Fuller Woman Expo

The Fuller Woman Expo is happening in Detroit September 10th. Though it is not centered around fashion, it empowers the plus-size women to accept themselves for who they are. Please visit their site and see what it's all about.

"The mission of the Fuller Woman Expo is to empower the plus-size woman to recognize her internal and external beauty; to educate and motivate through workshops and seminars, while providing information on the products and/or services available to them through various companies across the world."

We couldn't have said it better ourselves.

Thoughts on Big Sexy

Can I just say, WOW! Those girls are great. Their laughter is contagious and their confidence is refreshing and their curves are kicking!. We love them all.

Tiffany Bank, Leslie Medlik, Audrey Curry, Heather Roach and Nikki Gomez are absolutely wonderful. Each has their own sense of style and distinct personality.

In this first episode, of a three part series, we have gotten to meet each of them. I'm sure we will get to know all of them more as the series goes on but the girls that shown brightly for us in this episode are Tiffany, Leslie and Audrey.

Tiffany's laugh is bubbly and contagious, Audrey's sweetness and unique sense of style made us fall in love with her right away, and Leslie's self confidence and charisma is a breath of fresh air.

We look forward to seeing more from all of them even after the mini series is over.

The television industry is so over crowed with reality shows that they are nothing more than a buzzing in my ears. I truly dislike almost all of it but being a plus size woman in the city, this show speaks to me.

I see in these ladies, many of the same problems that I and other curvaliceous women have. I thank them for having the courage to share their lives with us.

Tonight!

TLC's Big Sexy Premiers tonight at 10/9c. Women living big in the Big City! We are so very excited! Please check it out with us. Read this article to wet your whistle! TLC's New Show.

Big Sexy on TLC

TLC's Big Sexy is Premiering tomorrow 10/9c. We are excited and hope the rest of you will join us as we watch them take over the Big Apple! Here is a sneak peak at what you can expect!

Are we hiding the obvious?

I had a conversation with someone today that got me thinking. While he is not our target market at Curvaceous K™, he was kind enough to pass on our survey to friends of his that he thought might be.

He mentioned that one of the women he passed the survey on to made it a point to tell him that some women might find it offensive to be asked if they were a size 14 or up. And that perhaps we should consider opening the survey up to all women.

At first, I wasn't sure what he meant. My response was something to the effect that most people can tell by looking at me that I am a larger size. I don't know that it's a secret to anyone...you can't hide the obvious.

The truth is that our customer is not a size 4 or even a size 10. We want to be exclusive to the curvalicious full-figured gal. We have no issues with anyone who is smaller than a size 12... happiness comes in all sizes afterall. And there are plenty of shops that go up to a size 12.

All we want to do is to get to know the women that we want to serve so we can exceed her expectations. But are we offending her by stating that she's our customer? It put us in quite a pickle today.

How do you know what term is offensive? Is plus-size offensive? Is full-figured offensive? Is curvalicious offensive? The truth of the matter is we don't know how to make everyone happy with one label. It's probably impossible.

In the end we certainly don't want to offend anyone but no one should feel bad about admitting their a size 18 or 20 or 22 or whatever the case might be. And we certainly don't want to stir up controversy. Our goal is to simply open up a fun boutique where our customers will love coming to shop! Fashion is fun.

Our philosophy here is that we believe if a woman looks good then she feels good. That energy radiates into the world around her. And even if that size 24 may not be her ultimate goal why shouldn't she look good for the time that she is that size?

As for me, I'm not going to hide away in my apartment waiting for the day I'm an ideal size 8 or whatever the latest cover girl tells me I should be.

I want to go out. I have a life and I want to look good living it. I feel beautiful in a new dress or outfit. And sometimes that size label may say 14; other times it may say 18 but I always feel GORGEOUS!

We hope all of you ladies out there feel the same way regardless of what size department you shop in.

LOVE YOURSELF TODAY for who you are.

And if you are comfortable with admitting your a size 14 and up please take a few minutes to complete our survey. No identifying details are asked. All we do ask for is some honest input to help make us your store.


K

Fashion's Night Out

Fashion's Night Out is coming up fast. We here at Curvaceous K™ simply can not wait and we hope that you are as excited as we are!

We are truly excited to see Lee Lee's Valise and Re/Dress participating this year.

We hope to see many of you out that night.

