We stayed at a pretty nice hotel in the middle of the city's River Market District, and it was pretty awesome. 

We decided to start walking and simply follow our noses to find the best place to have our anniversary dinner. Of course, I had to dress up a little for the occasion.

Now, to a small-town girl like me, Little Rock is a vibrant, riveting metropolis. Why they've got some of the best restaurants in the state, along with plenty of fun bars, museums, and cool hang-outs, all within a few blocks from one of the most beautiful city parks I've personally ever seen. Seriously, the Riverfront Park is awesome. 

Needless to say, I'm in love with the place. 

I must say though, that if we ever were to move there I would have to step my fashion game up. Many of the local ladies there don't play around. I saw some of the trendiest clothes and some of the highest heels sharing the sidewalks with me. It was heaven, basically. 

We ended up eating our anniversary dinner at a place called the Flying Fish, far from fancy, but some of the best catfish I've ever had. I felt slightly overdressed for this particular restaurant, but I couldn't be happier with our choice.

I felt pretty cute in my floral dress and purple flats. It seemed a little strange to me to wear a purple necklace and purple shoes with a dress that doesn't have any purple on it. I have this annoying nagging voice in the back of my head telling me things need to "match". Whatever. Sometimes I have to tell that voice to shut the hell up.

I felt very much at home walking those fun-filled streets and seeing the sights while wearing this colorful outfit. We had a wonderful anniversary and I can't wait until our next visit to our state capital.

Dress- thrifted

Flats- thrifted

Statement necklace- Wal-Mart

Bolero- Wal-Mart

                                                          Thanks for reading!
                                                                    -Ashley

Fat Girl; Skinny Jeans

So a few weeks ago I  got my first pair of skinny jeans. I had been wanting a pair for a long while (I kind of have this thing where if I feel like other people would tell me I shouldn't wear something, I just have to go out and try it) but I didn't want to spend too much money in case I ended up not caring for them that much.

I actually tried on skinny jeans several times at quite a few places before I could find a pair that I could work with. See, I have this problem where I have a larger belly and very little fat on my legs. If I find a pair of skinny jeans that fit my waist, they looked like jogging pants on my legs.

Now, I had toyed around with the idea of just buying a pair that fit in the waist and then taking in the legs. I found a couple of tutorials on Pinterest that looked pretty easy, like this one, and I figured it was worth a try.

So I finally found a pair at Old Navy in the Diva cut that didn't have so much excess fabric flapping around my poor ankles, and I took in the legs so they'd fit. 

Now I'm no professional, but I think they look alright. Also I think I look alright in skinnies. I've heard it said many times that "You have to be really skinny to look good in skinny jeans", but that just isn't true. I'm fat, I'm totally not the "right" shape for them, but I still rock them. 

Why? Why do I do this when I'm sure there are people who see me in them and think What is she thinking wearing those? Doesn't she know she's fat? 

Because I like the way I look in them. Because I like wearing trendy stuff like any other woman. Because frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.

Jeans- Old Navy
Top- Ava and Viv from Target
Heels- thrifted 

                                                        Thanks for reading!
                                                               Love, 
                                                                  Ashley

Mad About my Maxi

So I finally got myself one of these bohemian lovelies. This is the first and only maxi dress I have owned, and it makes me want to go out and buy ten more in a variety of colors and prints. Yeah, I love it that much. Like so many others, I think maxi dresses are just the bomb diggity, and little wonder why.

Madly popular in the 1970's, the maxi dress has become very trendy again these past few years. They are usually made from a lightweight jersey fabric and are extremely breezy and comfortable. This makes them ideal for hot weather. I plan on rocking my maxi (and hopefully new ones as well) all spring and summer. 

Sorry my face is covered in shade in this pic. At least I know my hat works! 

Anyway, another great thing about maxi dresses is their versatility. Dress them up, dress them down, throw one on over your swimsuit at the beach or put on some heels and jewelry and have a date night. 

They aren't just for warm weather, either. You can winterize them with some boots and a jacket or coat. Add a cute scarf and you've got a killer outfit! 

This particular maxi dress is so awesome! How killer are these stripes though? The way they are laid out and the one long line going down the center is flattering, despite me being under five feet and the dress being so long.

Another thing; I avoided wearing long dresses and skirts like this one for a long time because I am so short and I was worried about what people would think. I have since stopped caring (at least most of the time) what people think. I'm short and fat. I know I'm short and fat. Nothing I wear, flattering or not, is going to magically make me look tall and slim. So I'm going to wear whatever the hell I feel beautiful in. In the end, that is all that matters.

Thanks for reading!

Dress: Ava and Viv from Target

Sandals: Payless

Sunhat: thrift store

Flowy, Floral, Springtime

Perhaps at the end of my last post I should have said something like, "Oh please excuse me, dear readers, for several weeks while I pack up all of my family's possessions and move to a new house, unpack it all, and get my life into some semblance of a new groove."
Anyway, yeah, that's why its been a while. Moving; Ugh. At least it's over now!

