FairyLuscious: Alternative Fashion for Curvy Goddesses

Here at FairyFloss, we've always been committed to making our clothes available to all women, regardless of dress size; when we order them in, every item is available from S to XL. The stitching and detailing is carefully crafted to create a range of flattering effects; to slim and streamline on some bodies, to enhance a curve on others. We noticed, however, that the larger sizes fit, but didn't quite sit right, on some women; they still looked good, but the effect just wasn't the same.

We believe that every woman deserves to be able to rock her style; that clothes designed for curvy women should celebrate and move with their body, rather than hiding it. Clothing styles that do this are fairly limited; the most easily available are definitely fifties pinup style or sixties chic (think Dangerfield, Modcloth, Mad Men), but not everyone wants to dress that way just to be able feel like their clothes are flattering their shape.

FairyLuscious has been a project that's been a while in the making, but this summer, we're finally doing a soft launch. We're offering a few pieces designed specifically with curves in mind; to flatter, to move, to fit like a glove. We've also taken FairyFloss items that have proven themselves perfect for curvy women and ensured they're available up to size 16 (most have enough stretch or adjustment capabilities to fit an 18). Given that most Australian women are size 14 or 16, this just seemed like common sense.

FairyLuscious is for daring roller derby girls, bodacious yoginis, curvy hoopstars, festival queens, all women wanting funky clothes that are made from the highest quality fabrics, in a range of amazing styles.

We'd be so grateful if you could share this with your friends, because the better the response, the more extensive the range will get. You can sign up to be one of the very first to try FairyLuscious here - no spam, just a head's up when we have something new to show you.

Supply and Demand: Bringing Back Your FairyFloss Favs

We get a lot of messages through our social media channels. Most of them are desperate pleas from customers who've seen a sold-out item at a festival or somewhere around the internet, and REALLY want us to bring it back.

Obviously, we can't bring every piece back; we need room in our shop for our gorgeous, new season designs! But if enough people ask, we do listen...so if you really, really love a piece, it's always worth sending us a message and letting us know, or liking every picture of it that you can find. Even if we don't plan to restock that particular item, we can usually recommend something that you'll love just as much (maybe more!). 

For example: since it went out of stock, we've had dozens of requests for the return of the Cosmic Lotus Vest (these are just the most recent few)...

So, we decided to bring it back just in time for this summer's festival season.

Or, check out how many likes these pictures of our Dreamcatcher Top got on Instagram...

With that many likes and our last lot having completely sold out, we decided to bring this one back too.

There's plenty more old favorites back for another round...check out our latest newsletter for more.

We Love Fashion Week

When the weather starts to warm up in the Southern Hemisphere and cool down in the north, models, fashionistas and designers everywhere start to get excited; it's time for Spring/Summer Fashion Week, where designers give the world a sneak peek at what they'll be wearing next year.

While different areas of the world have their own fashion festivals (for example, the Byron Bay International Fashion Festival, which we participated in earlier this year), the whole world looks to the big four: New York, Paris, Milan and London.

New York Fashion Week, the first of the fashion weeks, was pioneered during World War II when American fashion workers were unable to get to Paris due to Nazi occupation of the city. With the fashion capital of the world out of reach, publicist Eleanor Lambert (press director for the New York Dress Institute) organised a "press week" to show off the very best of American fashion design; celebrating designers who had previously been shunned or ignored by writers blinded by the bright light of Parisian fashion. The event was a huge success; Vogue began to feature more and more American designers in the magazine from that point, and it's grown bigger and bigger ever since. The spring/summer 2016 shows will take place from September 10–17, 2015 at two new locations, Skylight at Moynihan Station in Midtown and Skylight Clarkson Square in SoHo.

This short vlog captures one of the best parts of New York Fashion Week: getting to see all of your favorite designers, models and fashionistas out and about, and seeing what trends they're tapping into as they step off the runway. 

