Full Figured Fashion Week - Day One

Hi Everyone!

I sit here at my computer, ready to post, but astonished by the amount of information I have to share with you, and wondering how I can do so without overwhelming you. Sorry it has been so long since I've posted! I planned to blog as I went during Full Figured Fashion Week, but I couldn't get free wi-fi anywhere ($16 a day at the hotel) and I was so crazy busy that it would have been next to impossible to do the events any justice. There is so much to tell you, so I think I am going to break my posts up into days, and over the next four days I will write a post a day about each of the days at Full Figured Fashion Week.

I left on Wednesday, June 15th on the Greyhound from Toronto at about 9:15pm. The bus was supposed to get into NYC at 7:30am on the 16th, but we had problems at the border because one of the passengers didn't have the right documents and we were delayed about two hours. Other than that the bus ride was pretty uneventful, but my seat was broken and wouldn't adjust, and so it stayed stuck in a terribly uncomfortable position for the whole trip :( We got into NYC at about 9:30am and the first event of the trip, the Lane Bryant Bloggers' Conference, started at 10am. I was in a big rush to get there. The bus had dropped me off at the Port Authority, but never having been to NYC before, I thought it was Penn Station, which was a lot closer to the hotel than where I actually was. My GPS wasn't working (because I had no 3G network in the US) and I just tried walking to see if I could find where I was going. No such luck. I hailed a taxi because it was already like 9:50am at this point. I got to the hotel about 5 minutes before the event started. Needless to say, I wasn't looking very pretty after a 12 hour overnight bus trip from Toronto, so I had to change and pretty myself up. I went to use the bathroom at the hotel and performed the fastest make-up application and quick change possible and stored my luggage at the Affinia Manhattan (our hotel and luckily where the event was being held). I snook in quietly and took a seat in the back. The team at Lane Bryant had many things to show and tell us!

They went over their Fall Collection and described some of their major influences. You'll be seeing a lot of knit with sequins (I love sequins!), plum, blueberry, earthy green accents, and other naturally inspired colours. You also be seeing some great graphic patterns such as colouful paisleys, animal print, and floral. Here are some of the looks that Lane Bryant featured from their upcoming Fall 2011 collection.

This last one's my favourite! The people at Lane Bryant were kind enough to give us a gift card to try out some of their latest fashions, and I'm going to wait until this skirt hits stores before I use mine!

After the Fall Fashion preview, Gill Heer, director of the Cacique line (Lane Bryant's lingerie collection), talked to us a bit about upcoming lingerie fashions. I am a big fan. The collection she showed us was fun, flirty, feminine, and vintage inspired. The bras and undies they featured were so luxurious, colourful, and they looked like they would fit impeccably (if Cacique's previous bras are any indication, they will!). Here are some of the gorgeous pieces from the Cacique Fall 2011 collection:

Gorgeous stuff, right?

Lane Bryant also introduced us to a limited edition bra that will be introduced during the holiday season. It is encrusted with genuine Swarovski crystals! Isn't it gorgeous? There are only 31 going into production.

Lane Bryant Runway Glam Bra with Hand-Stitched Swarovski Crystals

Lane Bryant is having a contest for all the bloggers who were there and one will win this bra! We have to get all of our trusty and loyal readers to vote for us, and the blogger with the most votes will win! In addition to this bra, the winner will get a $100 gift card to give away to their readers. So if I win, you guys get a chance to win a $100 Lane Bryant gift card! It takes less than one minute to vote (you just click on Curvy Canadian and submit and you're done!), so please vote now! Click here and you can vote for me: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/redrunwayglambrapoll4

Lane Bryant also introduced a new type of jeans to us at Full Figured Fashion Week called T3. T3 stands for "Tighter Tummy Technology" and these jeans, while comfortable and not at all girdle-y like similar solutions, smooth the stomach and tush. Here are a few pictures of some of the bloggers trying out regular Lane Bryant jeans (top) and T3 jeans (bottom)

Look how cute they all look! I definitely want a pair of these T3 jeans. They also unveiled their upcoming ad campaign for the jeans, which they hope kicks up as much of a stir as their recent Cacique ad, which was banned from broadcast during American Idol (even though Victoria's Secret ads ran during the same timeslot) because it was "too racy" for primetime. 

And the most exciting news I got at the Lane Bryant Bloggers' Conference? Lane Bryant will begin SHIPPING INTERNATIONALLY as of September! SO exciting, don't you think? I made sure to tell them that we're suffering up here from a lack of good options. They said that expansion to Canada is something which has been discussed at length at their head office (one of the top five things they talk about, apparently), and that expanding to Canada with some stores is a priority (though they wouldn't commit to saying there are stores coming soon or anything like that). So what do you think? How eager are you to have Lane Bryant north of the border?

Maybe you'd like to see what I wore to this event as well? I had a few wardrobe malfunctions at a number of Full Figured Fashion Week events, but I tried to (I hope successfully) hide this from other attendees and in pictures. The first of these was at this event. The top two buttons of my blouse kept coming open and letting all the fabulous out! I think I just need to use some safety pins or put a couple of stitches in for the next time I wear it. Everyone was asking me where my skirt was from and gushing over it. I wore a lot of ASOS Curve stuff during the course of the week (in fact, I think almost all of my outfits to the events included a little ASOS...) and everyone loved what I had on. What do you guys think?

Blouse and Belt - Dots/Shoes - Target/Skirt - ASOS Curve/Earrings - Thrifted

Aren't the other lovely ladies in this picture beautiful? I love their style!

After the Lane Bryant Blogger Conference, I was able to check in with my new roomies, fellow bloggers -  Jessica from Chic in Every City, Yoli from Diva in Deep Thought, and another Canadian, Montreal based Sarah from Double XL Queen Sized Flava. Here's our beautiful room! It didn't look so beautiful after 4 fashion gurus got through with it, though! Getting ready for the events was chaos. It was amazingly fun though. I have 3 new besties! 

We all got settled in and started to get ready for Full Figured Fashion Week's welcoming event, a cruise of New York harbour where all of the guests were invited to wear white. It was a beautiful soiree, rivalling the most ultimate of P. Diddy's white parties. Here are some pictures from the event.

From left to right, my roomie Jessica from Chic in Every City, plus size model Maxey Day, and me!

A sea of white on the high seas!

Another of my roomies - Sarah - from Queen Sized Flava Made in Montreal

Me and Ms. Full Figured USA 2011

Do you guys shop at Forever 21+? Denise Bidot, centre, is their model. She's so gorgeous I almost didn't want to post this picture. I don't need to be seen beside her, lol!

This is Fluvia LaCerda. She's the totally gorgeous model who's done work for Monif C. Her curves are amazing!

Me with amazing bloggers Tina from T Minus, T Plus, and Kimberly from Fab Finds Under $50

Me and one of my favourite bloggers ever - Alison from Curvy Girl Chic. My outfit details: Dress - ASOS Curve/Purse and necklace - Thrifted/Earrings - Forever 21/Ring - Ardene/Shoes - Target

So that's it for day one. I pretty much got back to the hotel after this and crashed. It was a crazy day and so much fun! I am so fortunate to have been able to go to such a great event. Stay tuned for day two which I will post tomorrow!