Malan Breton Designs For Nikki Blonsky
I was in Vegas this weekend, and at one point I think Weetabix said something drunkenly about Malan from Project Runway and Nikki Blonsky, but I didn’t really understand, as I was probably on the third pitcher of mojitos at that point. But I have Googled and checked Project Rungay and figured it out!
There was a fashion show on Bravo where some memorable designers from the show designed outfits for celebrities—one celeb/designer pair was Malan and Nikki; reportedly he was inspired to give her an Elizabeth Taylor quality. Fashion Sanity was inspired to present a list of lessons for designers, including:
3) We don’t have figure flaws to “camouflage”. We just have some body parts that are more perfect than others.
4) If you hear of a rule about what bigger people should NOT wear, throw it out of the window and throw away the key. We can and will wear horizontal stripes, large prints, high waisted skirts and pants AND skinny jeans. So MAKE everything you make for the skinny chicks for us. Just bigger.
6) We are fat. NOT OLD and not 60 and NOT BORING AND NOT SUBURBAN. Make us clothes as hip and cool and sexy and fun as the ones they make for skinny chicks.
8) We don’t care if something is “slimming” or not. Wanting something to be “slimming” is like making a black girl wear something that is “whitening” or making a gay man wear ill fitting jeans and a basketball jersey.
10) We are fashion savvy, creative and as a rule, WAY cooler than most skinny chicks. Make us clothes that fit our personalities and hearts.
Please note that I think old, suburban, and skinny people also deserve great fashion. Still, some good points! And check it out, size fourteens: you can even bid on Malan’s dress! And here is the fashion show where you can check out all the designs:
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: Celebrities, Fashion, Fat Positive, Nikki Blonsky, Project Runway, TV, Video
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Thank you for mentioning OLD people deserve great fashion too!!! I once checked out an online plus sized fashion magazine all about breaking stereotypes. But I was appalled by their suggestions for people over 40. I kid you not, it was black and drabs with all kinds of archaic advise like don’t draw attention to yourself! Maybe the old battle ax who wrote the article is comfortable with that, but she was trying to force it on everyone. At 47, I still could not relate at all to the gray haired woman with a pulled back bun they had as a model. I tried to e-mail, but never found where. It is my hope that the granny author and the editor who approved it got a reeducation somewhere. 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and beyond is not DEAD!!! Stick your bun sweetie!!!!
p.s. The above especially applies to older plump women because plumpness helps us stay prettier longer! One cause of aging is fat loss in the face!!!
Actually, I’m pretty sure the main cause of aging is staying alive rather than dying. ^^
Fear not the wrinkles! Just like fat, they are another amazing, lovely part of being human for some.
Whoa, I have no idea who half those “celebrity” women are.
You know, I hate that dress. I think it does nothing whatsoever for Nikki. It makes her look like pigeon-chested. There’s way too much fullness over her bust, and the high neckline makes her head look like it’s not connected to her body. The skirt is somewhat cute, but I just can’t stand the bodice.
I’m glad a designer is getting noticed for creating fashions for fat girls, but I’d appreciate seeing something more figure-flattering. It just looks like he tried to use as much fabric as possible to cover up as much skin as possible. :-/
I am also glad that you negated the “we are not sixty” comment.
I am over sixty, and while I sometimes I think that plus size store have nothing for women my age, I also do not want shapeless gray stuff!
(Although, gray is one of my favorite clothes colors because my hair is gray!)
Umm, Big old NO on #4, thank you very much. The “same stuff. only bigger” philosophy is the reason I have a closet full of ill-fitting clothes. Sleeves and inseams too long, waists too big, shoulders in the wrong place, and never big enough in the bust.
Is it just me, or did Candace Bushnell look sort of shriveled? Like she needed to be, i dunno, soaked in water and rehydrated or something?
…I’m just sayin’…
There’s been a lot of discussion about this fashion show on the Project RunGay blog, and the general consensus (with only one or two dissenters) is that Malan did Nikki Blonsky no favors with that dress. It ages her horribly, and makes her look as if she takes up much more space than she actually does. One reader made the point, “When dressing plus-size women, the goal isn’t to make them look thinner. Just make them look great!”