 

Milan Fashion Week, a celebration of the very best of Italian fashion, hit the scene in 1958. Women's fashion is at the forefront (the main showcases of Milan Fashion Week are Milano Moda Donna and shows featuring ready-to-wear women's fashion), but menswear gets to share the spotlight (Milano Moda Uomo).

To get a glimpse into the magic that is Milan Fashion Week, here's Vogue Magazine's recap from 2014; you'll spot some very, very familiar faces and get an insight into just how crazy and colourful this event is.

Paris Fashion Week started in 1973, and brings hundreds of people to the city every year. It's divided into three categories: Men's Fashion, Haute Couture, and Prêt-à-Porter (ready to wear). The term haute couture is taken very, very seriously in Paris; only members of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture can use the term (membership is very exclusive, and members must adhere to the society's rules). 

For a quick glimpse into Paris Fashion Week, supermodel Karlie Kloss has put together a sixty second video ("Paris Fashion Week in 60 Seconds") encompassing some of the madness and magnificence:

 

 London Fashion Week first took place in 1984; it's the youngest of the pack, but still very much a major player. London was the first to live stream its fashion week around the world, pioneering this trend in Spring 2010. It introduced mens' fashion into the mix in 2012, and since then more and more mens' shows have been included in the official roster (numbers are up 67%). Alongside "official" London fashion week, there's a strong tradition of off-schedule shows from private groups and up and coming designers. 

To see how people get the London look, here's a recap of London Fashion Week highlights from a few years back, featuring British favorites like Alexa Chung and Cara Delevingne. 

As the fashion capitals of the world get ready to showcase their latest designs in September, so do we; we're preparing for a soft launch for our brand new plus-size line Fairyluscious, and getting very excited about bringing back some summer favorites like the Cosmic Lotus Vest. To give you an insight into how FairyFloss does warmer weather fashion and fun, here's a peek behind the scenes of our Nature Punk photoshoot.

Wear It Your Way: Fashion and Identity

Choosing what to wear isn't just about finding something you like (though that's always important!); it's about choosing the identity you want to project for the day, the life you want to live. Whether it's something as practical as knowing you need stretchy clothing because you want to hoop later, or as abstract as wearing clothing intended for the other gender to play into stereotypes and popular images of queerness, it's all about what we want to do, and how we want to be seen.

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Punk rock emerged in the 1970s, and was a protest against the materialism and excess of mainstream music, and the fashion definitely reflected that; simple pieces, with dirt, rips and spikes added (in contrast to the flashy colours of disco). For women, mixing soft, feminine pieces with heavy, tough pieces (eg leather boots) was incredibly popular.

Circus fashion has always been a mixture of the practical and the spectacular; pieces that would allow performers to move, while drawing the eye. Sequins, glitter, feathers, ruffles anything that could move or sparkle without restricting the performer's movement was ideal. Female circus wear also tends toward the sensual, simply by virtue of how close-fitting costumes needed to be to avoid getting tangled or tripped.

Fashion is a cultural melting pot, and it's important to recognise the difference between inspiration and appropriation. Being inspired by particular styles and ideas and turning them into something simultaneously new and storied is great; stealing from another culture and removing all context is not (eg, it is NOT okay to wear a Native American war bonnet unless belong to that culture and you've earned it according to that culture's rules, end of story). Tribal fusion at its best celebrates the raw, earthy, warrior vibe that runs through the clothing of all indigenous cultures, celebrating without stealing.

To learn more about steampunk, check out our blog post on it; in short, it's the future as it was imagined during the Victorian Era (Steam Age). Female steampunk fashion is just glorious, infusing the style of an era known for its modesty and propriety with pure steel and spunk.

FairyFloss Around the World

 We asked some of our Instagram and Facebook friends to tell us where they're from, and the proof is in the map we made below: FairyFloss is a truly international brand, with customers and outlets everywhere from Brazil to London to our home in Byron Bay.

