Yo yo, it’s us! The Rioters. In this series, we tell you why we’re all about storming the runways for access for all the misrepresented curvier women who deserve just as many stylish choices as everyone else.
Rioter: Senior Editor, Ashley
I’m a Rioter Because: Women have been coming for everything fashion said they couldn’t have for a long time. Now it’s just on Instagram so people have to pay attention. I came up with the name runway riot when I was sitting at home alone thinking about how luxury will always be the last bastion of our cause-I envisioned women storming the runway, dressed hot. That’s what needs to happen- a critical mass.
If Luke Wilson calls last-minute to take you out for a rumchatas, and you’re a size 16, a girl just can’t waltz into a boutique and buy a weird hybrid balloon sleeve off the shoulder top and matching shorteralls. As a look for the fashun industry, DAS NOT CUTE. FURTHERMORE, I think expectations thrust on women of ANY size are tired. I believe that despite what the rags told you, a woman who is slimmer should vamp it up in the most feminine Dolce & Gabbana-esque dress ever – you know, one fit for vamping it up and plotting against her enemies. And if someone with larger hips wants to wear some masculine trousers and loafers, that’s their choice. Fashion’s a pile of fabric — everyone should be able to pay for the threads they want, even if it’s a ravewear-themed fanny pack.
What I Want From Fashion: I want every brand, every single one, to bother to extend their sizing and to accommodate all boobs, butts, and tums and to feature all of the people in their imagery because that’s what really touches souls young and old. I pine for the day when there’s so much inclusive fashion stuff happening, that it won’t even be news. Then we can just talk about which lubersexual ball gowns look good and which ones look less good. Until then, at least we’ve got the Gram.
What I’m Excited About: Major things are happening on the backs of women who will not stop fighting for inclusion. The industry IS waking up to the facts about What Women Look Like Today.
What I Love About My Body: I love the feel of my skin. Dead of the winter, I’m the softest, except for my elbows which I never can cream enough.
What I Want to Change About Myself: When I was a lifeguard, I was constantly surfing and swimming in the ocean with my buds and my family. In the water, your whole body’s weightless, nothing grates against anything else. You float. Now I work with a great trainer, and nothing squashes the demons of a stressful day like boxing with her help. But everything smells faintly of sweaty rubber and the same Britney Spears song plays all the time. I’m too lazy to travel far on the weekends, and because of that, I feel totally unplugged from nature, and I need to wipe out, and get knocked around by the waves a bit to work on my paddle and pop. So what I’m saying is I want to be at the beach more.
What I Need to Work On: Accepting that I’m no longer paid to sit in the sun and get a tan makes my face different. I had a permanent deep tan for four years (J-school in Florida and lifeguarding job every summer.) I loved he way the sun turned my skin the color of hot chocolate. Without my tan, I’ve had to face my soul-tired undereye circles, lumps and bumps. So extreme was my love of tanning that there was nothing else to do but pay a beautiful Polish woman to gun me down with dark brown St. Tropez spray. Sometimes it looked great, but other times it looked weird, and it wasn’t actually me. When friends post old pictures, I still think the tan warms me up and I miss how it looked.