Nikki’s so beautiful and I actually do love that dress on her. I’m in love with that belt and her waistline — I may be skinny but there’s no way I could ever have a figure that rocking. But wow, “We are fashion savvy, creative and as a rule, WAY cooler than most skinny chicks.” That one just seems really bitter. Way to separate people by body types.
Thirded on the thank yous for negating the “we are not old/60/suburban” thing. I’m not 60 yet, though I hope to be. I’m suburban. I may be boring. I may be old, or getting there. That crap “we are NOT X” just made me think of another recent fatosphere post that said “I am not a 40 year old mother, stop making clothes like I am” (paraphrased.) Like there’s a problem with being a mother in your 40s? Or 60s or suburban? Last I checked, we all want decent clothes that look nice on us and fit and are comfortable!
I love the dress on her. Yes, it makes her take up more space, but taking up space is not a bad thing! To quote another commenter on the linked to blog: “In dressing plus-sized women, the point is not necessarily to make them look smaller. The point is to make them look beautiful. Malan did – even though he added volume with his dress.”
Oh, and Ginny, the blogger who made that post has an apology up.
Yeah… I don’t much care for that dress on Nikki either. But then again, I wouldn’t have liked it on a thin model either.
And while I’m only in my early 30’s, I SO feel what you older ladies are saying. My grandmother is in her 70’s and wouldn’t wear most of the stuff “suggested” for people her age. Frumpiness doesn’t come with age. Frumpiness is frumpiness, period. (I should know. I’ve been doing frumpy since I was in high school.)
I have to say, though – I LOVED Kathy Griffin on this! Trust her to come out flipping everybody the bird and having them CHEER for it. Ha! ;)
I do like Nikki Blonsky’s dress. I also love Kat Von D’s.
But mainly I love that Kathy Griffin flipped off the person in front of her.
Shame on you for the “We are fashion savvy, creative and as a rule, WAY cooler than most skinny chicks” comment.
I enjoy your site, but am a size 4/6 (considered “skinny” I guess). I just enjoy reading it, as I was once as size 18 and know what its like. BUT Your body size has nothin to do with how cool you are. I am still just as “cool” now.
I’m in love with the white sheath dress that has “off the shoulder” strap. Am I nuts for wanting to see that on Nikki?
I have to say, when I’m dead, I hope they don’t put me in most of the stuff I see in plus sized places. I don’t mind some of the fuller dowdier stuff, but I do not want sequined polyester pastels within three counties of my body, at any and every age! Do. Not. Want! (I’m looking at you Catherine’s!)
People take this way too personally. There are sixty year olds who want to dress it, and there are sixty year olds who do not.
But, I can tell you that at 26 I sure as hell do not want to have clothing that is a take off of a conservative typical sixty year olds clothing. And, unfortunately that is what a lot of fat chick clothing is.
I totally agree with #6! I hate that so many plus sized clothes are geared towards 50-year-old women! I may be 42, but I certainly don’t want to look like I’m ready for retirement!
Did anyone else want to bonk the announcer woman on the head? I was annoyed the moment she uttered her first, “yeah!”
As for the dress. I was disappointed, but I still thought the dress looked fabulous. I was disappointed because all the other lovely ladies got to show some skin. I would have liked something a little sexier/more skin, to blow them all away.
I think the fact that so many of these comments take issue with one or more of the points is very telling.
You just can’t impart any generalized list of rules or lessons about a group of people. To do so is stereotyping, and even the best-intentioned list is a disservice.
On the “I’m not a 60yo/40yo rhetoric.
I believe the point is that plus size doesn’t have to be DOWDY.
Dowdy isn’t age related. It just has no imagination. Or shape.
Oh, and I loved Nikki’s dress. I thought she look glam and radiant!
