Full Figured Fashion Week - Day Three, Part I (Kmart Blogger's Brunch)

Hey Everyone!

I thought I'd continue my coverage of all the fabulous events at Full Figured Fashion Week. Day three was quite hectic, but good hectic! I thought it would be good to break it up into two posts so it's not so overwhelming! In the morning there was the Kmart/LYS (Love Your Style/Size) Blogger's Brunch, in the evening there was the grand finale runway event (which I'll tell you all about tomorrow), which we all got really dolled up for, and you know we also fit in some shopping in-between!


So Kmart, who are totally fabulous, hosted a brunch for all of the bloggers where we got together, had a bite to eat, got to see their current collection, as well as a sneak peak of their upcoming Fall collection. This brunch was just such a great time. We really got a chance to relax, socialize, and get a great sense of the Kmart/LYS brand. You may have read my post recently about body positivity. This is a brand that adheres to that philosophy completely, and their designs and the marketing which advertises them, reflect this. They chose models who we, as customers, were more likely to relate to than the more typically-used size 12s or 14s. As a result, we actually got a sense of what the clothes might look like on our own bodies. I don't often have the opportunity to say this, but the philosophy behind the brand and its design and marketing is something I feel that I can fully support, as a consumer, blogger, and even as a body positivity activist. The designers and the company have really hit the nail on the head. One of the other awesome things about the brand is that it's accessible. This is very important to me since I am a student and value is an important factor of my decision to make any purchase. Their items are all economically priced, from around $14.99 (for, let's say, a tank top) to $39.99 (for something like outerwear). I really felt like the people at Kmart were listening to what we had to say and absorbing it, considering all of our feedback and giving great responses. The one thing I brought up (which I'm sure you'll have guessed by now) is that they don't currently have any Canadian stores or ship to Canada. While the issue of store expansions into Canada seemed like it might have been too big an issue to broach with the LYS brand executives (out of their control), I did voice my desire to have Kmart begin shipping to Canada, and they said that it was definitely something that they would bring up to discuss in their head office. I also explained that a lot of Canadians cross-border shop, and asked them to make sure there was a good assortment of LYS stuff in the stores near border crossings, so if you're going across the border, make sure you pop into Kmart to check out their LYS brand (you should find it in the women's plus size section).

So now to the pictures, so you can see what a great time we had and all of LYS's beautiful designs.

This is what I wore to the brunch. Thanks to my roomie Diva in Deep Thought for loaning me the hair flower!

My roomies Queen Sized Flava and Diva in Deep Thought at the brunch

From left to right, awesome blogger Kimberly from Fab Finds Under $50, Celebrity Stylist and fabulous event emcee Jorge Ramon (you might remember him from the TLC show Ten Years Younger), me, and my fantastic room-mate Jessica from Chic in Every City. Jorge was so nice! He paid me so many compliments and I really couldn't stop blushing. He said something like "all of this is great" and I was thinking, "wow, he just gestured to all of me!" But I just said "thank you." I <3 compliments, especially when they come from celebrity stylists!!! =D

Me with the Kmart/LYS design team, Sarah Morgan and Nicole Magnani. Fabulous and inspiring women.

This is my head from the back so you can see how I did my hair. Jessica snapped this without me even knowing!

So I took a few pictures of some of Kmart/LYS's fantastic spring looks so you can have a taste of what they offer:

I also went around and took loads of pictures of everyone so you could see a) how much fun we were all having, and b) how awesome everyone looked.

The lovely Tina from T Minus, T Plus, checking out the terracotta jumpsuit

Okay, I am not normally one for a romper, since they usually look kind of weird on me and don't fit right, but I tried this one on (in blue, with grey accents) at the Kmart in Manhattan and I loved it. It fit beautifully. I had to put it back because I was running dangerously low on funds, though. Oh, the life of a student! :(

Allison from Curvy Girl Chic and Monique from Curves and Chaos

Stiletto Siren and Vanoue 

Kmart very generously gave us a lovely gift bag with some flip flops (very considerate since some of us had very high heels on and needed comfy shoes to change into), a scarf, a pair of sunnies, a bottle of OPI and Essie nailpolish, and a $25 Kmart gift card. Once the brunch was over, the race was on to get to the nearest Kmart to pick up some LYS pieces! Pretty much all the bloggers headed over there straight afterwards. 

Since the Marriot Marquis Manhattan (where the brunch was held) was near Times Square and I'd never been before, we stopped by. It's pretty amazing in Times Square. You sort of feel like you're at the centre of the world. Sort of unrelated, but medieval Christians had this idea that the earth was the centre of the universe and that Jerusalem was the centre of the world, and that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was the centre of  Jerusalem. So they would go on pilgrimages to Jerusalem and lay their heart (which they viewed as the centre of their body) on the centre point of the church, and they deemed this the most powerful way to commune emotively with God. Visiting Times Square was sort of a similar experience for me, but instead of being spiritual, it seemed like I was standing in the very centre of western capitalism and communing with that. Not necessarily a bad thing, I just thought that it was interesting how similar the experience was to this old medieval practice. Okay, I'll stop talking about that now. I study medieval stuff. Can you tell? Long story short, we ended up wandering into the massive (four storeys, I think) Forever 21. I will do a haul post about what I bought at some point... I left with a heavier bag and a lighter wallet! 

Here's a picture of what I got from the LYS line with my Kmart gift card. I love it! The colour is so pretty.