Curves, Couture, and Confidence

The Curvy Con takes place during New York Fashion Week! It's a gathering of plus sized designers, influencers, and consumers focused on body positivity, empowerment, and increasing the voice of the curvy community in fashion.

#TheCurvyCon 2018 was EVERYTHING!!! Here's my recap of the 3 day festival of fashion, fellowship and foolery.

Day 1

Leading up to #theCurvyCon we got an email from Loft, you know Ann Taylor and 'nem? They were one of the title sponsors this year and just released a new plus-sized line. Since this is #NYFW they have a runway show scheduled and put out a casting call for models. Of course I signed up because, duh, have you seen me? Besides, I feel it's time for a runway model who isn't 5'10 and only plus-sized because she has a coke bottle shape to represent! Show the belly some love on these catwalks!

Just walking into the headquarters in Times Square was exhilarating! The offices are modern and airy with floor to ceiling windows: I'm a shorter, stouter Naomi strutting into Vogue for my cover shoot. Handed my photo and call sheet to the photographer, posed, smiled, and was told I'm cute and fun. This. Is. The. Life. So yeah, I'm a model now, thanks!

Thursday night Macy's hosted a cocktail party for platinum ticket holders. Free cocktails + free food + free swag = a great night of partying with attendees and all your favorite Instagrammers. Whenever you're in NYC, you must go to the Herald Square (34th St.) Macy's; they have an ENTIRE FLOOR of plus sized clothes! Did you read what I wrote? A whole floor compared to that narrow corner in the darkest corner of the highest floor of the store of most Macys. It's like 2008 Beyoncé vs. 2018 Beyoncé; yeah 2008 Bey gave you some bops, but 2018 Bey gives you life!!!

Day 2

Day 2 dawned sunny and bright, we headed to the venue for the fitness session! Y'all! I ain't never had this much fun exercising, frfr! The only thing that could've made this session better would've been having Michael B. Jordan to mop my brow, yeah, that good! The workout started with Jessie Diaz-Herrera (@curveswithmoves), a plus-sized dancer who made sure we learned to appreciate all of our jiggly parts with great choreography, her energy was electric and the whole room was jukin' (I'm from Chicago, that's a word!) to Lizzo's "Good As Hell". And do you know what happened next? I had a brush with the greatness that is Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter!! No, no, she wasn't there, though she's embraced her fupa; her plus-sized back up dancers, Amari and Jorie Marshall, were in the building!! They taught us some of Queen Bey's choreography from the epic event known as Beychella!!

That afternoon I was back at Loft headquarters for the platinum lunch. Got a sneak peak of their fall line with styling by celebrity stylist, GooGoo Atkins!

After lunch, headed back to the venue for some shopping! From large retailers like Lane Bryant, Old Navy and JC Penny, to online stores like Rebdolls, Fashion to Figure, and CurvySense to independent designers like Astra and Tamala Malas, the array and selection was endless, my wallet has yet to recover. Got front row seats for the Loft fashion show, that I didn't get selected to strut in, and watched plus sized beauties murder the catwalk. But that's not all! After the runway show, we got another treat! A panel discussion on changing the fashion industry through education with the #teeupchange campaign with Dia of Dia & Co, Tracey Reese, Lizzo and Venus Williams! WHAT?!?! All that star power 10 feet away from me, insane!

Day 3

The final day of #thecurvycon was filled with panels and workshops; Chastity and CeCe even recorded an episode of their podcast, Cocktails and Confidence, live! From Emmy winner Ashley Nicole Black to reality star/wrestler Nia Jaxx to Oscar winner Gabourey Sidibe the day was filled with powerful women owning it!

One of the greatest takeaways from the weekend, besides the swag bag and fashions, is that we all have some insecurities, but they don't have to define who we are. No matter how famous or rich, size 10 or 24, we each have a story to share that an help someone else. Your catwalk doesn't have to end, sashay the runway every day, you never know who needs to see your confidence in order to be great.