What I think about when I'm laying in bed at night and reading blogs

I've read a bunch of fatshion bloggers recently responding to an apparent "shit storm" created by Abercrombie & Fitch who's CEO (or someone else I couldn't give a shit about) has said they only market to young, good looking, thin people. Yeah, well, you and about 99% of fashion retailers pal, aint nothin new there. Some folks have called for a boycott of the A&F brand, going so far as to request "allies" don't shop there. (Not naming names)

Now I'm not arsed if you boycott them or not. It's not a brand I'm interested in, can fit into, or can afford. To be honest I've barely heard of them but what I've seen doesn't appeal. Hardly surprising - fat 30 year old dykes aren't their target demographic after all.

Anyway, what I'm getting at is there are a whole lot of fatshion folks getting their knickers in a twist over this one, then happily showing off their fancy new outfit from New Look. You know, they of the refusing trans women access to changing rooms fame? Then continuing to display their blatant ignorance at best by offering "out-of-hours shopping appointments to safeguard their privacy." (You gotta wonder who's privacy they were trying to safeguard here.)

Where were you when that shit was going down? Where were your calls for a boycott in the name of being a good ally?

I have to ask myself, why are folks calling for a boycott? It is because they think the company is morally reprehensible and should make amends? Or is it because they are personally butt hurt?

Life gets in the way

Sorry for the huge amount of time since my last post. I've just been so busy, I've not even blogged about the zine fest! It went amazingly well, and was loads of fun (and also a bit stressful). Still, I can't wait to start organising the next zine event in Sheffield! Loads of people have blogged about it, here are some of them!

Spill the Zines: http://spillthezines.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/review-sheffield-zine-fest-2013.html
Lolly: http://lollylikesfatshion.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/sheffield-zine-fest.html
Cath: http://blatantblithe.wordpress.com/2013/03/21/zine-fests-workshops-and-feministing/
Tukru: http://tukru.vampiresushi.co.uk/blog/?p=214
Emma: http://emmajanefalconer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/sheffield-zine-fest-redux.html
Rebs: http://sullen-hearts.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/sheffield-zine-fest-and-what-i-wore.html
Jenna: http://jennaleealldread.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/the-sheffield-zine-fest-2013.html
Richard: http://richardbolamat50.wordpress.com/2013/03/20/i-printed-i-stapled-i-zined-sheffield-zine-fest-2013/

Me and Chella were also interviewed by Russell Cavanagh. Video here:
http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2013/sheffield-zine-fest/

Me and my bunting! (Thanks Rebs for the supplies!)

Jen at my table. I barely had time to sit at my own stall all day!

In other news, Jen and I have found an awesome flat in Sheffield, and we'll be moving in next week! It's perfect for us, huge, central, and cheap! I got lucky when I called up a friends landlord to see if he had anything available, and he had just started to renovate this place. It's almost finished, the plumber is in today and there are a few electrician jobs to do, then we get to decorate. I'm so excited!

Maybe once we've moved and I have more time (because I'm currently travelling 2+ hours each way to work) I'll also be able to start doing some proper outfit posts and writing about fashion and gender presentation again. At the moment, all I seem to be wearing is pyjamas and this:

Nice huh? I'm enjoying my new(ish) job, I'm just not enjoying all that travelling! Anyway, more news soon about the flat and a zine update! xo

Preparing for SZF!

I've been terrible at blogging recently, so a little update.

I've finished issue 5 of Buy Her Candy in plenty of time for the zine fest! It won't be on sale until the day of the fest though. Partly because I'm lazy and I don't want to sell loads and have to make more copies.

Chella and I appeared in the Sheffield Star, which was a bit weird. There was an (only slightly inaccurate) full page interview/article and this picture:

Planning and organising the zine fest has been fun but stressful. We are almost ready though, so now we just need to get through the event itself!

My super nitpicking organisational skills come in handy. See also; scale drawing.

 

 A couple of photos of Electric Works. On the left is the main area where we'll be hosting small exhibitions, the communal table, a zine library and coffee/cake! On the right is one way of getting from the top floor to reception!

Sheffield Zine Fest

I'm organising Sheffield Zine Fest 2013! It's at Electric Works which is right between the train station and bus station. So far some brilliant zinesters have confirmed to be tabling and it's gonna be awesome! Please come along if you're in the area. More info at sheffieldzinefest.wordpress.com.

