ELEGANT PLUS CONTENT TAGS:BBW, body image, Events, fashion show, fat, fitness, Health, Health at Every Size, NAAFA, NAAFA Convention, obesity, Plus Size, self esteem, Size Acceptance workshops
NAAFA Convention 2005:
Big Enough for All of Us
by Sita Mae Edwards, Regular Contributor to Elegant Plus Magazine
The 2005 NAAFA (National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance) convention, held in San Mateo, California, chose “Big Enough For All Of Us” as its theme; and it sure was! With workshops, a vendor fair, special speakers, a fashion show, dances, documentaries, pool parties, a fat fitness fest, activism training, meals and more, this event was - well - BIG!
Whether the cameras were rolling or snapping away, this was the most well documented NAAFA convention in its impressive 35 year history. Everything from “Inside Edition,” to a South American documentary film maker, to a photographer for a Japanese website were there to cover this upbeat event. As was, of course, your intrepid Elegant Plus correspondent!
It hadn’t occurred to me that with all the recent furor over size and body image, the convention would draw press like crazy. With the CDC denunciation of the “obesity crisis” on the one hand, and Dove slyly thumbing their nose at American media conventions on the other, plenty of media outlets were on hand to see what happens when real live fat folks get together.
What they and I found was pretty inspiring.
Thursday Evening Fashion Show
I wasn’t sure before I got to the show whether I’d be more likely to buy something I saw modeled on regular women like me, or less likely to buy because of the absence of the glamour fantasy that promises if you just buy this dress you’ll look like whomever is in the ad. As it turns out, I found myself much more inclined to purchase the items I saw at the show, precisely because I had seen what these designs look like on a woman my size, and not just on the faux plus-sizes one usually sees displaying designer clothing.
A roar of conversation greeted me as I opened the door to the Grand Ballroom at the San Mateo Marriott, filled with predominantly Plus-size women, as well as a sprinkling of men, large and otherwise. Each table was festively decorated with a spray of cheerful silver stars - a theme echoed on the stage, where the black background was also decorated with large, shiny silver stars. Not a subtle theme, perhaps, but certainly a positive and welcome one: everyone in the room that night was a star.
We weren’t the only stars in the room. The designers shone as well. Every designer who brought their wares to the show deserves to be mentioned by name. They included some who are well known throughout the plus community, such as Astarte, Big on Batik, By Ro! Designs, and Peggy Lutz Plus, as well as some that were new to me, who had gorgeous wares to show, such as Big Girl Gear, Daisy Plus, Designs by Sandie, Honu Nui, It’s All Big, Myles Ahead, Rogerswear, and Va Va Voom. Sprinkled throughout the show were beautiful jewelry designs by Angelwear Creations, Beadjoux, and UR2Rare.
A few of the highlights:
- The response as “She’s a Brick House” filled the room and Peggy Howell of Chunk E Business stepped onstage was wholehearted - everything from sedate clapping to more enthusiastic wolf whistles. With tiaras, feather boas, and leopard print hand bags in evidence, this was a fashion show with attitude to spare!
- When a model for Peggy Lutz Plus came out with a bouquet and gorgeous pink dress, and the audience found out she was getting married, a roar of approval went up, the wedding march started, and she threw the bouquet into the audience to the delight of the women in the front row.
- The evening included a surprise performance by the Phat Fly Girls of Big Moves, a fat positive dance organization dedicated to showing that every body can dance. When Jessica, the head of the west coast branch of the organization, turned a somersault into floor splits, the crowd went wild.
- There was a second surprise performance by Charlie Biscuits, a local rapper who endeared himself to the crowd with a song whose refrain had Charlie shouting to the audience that he “likes big girls.” The fashion show models writhed all over him like the well oiled girls in a steamy music video, and halfway through the song Charlie paused to gasp, “Don’t stop!” which was, personally, my favorite moment in the performance.
I presumed the people on-stage would be exclusively on the smaller end of the plus spectrum, as I’ve been trained to expect from magazines. To my delight there were women and men of all sizes, from small to super size, as well as all ages. One of the most enthusiastic responses was to Terri, a gorgeous, blonde middle aged woman in a hot pink bikini, who elicited multiple wolf whistles with her sassy sashay down the runway.
The roars of delight and obvious enthusiasm of the crowd brought out a wonderfully flirty playfulness in the models, and the whole event was, in a word, adorable.
Friday Workshops
During the day on Friday there were many events, the vendor fair began, and there were lectures and workshops which I unfortunately wasn’t able to attend. Workshops included subjects such as, “It Takes a Village (Idiot) to Tease a Fat Kid,” a discussion on balancing size acceptance with health concerns in the schools and with children, presented by Betsy Breseman, PhD, specialist in Body Image, Teasing & Bullying, and Stigma of Obesity at The Ohio State University; “Self-Care for Body Liberators,” designed to help size activists keep themselves healthy in the midst of what is often difficult work, presented by licensed counselor Deb Burgard, co-author of the book, “Great Shape: First Fitness Guide for Large Women” and owner of Body Positive, as well as “Men Who Love Fat Women,” a workshop for men only led by NAAFA Newsletter Editor Bill Weitze, which addressed the “ups and downs of being a male fat admirer;” artistic workshops, workshops designed to discuss sexual issues and a retrospective marking ten years since “Women En Large: Images of Fat Nudes” was first published.
