Scrappy Do!

When life gives you scraps, you make scrappy clothes - that feel good! Let’s face it, it’s been hard to feel good lately. It’s been hard to feel good in a fat body for a long time because of how society holds us to the standard of thinness. When I went about this collection, I had the idea of taking things that people had given me during the pandemic and transforming them into something that felt good to me. I have been a scavenger my whole life and thrifting and sustainability plays into my love of finding treasures in the wild. This collection is a reflection of that diamond in the rough that you find when you're out “thrifting with your bestie” (if you've ever been able to do so). But if you have, you know the feeling of being able to bring it into your closet and turn it into a valuable pillar of your personal style.

Many of us have been dealing with loss this season and with loss there can be a lot of negativity. For me to survive through this time, I tried to find some joy in everything I do and really think about the impact I have on this planet, in my family, and in my community. Quarantine and pandemic living has shown us all the reality that there will be a day when your story is told. For me the catharsis of taking something that was discarded or seen as a failure, and turning it into my next muse was healing on a deep level. These discarded materials and the footprint of what “used to be,'' is stamped in these clothes because the very fibers are recycled dreams given to me or found at The Plus Bus due to damages or because they were worn too much.

I love that I made something beautiful with something that had been discounted by others.

Sometimes living in a fat body can feel like everyone around you discounts you’re worth, your inner light, and ultimately your value. I turned the negativity of that experience and bad shopping moments in a fat body into The Plus Bus Boutique. This is the next evolution of making fat bodied individuals feel integral and included in the fashion conversation.

Coming into this new world that we are faced with re-imagining I hope that these items are part of the reimagining of yourself. Taking pause to appreciate every single scrap of what it is that you have to offer this world and not waiting to have a different body or a different life, but going out in the face of the bigness of it and knowing your worth. Sometimes when you’re stripped down to battered flags waving in the wind you have to celebrate that you’re there to see them and the battle’s end. This collection is the new flag that we will wave in the new world that we find ourselves in, one where I hope self-love, self-worth and appreciation of the body that we have right now will be the standard and not the exception.

xoxo,
Jen