So much to learn...

The more we learn about you the more excited we get about our plans to move forward!

As we continue to collect data from our survey we have noticed an interesting shift. When we first started the results showed the most popular answer to the question, "Please select the description that best fits your style" as:

I use style to express myself. My mood shines thru in what I wear.
Well that has changed dramatically...now it's fallen down to second place with only 25% of you saying that describes you.

It looks like now the number one response now with 45% of you describing yourself as:

My style is about functionality. I like to look good but I don't always care about what's in fashion or necessarily trending at the moment.
We've learned that most of you are:

• Curvy from top to bottom


• 57% of you have specfic parts of your figure that you like to accentuate/feature when you dress

If you haven't had a chance to complete our survey, please do so now. All data collected is confidential and no identifying questions are asked.

As we've said before, the most important factor in all of this is YOU and knowing what you are looking for is crucial to us.

Survey Update!

Our survey host is back up and running! We encourage you to visit again. If you know someone that has yet to see it, please let them know that we need them.

We truly want to make our store, Your store. And the way we can do that is with your opinions. Visit the survey and our blog and tell us what you want to see in your store.

Curvaceous K Survey

A list we can all learn from

How many times have we looked in our closets dreading the idea of trying on things to see what we should keep or get rid of? Valerie Elizabeth, the Society Stylist, dares to tread where few of us are willing to go.
Read her piece, I did something horrible today.

Evening Dresses by IGIGI

Check out IGIGI's new Evening Dress collection. Gorgeous!

Survey News

Curvaceous K™ survey has been working great! We truly appreciate everyone that has taken time to fill it out.

The host of our survey, SurveyMonkey, has informed us that it will be taking their service down for maintenance on Saturday at 2 p.m. PT for approximately 4 to 8 hours.

We encourage those that have not taken it to do so before the scheduled down time. We will inform you when it is available again.

Thank you for taking the survey. Every bit of information you give helps us to make our future store your favorite place to shop.

The Queen Collection on HSN

Queen Latifah, the former rapper turned actress and now a beauty icon, announced a clothing line for HSN back in May. Saturday it debuts on the network. Here is a preview of some of her designs from the Queen Collection.

Pepperberry has Your Boobs in Mind

Curvaceous K™ is always looking for different and unique designers. We have found one that we feel is special and deserves more attention.

Pepperberry of England is owned by bigger boob experts Bravissimo Ltd designer of bras from size D to KK cup. A company dedicated to getting you the right size and styles you deserve.

What caught our eye is that they are "clothes designed with your boobs in mind!". Being a woman that is big on top myself it is increasingly difficult to find tops that fit around the girls. Pepperberry's sizing is one of the first times I have seen a designer take into consideration that women come in many shapes whether they are plus size or not.

Not exclusively a plus size designer, they do have sizes 8 to 18 which we feel deserves mention. Please check them out and their parent company Bravissimo Ltd.

Check out their website and find them on Facebook.

Maggie's Message?

Last week we posted on a somewhat controversial children's book entitled Maggie Goes on a Diet and yesterday we saw this piece on ABC News that gave some further insight on the book. Do we really want to tell young girls the only way to gain acceptance and popularity is thru conforming to what their peers tell them to be?

Furthermore, take a look at Paul Kramer, the author, he's no Slim Jim himself. If we tell children they are lacking because they are overweight then what message are we telling them about fat adults? Should a child respect an overweight parent if we tell them they themselves do not deserve it because they are overweight? Childhood obesity is not a good thing but we fail to see how this could really make anything better?

While the writer's intentions might be good, this book definitely sends a wrong message. Take a look at both the ABC News article and videos below.

The Plus Size Princess Rules!

I was born and raised in NYC...it's my hometown. To me the subway, the crowds, the chaos...it's all the norm because I've never known anything else.

I never realized how different it is from the rest of the world until I started traveling. Everywhere I went it seemed like people had an opinion of my hometown when they found out where I was from! And can I just say 90% of them were soo way off base!

NYC is a TOUGH city but I LOVE it with all my heart...just like any other girl from any other small town in the US I'm loyal! We have a rep and a style and a feel that no other place in the world can ever replicate (as much as they try).