I emailed (I was probably one of many!) BFD about this — and I mentioned in my email that Milan does get a small pass because he was not able to meet Nikki in person while designing his concept. Only he and Sweetpea (who did Kat Von D) didn’t get to meet their people before they began creating. I was just excited to see BRAVO add her into the mix — as they surely didn’t have to. I agree with a previous poster that I like Michael Knights white dress — but I did like Milan’s dress. It wasn’t to her ankles, and it wasn’t some crazy garish print. Sure he could have made it show more skin — but thats where I give him a pass of not being able to meet her prior to the actual show. I would buy it if I wasn’t 5’8″ (and a size 22/24!) just because its a designer dress MADE for an awesome big girl :)
You forgot something that should be another rule. Fat women can wear colors other than black. When I saw the image, I was like “Oooh Mr. Fashion designer is too lazy and uncreative to come up with something, other than a black dress for a fat girl.”
It’s beyond overdone, it just should be laid to rest. The only people who should be wearing that much black, are people going to a funeral, or people who are Punk/Emo/Goth.
Am I the only one that’s really really shocked at the measurements they have up for the dress? A 14? A 36-in hip? I keep looking at that, then looking at the picture, then looking at that, and it doesn’t make any more sense. Nikki looks much bigger than a 14 I think – either that or Malan has a 28-in hip, and he doesn’t look that small. What’s going on – is my perception totally wrong?
I would have guessed her to be a larger size as well, but you know, sizes are kind of meaningless and arbitrary. Also I’ve seen Nikki in person and she is very petite.
# Size: 14W
# Bust: 36″
# Waist: 28″
# Hips: 36″
Didn’t these used to be the measurements for the “ideal” woman? Why is it such a big horrible deal to be this size now?
*sigh*
“# Size: 14W
# Bust: 36?
# Waist: 28?
# Hips: 36?
Didn’t these used to be the measurements for the “ideal” woman? Why is it such a big horrible deal to be this size now?
*sigh*”
Something’s wrong here with either the listed measurements or size. My measurements are 37-25-36 and I definitely cannot wear a 14W. I wear a size 4/6 in most mainstream lines. Maybe this is size 14 in couture sizing, but not in standard mainstream sizing.
I really hate the dress, honestly. But I’m really happy that Nikki is clearly in love with it, so I won’t hold a grudge. Also, Malan has always been a bit of a bulky designer for my tastes.
#9…”whitening”…oh my god. >_<
The dress is interesting. I don’t hate it and I’m not wearing it, so if Nikki approved of it and loved it then that’s a good thing. That’s the main thing; pleasing the person who it was made for to begin with.
Gee surprise surprise. Someone who’s Black is offended, because someone used their sacred history of discrimination, as a comparison to fat discrimination.
OMG, you mean Black people aren’t the only group of people ever discriminated in the world?
Uh…Jackie? What are you talking about?
Did I miss something? Did the comment you are responding to get deleted by a moderator?
The comment by E. Black.”#9 “whitening” oh my god. >_<”
By the way, usually when someone responds to something, and doesn’t mention who they are responding to. Most likely it means that person is responding to the person in the post directly above them.
Thanks for my lesson on reading blogs ::snerk::
I read the comment directly before yours and I’m still confused by this:
“Gee surprise surprise. Someone who’s Black is offended, because someone used their sacred history of discrimination, as a comparison to fat discrimination.
OMG, you mean Black people aren’t the only group of people ever discriminated in the world?”
Maybe you did not take the time to read the original blog post. We don’t know if the person who wrote the list is actually black. They weren’t calling race into question, they were taking issue with the choice of fabric.
No one would ever stand for making someone wear clothes that made them look like another race, why must overweight people have to look skinny?
Who said someone black was offended?
In regards to Nikki’s measurements and size: 36-28-36 14w; remember she is under 5 feet tall w/o heels. I think the hair makes her look a little matronly and the fullness of the skirt of the dress could have been less so as to not take away from the detail of the lace and that fab red waistband. Less fullness in the skirt would have been more in step with the Elizabeth Taylor idea.
The measurements are fictitious. I am 5ft 1 and my hips are 36 inches, and I wear a size 4. There is no way someone can have 36-inch hips and wear 14W, even at that height.
personally, i love nikki blonsky, but the dress, not so much. its cute, but i think it might look better on the hanger nikki. i hate talking bad about her because shes my role model, but im not too crazy about the dress. nikki is a gorgeous curvaceous girl but she needs to wear something a bit more figure showing. she always dresses cute too, what happened?! nikki is like 4’11 and her shoe size looks like a 5 or 6! she is a tiny girl!