Friday Dance
Guests at one of the two dances over the weekend.
Courtesy of Peggy Howell.
Marilyn Wann was the belle of the ball in a hot pink mini dress, leading conga lines and belly-bumping the other dancers with such wholehearted glee that it didn’t take long before her infectious spirit spread to those around her and the whole dance floor filled with phat people rockin’ out to the funky blues band. One woman, a model from the fashion show the night before, even scooted her chair out into the middle of the dance floor and danced from her chair.
Two women, one of whom was a member of the famous Fatimas, an all pus-size belly dancing troupe, sat on the edge of the stage doing a two woman wave, and other familiar faces in the plus community such as model Buffie of Big Cuties, and Cher Rue and Lisa Marie of The Big Girl Show were in evidence.
The presence of several film crews elicited a few extra booty shakes. It was fantastic for this reporter to see how many women showed up in undeniably slinky, sexy dresses. No muu-muus for this crowd. Instead painted on glittery pinks, spaghetti straps, shiny mini dresses and flirty barely-there tops were the order of the day.
Where, out in the world, I sometimes feel chunky, unwieldy, and oversized, here I felt young and svelte and sexy because I was surrounded by women who looked like me and, more importantly, felt damn good about themselves. It’s contagious!
The epitome of sexy phatness came at the end of the night when the spectacular Big Burlesque and the Fat Bottom Revue performed several numbers. Their saucy striptease act had more than one audience member waving a wad of dollar bills hopefully at the stage. Whether the number featured feather boas, cowgirl hats, or glittery pasties, each one was breathtaking, delicious, and perfectly performed. If you haven’t had a chance to see these ladies in all their curvaceous glory, remedy that - it’s a once in a lifetime experience!
Saturday Fat Fitness Fest
Yay! Scale
Celebrating the Beauty in All Sizes
During the day on Saturday I attended Marilyn Wann’s fitness fest demonstration that was held at a nearby park with demonstrations by yoga, dance, and aerobics instructors, as well as some hip shakin’ lessons from the Phat Fly Girls and Heather McAllister of Big Burlesque. Pink pom poms were handed out liberally, and I ended up
wearing pink fuzzy bouncy balls on a headband on my head, while intermittently helping make sandwiches, and being a very dignified journalist. (Bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce.)
A pink Barbie boom box played Steriogram’s “Fat and Proud” as people frolicked with a huge beach ball that screamed in all caps: “F-A-T!” Others weighed themselves on the “Yay!” scale, which registered weight in such increments as “Lovable” and “Delirious.” I’m lovable, in case
you’re wondering. (Like that’s news!)
”No Pain - No Pain!” was the slogan that greeted the first speaker at the event, health researcher Linda Bacon from UC Davis. She spoke about running a clinical trial that compared the effects of the rigorous sort of dieting that we are told is the answer to obesity, against a Health at Every Size model, in which the participants were encouraged to eat well and exercise, but not diet.
”The research was phenomenal. What we saw at the two year stage was that the dieters were back where they’d started with everything except their self-esteem. They felt horrible about themselves. They felt like failures. The group on the other hand, had wonderful results. Blood pressure had improved, cholesterol had improved, they were getting four times the amount of moderate activity they had when they’d started.
”It was incredible to see the difference. Self-esteem levels improved, depression improved. Everything looked so much better. And there were virtually no drop-outs from the program. They didn’t lose weight, either. Weight doesn’t matter. People can be happy, healthy and fit at any size. It’s just a matter of self-acceptance.”
With an explosion of pink pom-poms thrust triumphantly in the air, the assembled crowd of healthy fat folks - who knew all this already - roared their agreement.
Saturday and the Vendor Fair
Satu and Tina of Big on Batik at the Vendor Fair
I have lusted after Peggy Lutz Plus designs for awhile now, and it was thrilling to get to meet the woman behind it all. (If you’re one of the people who isn’t sure how to pronounce her name, it’s not pronounced like “klutz,” it’s pronounced like “flutes.”) I expected to meet a lovely robust woman of ample proportions, and instead met a lovely, diminutive, petite woman who has never designed straight sizes - when she began 15 years ago with a line of stylish sweat outfits made from unusual fabrics, it was straight to plus. Ever since she and her hand picked sewers at her Northern California studio have been designing the clothes that have made her a legend in the business. They’ve even been in the movies! Kathy Bates, in her Oscar-nominated role in “About Schmidt,” wore two Peggy Lutz originals.
Part of what makes Peggy’s designs so desirable is that she takes into account the fact that women come in a variety of shapes. (i.e. when looking on her website at an item the information includes the height and size of the model, as well as her shape, such as pear. This makes it easier to get an idea of how something will look on individual bodies.) The models she chooses also represent a wide variety of age, color, and size, which is a delight to see.
Chunk E Business, owned and operated by NAAFA board member Peggy Howell, her sister Dianne, and their mutual friend Darliene, has been one of my favorite websites for quite awhile now. It is a fantastic gift and art site, featuring everything from sculpture to paintings to greeting cards to artistically designed paper towel holders! And all of it, from beginning to end, is size positive.