So I was pleasantly surprised to discover a blogger here in the NYC area by the name of CeCe, whose blog, The Big Girl Blog, has a voice that reminds me so much of what it was like being young and curvy in this concrete jungle! She gets it! The city is tough...but so is she! And she never lets any of it get her down! The good and the bad...she takes it in stride.

Go CeCe! You are definitely a Plus Size Princess!

Take a look when you get a chance. It's a fun read.

Re/Dress Does Fashion's Night out

Fashions Night Out is one of the biggest fashion events in NYC. This year one of our favorite boutiques is joining in on the event in a Big Sexy way. Re/Dress is hosting the cast from Big Sexy for this years Fashions Night Out.

Ten customers will get the chance to walk the runway for a chance at some prizes. This friendly competition will be judged by the cast of Big Sexy.

Mercedes Benz Fashion Festival Sydney

Mercedes Benz's Fashion Festival in Sydney Australia kicked off this week. Titled "Big is Beautiful", the show has already caused a little stir.

The "IT" girl of the moment, Robyn Lawley, has become a pin-up for plus size fashion but is having some people a little off put. Biggest Loser's former host, Ajay Rochester, voices her opinion here.

Pictures: Sam Rutty / Vogue 

Former Biggest Loser host Ajay Rochester says model Robyn Lawley isn't big at all | News.com.au

Monif C. on Fox Business News!

We were so excited to see this segment on Fox Business news...Monif Clark from Monif C.! One of the brands that we have heard several of you mention on our survey! BEAUTIFUL!!

WATCH Monif Clark on Fox Business news!

Join us on Facebook!

We now have a Facebook page! Come like us and leave a message! Curvaceous K™.

Five Essentials

Style is as individual as you. When it comes down to it, there are some things we all need to help complete that perfect look. Here are Five Essentials every woman should have in her wardrobe.

FIVE ESSENTIALS

Fall looks great

We love the items from s.Oliver's fall line. See model Tara Lynn wearing some great looks in this article from Plus Model Magazine.

Monif C

Monif C is advertising a "Last Call Summer Sale" online and in their stores. Check them out for great deals!

http://www.monifc.com/

More FUN facts from the Curvaceous K™ Survey...

There are a lot of details that go into starting your own business...so many that sometimes it can be overwhelming.

But one of the best parts of this process is learning about you and using that input in our plans as we move forward. Fun facts from the latest batch of survey results include:

40% of you shop for clothing 5 or more times a year
50% of you described your shopping approach as:

"I love shopping and fashion and get excited for each new season's fashion offerings."

How awesome is that!! We LOVE fashion too and also get excited for the start of each new season.

In a town like NYC, where all four seasons get to express themselves fully, a woman gets the opportunity to play with fashion each season...skirts, tights, shorts, minis, cardigans, turtlenecks, sandals, flip flops, boots, turtlenecks, jackets, coats, etc....we get a chance to wear them ALL!

We also got some great suggestions to brands you would like to see in the store. Some of those suggestions were:

Monif C.
Kiyonna
Calvin Klein
Ralph Lauren

Rest assured we are actively looking into the possibility of carrying as many of these brands as we can!

Once again, for those of you who have completed the survey thank you...thank you...thank you! And please feel free to pass it on to other curvalicious gals you may know who might be interested!

And for those of you who are considering it...GO FOR IT! We are NOT sharing this information with anyone and it is all confidential. We do not ask for your name or address or any other identifying information.

All we ask is for some honest feedback and input so that we can do our best to make this YOUR STORE.

Take the Curvaceous K™ survey now!

Is Plus-size the "shape of now"?

Vogue has called plus-size model Robyn Lawley the "shape of now". Models like Robyn are showing the world that beauty come in many shapes and sizes.

Size is now a big plus on modelling circuit and Robyn Lawley cashes in | News.com.au

Thanks!

Just wanted to send a quick thank you out to all of you who have taken the time to complete our survey...it's really fun to learn about you!

One interesting thing that has come up so far...about 50% of those of you who completed the survey responded to the question to describing your style with:

I use style to express myself. My mood shines thru in what I wear.

Another fun fact that got us excited...over 60% of you answered false when asked the question "would you say you have an easy time finding clothes that both fit and flatter your figure?"

So why is this exciting to us?

Because we want to be the ones to help you express that style and we want to be the ones that make it EASY to find the clothes that both fit and flatter your figure!