Oh, for the sake of all that is dear and good in this world, please let this nasty weather we've been having for weeks be over finally! I swear, from about the middle of February until just recently it's either been snowing or raining. We've been having mostly warm weather lately, and it's been sunny about half of the time the last couple of weeks. I hope it's safe to say that that beautiful, ever-so-brief season called Spring is finally here! 

So the outfit. Yeah, this is a style blog after all. Shorts! Yes, I am wearing shorts. I am totally unafraid of wearing them and you should be, too! I prefer my shorts a little above the knee because I just can't stand any chub-rub. I actually bought these last summer, but I took the legs in a couple of days ago so it's almost like having a new pair! 

This wonderful top is from Target's new plus-size line, . I know many have been very underwhelmed by the whole collection, but there were a lot of pieces that I liked, this flowy top among them. Isn't the back of this pretty?

And yeah, my arms are a bit jiggly. Oh well. If people don't like it they don't have to look. I don't have to justify the way my body looks to anyone, and neither do you!

Seriously though, ladies; if you haven't yet gone and checked this line out, I recommend doing that. Especially if you are still in the stages of building up a good basic wardrobe, they have some great pieces that are pretty good quality in my opinion, especially considering the prices.

Why Tess Holliday is a Big Deal

Unless you live under a very isolated rock, you have heard about Tess Holliday. Formerly Tess Munster, the plus-size model and body positive activist is the first of her height and size (5'5 and a size 22) to ever land a major contract with a modeling agency.

And people are pissed.                         

Tess Holliday's Instagram

I was recently reading this article on Tess by Pearl Gabel, and after Tess Holliday described her career successes as "out of body experiences" she went on to say "I'm always still that 13-year-old girl in Mississippi who people told I wasn't good enough. I never could have imagined that I could be here."                           

Her saying that in particular really hits home for me.

When I was in the eighth grade we had a class called Career Readiness. It was an extremely boring class, but there was one bright spot that semester: A career aptitude test. I answered the questions on that test as truthfully as I could. It resulted in three job possibilities for me: Actress, journalist, and model.

I was thrilled, of course; those all being things I wanted to do. Being thirteen at the time, I had no doubt in my mind that I could be all of those things.

Then life happened.

Just a few years after graduating high school, that thirteen-year-old me was just gone. I was a short, fat, college drop-out with low self-esteem. I finally began to see some worth in myself and started Prettiful Style to document that journey. It has been a long road for me, and it's not even nearly over.

Back to Tess. The short, fat and beautiful mother from Mississippi is really shaking things up. She is absolutely gorgeous, as evidenced by her Instagram account, yet people think it is terrible, even immoral for her to be a model and get to be in magazines with her fabulous fatness showing for all the world to see. 

Why all the hate? This article by The Militant Baker explains so well what I have been thinking on the subject, and that is basically this: Misery loves company. If people are out there killing themselves to look "perfect", but are still unhappy, they feel that a fat person (oftentimes who they see as a lazy glutton) certainly has no right to feel good about themselves. Many feel that those who are fat shouldn't get to feel good in their own skin.

That "perfection" all of these people are out there trying to achieve is, most of the time, unattainable. Working toward being healthy is a good thing, and it's something we should all try to do for our own good, (Like Tess does; she works out and hikes and has a pretty active life) but that should be about actually being healthy, not trying to chase this ridiculous ideal of beauty that much of society is obsessed with.

What Tess Holliday is doing is groundbreaking. Not only is this a success in her own life, it is a victory for all of us plus-size gals who dream of a world where we will be treated like everyone else. She is sending a message out there to all women, that message is this: Don't let your size, weight, height, or shape hold you back. Be who you want to be, and don't let others tell you you can't.

Tess gives me hope. Most likely I will never do anything more than my blog, (which is fine; I love my blog) but Tess's success at least tells me one thing, and that is my childhood dreams are, at the very least, possibilities. 

The thirteen-year-old girl I once was is alive again. She is still pretty weak, but she sees the world through young, wondering eyes. She still believes her dreams could some true. Every time the body-positive world achieves another victory against the "normal" beauty standards, she gets a little stronger. 

And she's hungry for more.



Thanks for reading!
           
                                                             Love always,
                                                                   Ashley

Houndstooth, a Classy Girl's Best Friend

Sometimes, quite often actually, I ask myself just exactly what am I aiming for with my personal style. I am frequently seeing things that other bloggers are doing, things that I totally love, and want to emulate.

Today's post, for instance. I've seen many beautiful ladies rocking the peplum tops and dresses, and my last post was on a peplum top. The truth is, I don't know what I'm aiming for exactly or where I will be in the future with my personal style.

The only thing I can say with any certainty is that I am having a blast doing this blog and rocking looks that I really dig. I mean, what's not to love about this outfit? One thing I have always liked is a classic look. It's hard to get any more classy than a peplum top with a houndstooth pattern. And I really love the little jewel detail along the neckline!

A distinct personal style is something that continues to develop and change over time. It is ever-evolving. I am just going to keep investing in the classics, wearing what I love, and trying new things, too. I can't wait to see where this journey takes me!

Peplum top: JCPenny
Pencil skirt: thrifted
Sunglasses: Romancing the Stone