Behind Fat Fancy: An Interview with Dreamboat Annie

Fat Fancy is an independently operated plus size vintage clothing store in Portland, Or, giving fat folks options other than Torrid and other expensive pre-fab fatty clothing stores. Here is an interview with the lady behind Fat Fancy, Annie Maribona.

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How/when did the idea of Fat Fancy come up?

I have wanted to do Fat Fancy forever. Clothes that took me a lot of energy and/or money to find, wouldn’t fit me anymore for one reason or another, and I wanted them to go to a good home, so I started storing up clothes a while ago with the intention of opening a store one day. I feel like I have a good eye for fashion, and it can be so hard to find clothes when you are fat. I want to help make it easier for people.

My friend, Alix, who runs her own business, Apocalypse Vintage, put out a post on Myspace calling for someone to open a plus size clothing business. I replied immediately saying, “That’s my dream. I’m your girl.” So, we had a meeting together and decided it would be a good idea to start having monthly clothing sales until I was ready to open a storefront. I now have the help of two partners, Mel Heywood and Carlee Smith, and the project has really taken off with their help.

You don’t have a storefront yet – where have you had your sales so far, and how have they been? Are you seeking a storefront?

The first sale took place in my studio apartment in Portland, Oregon. I set up clothing racks in my bedroom, filled bookshelves with sweaters and shoes, and turned my walk-in closet into a dressing room. Lots of people came, and it was really fun. I was kind of overwhelmed after the sale. I didn’t know what to do with all the racks and clothes. My friend, Emily, so kindly offered her basement which we now rent from her and her roommates. This is where we have had all of the monthly sales since January of ‘07.

Fat Fancy sales are really fun and well attended. It’s kind of like a party. We play soul tunes and offer snack cakes. Some people have driven many hours to come to our sales. Our customers come from a pretty wide demographic, and we love it!

Who is involved in Fat Fancy?

Annie Maribona, Carlee Smith and Mel Heywood make up the Fat Fancy Dream Team. We also get support from friends and community members that we could not do without!

Where do your clothes come from? Are they mostly donations, or do you buy them?

We buy some of the clothes personally. We have a buyer who provides some of the clothes, and we accept donations of clothing from friends and community members who want to help us open a store front! Donations are super helpful and much appreciated.

Got any exciting stories?

What excites me most is just to see that glowing look on someones face when they find a really cute item that they look and feel good in. A young lady came to Fat Fancy in search of a graduation dress. This really hit a chord for me because I had such an awful time searching for graduation and prom dresses when I was in high school. It was pretty emotional for me that she had such a positive experience. She was able to find several items to choose from and found a dress she loved, felt and looked great in.

Also, we are going to start carrying plus-sized spandex pants handmade by Leslie Hall of Leslie and the LY’s! Super exciting! We hope to one day have a full section of handmade and altered plus size clothing.

What kind of struggles have you run into?

All of us work full time day jobs and are really involved in the community in addition to loving and working on Fat Fancy, so time and energy becomes an issue sometimes. Also, we have had to focus on and learn a lot about communication.

Where do you hope to see Fat Fancy a few years from now?

We hope to have opened a retail storefront with an in-house tailor. We would love to offer online sales and host the occasional fat positive event!

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Check out Fat Fancy online at their website, or on MySpace. You can also e-mail the Fat Fancy folks at fatfancy@gmail.com.