It’s all about me. Narcissism is the word of the day.

Marie Denee from the Curvy Fashionista gives Beloved Endeavour belts a great write-up.

Tiffany from Fat Shopaholic interviews me about the belt line.

(This next one is not about me)

Christina from Musings of a Fatshionista posts photos by Velvet Damour featuring Chloe Marshall and some almost unrecognisable clothes from Evans.

Do you ever have days where you just want to make someones eyes bleed by clashing together as many colours as possible? Well that was my wardrobe philosophy two years ago on the day this photo was taken-

I look at the outfit now and I just shake my head. I still wear all these clothes- just not together- and that was a one time only appearance for the flower on my hat. I uploaded this photo to Flickr with the caption, “With all these bright colours I feel like an elf- or at least like I should be presenting kids TV. “

Some months later I got an email from someone who was carrying out research for a book about human emotion called We Feel Fine and they asked if they could use the photo. A book about human emotion? I thought, sounds a bit like some hippie  “we are the world” project to me, I thought. As long as no one then invites me to go dance around Stonehenge naked, praying to fairies I don’t mind, I thought.  Then I agreed.

I got a copy of the book two days ago.

My photo now looks like this-

Headless fatty! Legless fatty too so at least theres some symmetry.

The book has surprised me. It’s not the new age tome I thought it might be, it’s a modern compilation of hundreds of “feelings” that have been curated from the internet using specially designed software that detects the phrases “I feel” and “I am feeling”. The book is the work of Sep Kamvar and Jonathon Harris, is completely engrossing and downright brilliant. Hundreds of photos, quotes, statistics, charts, illustrations and diagrams make it unputdownable and it’s as though you’re delving into the inner corners of the minds of hundreds of people and discovering their private thoughts. For a nosey parker like me its the perfect pastime.

The book is based on the website wefeelfine.org which is well worth checking out, and its candidness also reminds me of Postsecret which is one of my fave websites. With these two sites on my weekly hitlist its only a matter of time before I know some intimate detail about just about everyone on the planet. Or close enough.

It doesn’t seem like a full 365 since I was last sat here reminiscing about 2008 and thinking of what 2009 might bring and here I am again, watching Jools’ Annual Hootenanny and doing the same thing as last time, albeit with a newly acquired grey hair on my chin (how did that happen?) and an extra filling in my teeth.

I’m not going to take an in-depth retrospective look of the past 12 months in fashion because I hate when magazines do that, it bores me silly. What I will say though is that 2009 was the year fat fashion made itself seen, got people talking and its been interesting hearing all the discussions the topic has raised. Hopefully 2010 will bring us even more plus size collections and more visibility in mainstream media. Thanks for sticking with me throughout 2009!

********UPDATE, Dec 28th*******

The Marie Denee sale has been extended and the final day is now December 29th!

Jumper dress- you know where

Merry Christmas to you all!

Just a blink-and- you- miss- it post today pointing you in the direction of the latest post on The Curvy Fashionista. Marie Denee gives us a preview of the much anticipated plus size issue of V Magazine, featuring the always gorgeous Crystal Renn going head to head with straight size model, Jacquelyn Jablonski. Go there now. The issue hits the street on Jan 14th.

OOTD taken last night at the office christmas knees up in a posh hotel. Lots of people there that I knew but I still felt a bit of a banana asking someone to take a photo of me so I sneaked off to the ladies and did it there. This pic was taken at the beginning of the night. By the end of the night I was a little uh- merry, had collected five more balloons and had no problems at all asking one of the  security guards to take a snap. Several. Unfortunately, I looked a complete mess by this point so you get the WC shot instead.

I was the only person who wore their party hat for the entire night. What a bunch of killjoys.

Dress: New Look

Bolero: True Corset

Vest underneath: Very old Rogers & Rogers. Its a polyester/ lycra fabric that washes extremely well and still looks as good as it did the day I bought it.

Tights: Evans (15 denier. Not worn sheer tights since 19- long time)

Shoes: Evans. Bought two days ago after passing through the store and seeing them on sale for a tenner- bargainicious! They are exactly the same as this pair.

Earrings: Topshop- another sale bargain from two days ago

I’m sitting here clapping like a seal because the eternally well dressed Katie from What Katie Wore is wearing one of my belts and making it look fantastic!-  of course its fantastic anyhow, but Katie is injecting an extra double dose of fantasismo. Thank you Katie and Joe!

Belts still available in The Shop and there are still new belts on the way- bear with me!

I’m a bit of a grouch when it comes to Christmas. It takes me quite a while to get into the Christmas spirit because I really don’t like the hype that surrounds it and the hoards of people out shopping just irritate me. I ignore Christmas for as long as possible until I relent and start looking for party dresses- like I am now. I only have a couple of parties to go to, one outfit is sorted but the other  may well be one of these lookers below that have tickled my fancy…

Left- Anna Scholz, £345

Right- City Chic, $118.14 AUD

Left- Lovedrobe, £22

Right- Torrid, $68USD

Left- Plus Size Fix, $42.99 USD

Right- New Look Inspire, £30

I know you must think I’m completely up Evans’ ass but I’m not. It’s just that there is no other UK retailer that compares. Until a veritable competitor emerges I’ll keep harping on about them and filling my wardrobe with their clothes because no other plus size high street brand gets me as amped. Sad but true. My latest Evans crush had me so captivated the instant I saw it, I had to silently close my eyes for a moment. I opened them and it was still there, in all its Rick Owens lookalike glory-

Yes it’s suede, yes it’s harder to clean than leather, yes it’s fairly light in colour and will show up dirt, yes it will cling to every single raindrop it encounters- yes, yes, yes, yes, yes I KNOW. But look me in the eye and tell me it’s not a bad mother- (shut your mouth!)

Jacket- £125, Evans

Rick Owens images from style.com

PS- While we’re on the subject of Big E, they have a 20% off everything promotion that starts immediately online and is operational in stores on Thursday and Friday. Offer ends at midnight on Friday. YAY!