Speakeasy

Whenever people ask me what my favorite things about New York are, I never have an answer as easy as the Brooklyn Bridge or the Natural Museum of History (although both are pretty stupendous). The things I miss are the way you can smell everything from hot dogs to Chanel No. 5 on every street corner; how absurdly ridiculous cab drivers actually drive; the effortless availability of any international cuisine you could dream of, and only within a five-minute radius; independent book shops like Housing Works that make you feel like you're in literary heaven. And the fashion. Oh, the fashion.

Regular readers on here know that Fashion to Figure is one of my favorite plus-size brands. I know a lot of people associate it with a very urban look and feel, but recently FTF have been coming out with items that speak deeply to the Old-Hollywood-Glam-Lover in me (and just wait until their holiday collection is released; then you'll really see what I mean).

Earlier this year, I was able to connect with some of the folks at the FTF headquarters and we've maintained an awesome relationship ever since. So when I got back to the city, we knew we wanted to collaborate on something -- and that collaboration manifested itself in some lovely photo shoots in the West Village, shot by none other than my beautiful and inspiring friend Rachel Crittenden (who you may remember from some FTF shooting back in February!).

This was a lovely chance to work closely with a brand I love for its fearless use of the bodycon/silhouette-showing/curves-galore approach to plus-size fashion, and with a photographer who I feel really gets it... really gets me and my love of the body-pos/fat-pos worlds. I feel like a sad truth about editorials or photo sets of plus-size women is that often brands or photographers will do their best to conceal double chins and visible belly outlines and anything too wobbly (or sometimes even the subjects will make those specific requests to the brands or photographers). But neither FTF, Rachel or I had that priority. And so taking these photos, and just being able to feel like myself, was so, so fun.

Please make sure to check out the Fashion to Figure Blog for a closer look into the shoot :D

Get the Look:

Shimmer Lace Dress/Fashion to Figure

River Island Faux Fur Collar/ASOS