I stopped by the the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance Convention in San Mateo a couple of weeks ago to see my friends and to checkout the trunk show from the plus size clothing stores, who often carry clothes 4X and larger.  And there I found my long time friend Marilyn Wann, a force for good in the fat acceptance world.  She is even in Wikipedia, gotta love that.  I asked her what she was wearing this year and she could not say enough good things about Annalogy, They carry sizes to a 5X, which is a size 30-32.  I love their styling I can see a sophisticated business woman wearing some of the looks and yet some of the other pieces are very versatile and could fit in any wardrobe.

Here is what my friend Marilyn had to say:

Yes! I was squeaking with delight! I *LOVE* *LOVE* *LOVE* Annalogy’s Anna Roberson’s fashion sense! She uses fabrics that are modal (a kind of super-soft rayon) with a bit of spandex. My total favorite fabric! And she styles them into exactly the kinds of garments that are going to let me live the fantasy of wearing modal every day and feeling like I’m in a cozy bed all the time! Squeak of delight!!!

My friends met me at the trunk show and we then ended up dancing in the hall with two of my prior aerobics teachers, Deb Burgard from the 1980s and the Cinder Ernst from the 90s and the 2000s (is that how you think I should express the period of 2000-2010?) and my good friend Carol Squires.  It was old home week, a combination of two teachers that have been very important to me and a friend I do not see very often, but danced with for years, and the delight of dancing to songs that I know so well my body was just thrilled.  Just SO much fun!    Ciao Bellas…affinity

I have had very little time in my life when I have not had any responsibility, one maybe two jobs while attending law school, working lots of hours or even more recently volunteering for the Burning Man Project.  It has been interesting.  I made a silly mistake recently and my goal has been to not beat myself up too much and enjoy each day as it comes.  So this morning I woke up with NO plans.  My husband is already at Burning Man helping to build the city.  And then, it just popped into my head, I think I will get a tattoo today. I spent a couple of hours thinking about design and then creating a template for the tattoo artist to use.  It is Sanskrit and it means “affinity” with a more literal translation of “kindred”. A friend suggested the Black and Blue Tattoo shop and the artist, Matt was very kind. It barely hurt, just little pin pricks until the last 5 minutes and then it got a little uncomfortable, it took about 1/2 hour.  It is my first tattoo, I have wanted one for a long time and it was an exciting adventure to go on all by myself, without even discussing it with anyone.  Ciao Bellas…affinity

My long time friend, Sue Bishop also goes to Burning Man.  So this year she thought she might try wearing a salwar kameez or three.  What is a salwar kameez you ask?

Salwar Kameez is (also spelt shalwar kameez or shalwar qameez) (Hindi: सलवार कमीज, Urdu: شلوار قمیض)? It is the dress worn by both women and men in northern South Asia and Central Asia. It is a unisex dress similar in manner to shirt and pants worn by both women and men in the west, per Wikipedia.

I think of them as Indian and would not have thought they were worn in other countries, but that may well be the case.  So Sue went shopping, and here is what she found.

 Sue started her shopping in Berkeley, the two salwar kemeezes above were purchased there, and this is what she had to say about the experience.

The Berkeley shop is Roopam Saris, 1044 University.  Yelp has a lot of negative reviews based on customer service but, even though I wasn’t shopping their high end merchandise, I was treated very well.  The daughter who helped me volunteered to ask her father for a further discount on a sale item that I bought (the gold and red one).  Here the largest size was 52 (bust measurement).  The 52 in the casual (poly) suit was too big for me.  The 52 in the “party” suit I bought (the blue suit) is a nice loose right.  My bust measurement is 44, so a 50 should be about right for a loose fitting top.  However, the gold and red, which is a 50, needed a few more inches which I added.  Many are sold as sleeveless with short sleeves included that can be sewn on, as I did with the gold one.  The pants are of nearly infinite size.  I looked at Saree Palace nearby which, while very large, has a limited number of 48-52s.

 

My best recommendation is 786shop.com.  They have an enormous selection and they strongly recommend that every customer have their pieces made to fit at no extra cost.  The suit I ordered was made to my exact measurements.  They have a very thorough custom measurements page.  I wanted a loose fitting garment so I added an inch or two at the bust and hips and got a great fit.  I could choose sleeve length, pants type and overall fit.  My choice was from the Designer Cotton Lawn collection and was one of the most expensive at $117.  Many in this collection are made using pre-printed panels so they have a maximum width of 52 inches.  I don’t think most of the other styles have this limitation. There are cotton lawn options in their casual collection that cost under $50.

I was nervous about buying from a Pakistani website but I followed it for year and saw that it was looking more and more like a mature business.  The functionality on the site is pretty good and they responded promptly to emails and delivered the finished suit as promised.