In which I whine about not conforming to an androgynous stereotype.

As a fat person who I suppose invests more in the clothes I wear than just seeing them as a particular fashion I might be into at the time, I'm finding myself increasingly frustrated by the lack of clothes available to me. What I wear affects how I'm read and how I feel about myself, and my fat body means I can't just do androgyny and be read how I want to be.

Plus size clothing lines and shops are better than they used to be, I know. (Although Evans seems to be regressing to its frumpy floral roots.) However, they are still very limiting to me. I don't want to wear dresses, lovely as they are, and plus size retailers seem to have adopted high femme and run with it. I'm not comfortable doing femme anymore, and it is near on impossible for me to find the properly fitting androgynous clothes that I feel myself in.

Men's clothes are an option, sure. I can find styles that are more me. Unfortunately those styles are not made for my body. I am basically the opposite shape of the majority of masculine bodied folks. I have a fat ass, huge hips, short arms and breasts that cannot be hidden. Menswear is basically a no-go, so I stick to women's basics, neutral as possible. This is difficult in fat sizes because the detail lets me down more often than not. Think about how women's shirts often don't button all the way to the collar. How there is a little extra frill, a fancy button, a 3/4 sleeve, a distinct lack of pockets! Little things, but things that make all the difference to someone genderqueer, androgynous, or masculine of centre.

The whole city is your jewellery box

Next month I turn 30 and Jen has got me the amazing Pulp shirt with lyrics from Sheffield Sex City. It's hidden away and I can't have it 'til my birthday, but I'm already dreaming of wearing it ALL THE TIME. Here's what I wanna wear with it:

Pulp shirt - Iffyton Stores £20
Cardigan - Matalan £18
Braces - Topman £10
Jeans - H&M+ £25

I already have all these except the cardigan. I'm gonna hit the vintage stores on Division Street next week and probably charity shops up Eccy Road in search of a cable knit cardigan, but if I don't find anything I might get this Matalan one. My trusty H&M skinny jeans I wear pretty much every day and I have them in black and maroon. These braces are nice but I got mine off ebay for 2 quid, and the bag was also from ebay and was about 4 quid, I could only find a new one for sale on a french website for €39. What would you wear this shirt with?

I am mean.

The other day a friend of mine informed me that I am a great big meanie! The reason? 5 months ago I blogged about something that everyone (believe me, when I say everyone!) in the UK zine scene was talking about - the cost of tabling at a certain zine fest and the fact that it would be a zine fest with very few actual zines for sale.

The reason this has been brought up again is that once again (apparently) my being extremely mean is a subject for discussion online. I only know what I've been told, not what has actually been said, but it does coincide with a massive spike in hits to an old post. Make of that what you will. Like my girlfriend just said; "Why are they STILL going on about it?" Why indeed.

Of course, everything I said in that post was simple fact, with screen caps to boot! At no point has anyone (bar the girlfriend of one of the organisers, who later deleted their comments) from that zine fest attempted to engage with me about the post. Which seems strange since I've heard about lots of bitching about me, even as far as I was trying to sabotage their event. I had to laugh out loud when I heard that one. This is my personal blog, I have a few followers, and I tweet about my blog posts to my few twitter followers. Indeed, I only posted after encouragement and proof reading from other zinesters! I think we can all agree what rubbish that was, and was obviously said by someone in defensive mode - fair enough.

By all reports, the zine fest went very well and had a good turn out, as I and others expected. I read very good reports about the day, especially from the artists and crafters who tabled. Which leads me back to the original discussion - the lack of zines! To be fair, there was little discussion about this afterwards, because in the end I know of one zine distro that tabled at the last minute, out of the many individual zinesters and distros that originally planned on tabling. (This, by all accounts, was due to the excessive cost.)

One of the things that came of the discussion on twitter that prompted that post (between the organisers, me, and Lizzy of Marching Stars Distro mainly) was that in future the event will be re-named to something along the lines of independent publishing fair. I hope this is the case, and that the event continues to flourish as this rather than under the misleading guise of a zine fair.

Once again, I think I need to reiterate that, if anyone was unaware, this is my personal blog where I post my personal opinions about things I'm interested in. Weird concept huh? I'm not expecting,  nor indeed inviting anyone involved to engage in discussion. To be quite honest I was not expecting to ever blog about it again, but I suppose the internet has a long memory about this kind of thing.