 Our customers take our clothes everywhere, to festivals and events all over the world; we've seen photos of them at Boom Festival in Portugal, a photoshoot in South America, a Grateful Dead concert in the US, and all of the major psytrance festivals in Australia.

We love our international friends and family! If you don't live in Byron and want to shop FairyFloss in person, there's places all over the world you can do so.

1. Delicious Boutique in Philadelphia, USA - a gorgeous little shop with beautiful clothes
2.  Toon'z Shop in France - a very popular shop selling music and apparel
3. Psy7 in Germany - selling pieces with gorgeous psychedelic patterns
4. Camden Market in London - a British icon
5. Happy High Herbs in Santa Cruz, California - the US branch of a popular Australian chain

Thank you for all the love, and we're sending it right back!

FairyFloss and our Natural World

Here at FairyFloss, we're constantly inspired by all nature has to offer; the colours, the patterns, the textures. Below is  information about some different natural phenomena, and pictures of how we've incorporated their magic into our clothes.

Sand dunes are the beautiful built up hills and mountains of sand you see at the beach, or in the desert; sand ripples are the tiger stripe patterns that sometimes cover them. When sand is moved by the wind, the grains bounce along the surface and cause other grains to move. Small hollows in the ground are protected from the moving grains, and so once grains are splashed into the hollows, they stay put. The higher areas are more affected, because they stick up into the wind. The ripples move as the hollows are slowly filled with grains, and the higher areas have their grains blown away. The movement and direction of sand ripples is a great way to tell what direction the wind has been blowing, and how hard.

The beautiful colours and patterns found on insects can tell us a lot about them. Insects rely on both bright colors and patterns to warn predators that they are poisonous. Some insects even pretend to be poisonous to fake out their enemies. Others use patterns and colours to hide, blending in with their natural environment (think the green praying mantis, or the moths that imitate the eyes of their predators with their wing patterns).

Birds use their feathers to stay warm, to fly, and sometimes to line their nests to keep their eggs warm and safe. Their colour patterns serve as camouflage, whether they're predator or prey; different coloured feathers on their underside allow them to stay camouflaged while in flight. Differences in colours and patterns within the same species play an important role when birds are choosing a mate; some of these differences can't be seen by humans (the feathers reflect UV light). Some bird feathers are coloured by what the bird eats, rather than genetics; if flamingoes can't get what they eat in their native habitat, their distinctive pink plumage will turn white.

FairyFloss at the Byron Bay International Fashion Festival

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The Byron Bay International Fashion Festival showcases the very best of Byron fashion, alongside international and interstate designers. It's a great opportunity for local designers to showcase their work, and let everyone know just how much this little corner of Australia has to offer the fashion world.

FairyFloss is proud to have been part of this fantastic event, and our show was a celebration of everything that makes FairyFloss unique; a little bit of steampunk, a little bit of tribal style, a little bit of hippie fashion, and a whole lot of magic. It was also a great chance to give people some ideas for how to wear our pieces as a complete outfit - ideas which we're now sharing with you.

The strong lines of our Tribal Knight Vest look great over the soft, flowing design on our Feather Tee.

Our Treasure Chest Vest is steampunk perfection with our Gypsy Punk Skirt; the length and horizontal lines of the skirt match perfectly with the crop and vertical lines of the vest.

The Prophecy Coat is as versatile as the Wrap Vest - both go perfectly with any outfit. The Dragon Rider Belt is the perfect way to dress up a simple pair of pants.

Our Free Spirit Top with our Viking Jacket is another great example of how soft imagery goes perfectly under strong lines and tough detailing.

Leather and lace is always a winner; the ruffles of our Dust Storm Skirt, the delicate lace of the Love Lace Top, and the multi-faceted sheen of our Vixen Leather Bolero are the perfect balance of soft and strong.

Our Proto Punk Skirt and Sphere Vest make a strong, sexy combination; it's the little details that make this pairing stand out from the crowd.

All of these items are available in store, or via our website.