You don’t have to be a size zero to play mas with the Fuller Woman Expo
“A lot of [plus-sized] women — at least the ones that I’ve talked to — are worried that they will meet with reluctance or even hatred when they’re out there on the road,” says Stephanie Conover as to why slenderness continues to dominate Caribana.
The still-reigning Miss Canada Plus says that in the past eight years, she’s only run into “two other curvy girls” along the 1.5km parade route. But counter to popular belief, they didn’t encounter resistance.
“If anything, I get swarmed by people saying, ‘Ohhh, look at you girl, you so thick!’ They’re just loving the curves, and loving the fact that I’m loving it too.”
Conover will play mas this weekend as section leader for the Toronto Caribbean Connections band, her curves hugged into a black and white bikini with silver trim and beaded fringe (clinched with a shake-ya-boa-tail feather on the rear). She’s looking forward to jumping up with 20 other size-14-plus ladies from the Fuller Woman Network, an organization headed by image consultant Georgia Greenwood to encourage big-boned acceptance and beauty.
“My goal is to enlist these women to realize that you don’t have to be a size zero in order to be happy or participate in the events that are actually out there,” explains Greenwood. The Network’s Caribana appearance is actually savvy promotion for their third annual Fuller Woman Expo (www.thefullerwomanexpo.com), a consumer trade show happening Sept. 12 at the Delta Chelsea Hotel that aims, with speakers, workshops and fashion shows, to empower curvy women.
But the Network’s Caribana participation also brings Greenwood full circle. As a young Jamaican woman immigrating to Toronto’s Jane and Finch area at 18, she struggled with sizeism.
“I was very, very depressed,” she admits. “I was taking diet pills, supplements, and trying to fit into the society. I was actually on the verge of calling it quits, going [back] home and saying, ‘This country isn’t for me,’ because of the way plus-sized women were treated.”
When Greenwood returned home in 2003 for a three-week vacation, she reconnected with her roots, as well as the culture’s embrace of curves as healthy and sexy. She started the Fuller Woman Network in Toronto a year later.
So for Greenwood, playing mas is her chance to give back. “In the Caribbean, women of all sizes — mainly plus-sized — play mas,” she says. “They’re happy and comfortable and really don’t care that, ‘OK, I have an extra roll there, or a dimple here.’ It’s all about celebration, it’s all about having fun.”
Big, beautiful boutiquesSo Beth Ditto’s recent collection for Evans is only available in the UK, and while you love shopping online for Torrid.com’s rocker edge, you’re tired of shipping costs. Thankfully, the GTA’s independent shopping scene is (literally) bigger than ever. Fuller Woman Expo founder Georgia Greenwood gives us her top four choices.
Candi Apple Couture 160 Tycos Dr., ste. 2212, 647-435-3974, www.candiapplecouture.com Local designer Annika Candace Reid is “passionate about ‘styling’ the body,” explains Greenwood. A Fuller Woman Expo vendor, Reid works “size sexy” brightly coloured dresses, from baby doll to maxi.
Curvaceous Styles Bramalea City Centre, 25 Peel Centre Dr., 905-789-9494, www.curvaceousstyles.com Brampton’s plus-sized haven similarly specializes in “the sexy,” like denim rompers and skinnies, or curve-hugging Hervé Léger–inspired mini dresses.
Maximum Woman 2120 Eglinton W., 416-767-7007, www.maximumwoman.com Owners Cindy Davington and Rina Rovinelli may have placed second on CBC’s Dragons’ Den, but their go-to status as a west-end destination for “young and fun” remains. They just moved into their new Eglinton West location this week. Be sure to check out the grand opening party Aug. 6, where they’ll be filming an update for Dragons’ Den’s second season.
Voluptuous Dufferin Mall, 900 Dufferin, 416-533-3298 Headed by former plus-sized model Angela Samuels (who used to walk the runway for Project Runway Canada mentor Brian Bailey), the Toronto-based chain — with locations in Scarborough Town Centre and York Mills — carries “great club wear.”