If you haven't taken our survey yet please take a few minutes and take a look. We would absolutely LOVE to hear more of what you have to say!

New MTV Show

MTV has a new reality program in the works which follows a 23-yr old plus-size woman by the name of Chelsea Settles as she struggles with her body and issues of acceptance while trying to break into the fashion industry. This looks like it could be interesting.

Check out the video and article in people.com when you get a chance. I for one am interested in seeing how they approach this.

Chelsea Settles: MTV's New Star is Fabulous, Fashionable - and 324Lbs.

Really?

Someone I know on facebook shared a recent post regarding a new children's book coming out entitled Maggie Goes on a Diet. I haven't read the book but the message implied seems to be in order for a young girl to gain acceptance, find pretty things to wear and become popular and have confidence she must be skinny. That doesn't seem right at all. While I understand there are a lot of issues and risks when it comes to childhood obesity I don't know that this is the right response. How about Maggie learns to love herself first and if she feels the weight is still an issue she tackles that. I'm just not sure what to think on this one. Any thoughts?

You are GORGEOUS!

Your style brings out the best of what your ample assets have to offer. You look good and you know it. You are size 14+ and you are FABULOUS!

And Curvaceous K™ wants to know YOU! As we move ahead with our plans to open shop in the Fall of 2012 we realize that the most important factor in all this is YOU.

Please take the time to complete this survey for us.

We need your input and promise to look at it all because we need you to make it work.

We value your feedback and look forward to serving you next year when we open our doors in Brooklyn, NY.

As always, we encourage you to stop by and visit us here where we'll post updates on our opening plans, as well as fun and interesting tidbits from around the web on a variety of full-figured topics.

Can't wait to meet you next year!

K

Fashion tips from the Big Sexy ladies

Everyone has a fashion tip that helps them feel more confident. The beautiful ladies of Big Sexy airing August 30th on TLC share a few of their own on Full Figure Plus.

Big Sexy in the Big City with heels

Being a woman is hard. Being a woman in NYC is harder but being a woman in heels walking through the big city can be torture!

Let's face it ladies we love our shoes! Form over function gets the best of us at times. In the big city heels can be a nightmare. Cracks in the pavement, grates to jump over, gum wads to avoid and curbs to hurdle are constant obstacles in our way.

We make the best of it, leaving part of our shoe collection at work or a friends place. All so we can have the right shoe available at the right time.

The Big Sexy ladies talk about why shoes are so important. Check them out August 30th on TLC 10 p.m. ET/PT when the three part series Big Sexy premiers.

Evans London to open in US

Plus-size retailer Evans UK will be opening business to US shoppers online. Go to the link to register for the latest updates.

Evans USA

Re/Dress NYC now Online!

Re/Dress, a premier vintage & resale clothing boutique specializing in sizes 14+, now has online shopping. Find that piece you've been looking for to complete your look!

Re/Dress Online

One of our favorites.

The Curvy Fashionista is on top of all plus-size fashion news. Once again she has found the very latest in what you need to know. She is a must read!
What’s Haute Now: Dominique Auxilly.

Curvy in Fashion

Fashion has always neglected curvy women in this bloggers opinion. For so long it was the skinny runway model showing the newest in the fashion world. Now we see that trend changing. Models such as Tyra Banks and Kate Dillon have helped make that happen. Below is a link to a wonderful article about just this subject. Enjoy.

K

Are curvy women really back in fashion?

Brazilian women want clothes that fit

Brazil's plus size women want the same thing American plus size women do, clothes that fit!

Hello

Curvaceous K™ would like to thank you for coming to our little piece of the internet. Our goal is to give you the best in what's happening in the plus size fashion world. Please bookmark us for your latest news.

Women come in every shape and size as does beauty, sensuality and elegance. While pop culture has tried to redefine this at times, the truth is that you make your own definition of beauty.

Your individuality makes you special and you deserve every opportunity to let your style shine through. We hope to let you do just that with our future store opening the Fall of 2012 in Brooklyn, NY.

Please use this blog to voice your opinions on what you think you would like to see in Curvaceous K™.

We look forward to hearing from and serving you in the future.

K

This is your man on Curves.

Ladies, we always knew men acted strange around a great set of curves, right? They get slacked jawed and a little gaga when an ample girl walks past. Now we know why.

Researcher: Curvy women like a drug to men's brains