Emilio Casarotto Figurine
I had the opportunity to talk to Peggy, Darliene and Dianne at the vendor fair while I longingly patted a statue by Emilio Casarotto that I’ve been coveting for months. (His work is even better in person, by the way.) When asked how they came up with the clever and cute name of Chunk E Business, all three women grinned. They had begun working on the business, but didn’t have a name yet, and were brainstorming one day when Peggy and Dianne’s father called. Jokingly
he asked, “Are you getting up to monkey business?” “No!” laughed Darliene in response, “We’re up to CHUNKY business!”I had the chance to chat with a few other vendors, including the jewelry designers that were on hand with their original creations designed to fit larger wrists and necks. Kathryn of UR2Rare, whose display of jewelry included wonderful designs unlike anything I’d seen before was my first stop. These were definitely not for the faint of heart, and included a bold array of colors and textures that prompted more than one “Ooohhh” from your intrepid reporter!
Next on the grand tour de jewelry was Designs by Sandie where I had the chance to chat with Sandie herself, and she let me try out some of her beautiful handmade hair sticks. (Those of you with long hair particularly will love these. They are both stylish and practical.) She also makes lovely, cheerful jewelry, and designs clothing as well!
If you’ve never seen Beadjoux designs, you are in for a treat. When I first browsed the booth, I exclaimed,”Oh, wow, this is epic jewelry!” The designer, Shelley Bond, grinned and allowed as how that was a pretty good description. Working with everything from seed beads to chunks of variegated jade, Shelley will custom make one of a kind designs and work with her customers until their piece of art is just right.
Angelwear Creations, the brain child of Seattle-based artist Angela Jones, was where I wrapped up my foray into the wild, wonderful, sparkling world of jewelry, and it almost undid me. I rapidly developed a silent chant to preserve my self-restraint. “Keep the plastic in the wallet. Keep the plastic in the wallet.” Easier said than done, let me tell you! Though she doesn’t sell her creations on the internet, she can be seen at many shows around the country displaying her creations, which include delicate, feminine pieces and a dazzling array of precious stones. She also custom designs jewelry from her Washington studio.
It was also great to see Big on Batik’s booth. I own several pieces from Big on Batik and By Ro! Designs, so I’m already a fan of their signature hand-painted floral designs from Bali. Having the opportunity to see the different colors and outfits was a delight, though! As was talking to Satu and Tiina of Plush Cat Club fame , who announced at the fashion show on Thursday that they have purchased the company from founder Cathy Miller, who is going on to other things, including her Love Your Body! wrist band project to raise money and awareness for size acceptance.
There were several vendors whom I didn’t have a chance to interview, but the entire event (which filled a conference room and spilled out onto a grassy courtyard as well) was colorful, full of lovely variety and designs, and a tremendous number of creative and interesting folks. Since I usually am only able to shop from these vendors online, it was fantastic to have them collected in one place for a couple of days.
Saturday’s Not in It for the Money
Also on Saturday was Peggy Howell’s presentation of “Not In It For The Money,” a documentary she recently finished that involved the organizers for several of the plus bashes around the country, including NAAFA, the Vegas Bash, and several others. In it, Peggy gives the audience a glimpse behind the scenes at the planning, hard work, and love that goes into each of these events. Featuring interviews with each of the organizers, clips from each event, and a thorough examination of why these folks do what they do, this little film is extraordinarily educational for anyone who wants to know more about how these wonderful events come to be.
I left the screening with a whole new appreciation for the people who donate their time year round to make sure these events keep happening, and keep bringing the plus community together around the country. They are doing it for all of us.
Saturday Formal Dance
The organizers of the 2005 NAAFA convention spent a great deal of time walking the fine line between allowing enough media access to the event to generate good press and positive articles, but without making the members who paid to attend feel like everything was being recorded and scrutinized. Because the Friday night dance was liberally
sprinkled with video and still cameras, at the last minute the Saturday ball was declared off-limits to press to give the attendees some privacy to enjoy the last big event of the convention.
My lovely and wonderful editor, Thea Politis, had made sure I got an appropriate dress to wear from the Elegant Plus Model of the Month co-sponsor, Igigi, and I felt svelte and gorgeous in one of the most gorgeous gowns I’ve ever owned! Though I wasn’t able to enter the dance as a reporter, Heather Boyle graciously allowed me to attend as a NAAFA member and “cute fat chick.” That was good enough for me!
The ball was - dare I say it? - a ball! There was a wide variety of music, so just about everyone got up and danced at some point or another. There were door prizes and fun gifts given out at one point during the evening, and everyone looked absolutely beautiful.
It had been so long since I went out dancing, that I had honestly forgotten that I LOVE it. Being out there with a bunch of folks who look like me, and who appreciate people who look like me, was utterly liberating, and I moved like I haven’t moved in years. By the end of the evening I was sweaty (Or is that dewy?), disheveled, exhausted, and couldn’t have been happier.
Thank you, NAAFA. This year’s event was truly fantastic.
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