Blog: PINK DOT and FAT/WEIRD DOT

Yesterday was a very busy day for Prissy and myself as in the earlier day we went to Estrella's fabulous 30th and later in the day we rushed to Hong Lim Park to support our dear friends Des and Onn on Pink Dot.

Noticed I wore non pink white and red. With the recent issues with anti gay and religion hoo hah, I really didnt like the idea of such unecessary hoo hah. I honestly think God wants us to learn how to LOVE and EMBRACE each other and that includes our differences. It is human who twist and turn words and confuse the rest. *bummer*

Well, the event was a success and I must say I was overwhelmed. I thought to myself, there are so much love in this park at that very moment and everyone in the park embraced themselves for who they are and their friends. A thought flashed through my mind and I was thinking, if Pink Dot could do it, why cant plus size do similar event too? If only one day, there will be such meaningful event on raising awareness on fat shaming, mental disabilities, physical disabilities. I will definitely be the first few to take part in this event!

Plus size FASHION: Crop Top

I was doing my usual readings related to plus size and chanced upon a blogger in USA (Allison Teng : http://www.curvygirlchic.com/) on her 2nd adventure on crop top. I have been fiddling with the idea of dressing in crop top but of course, to find a nice design that flatters my body AND has to match a particular UBER cute skirt I got when I was in overseas. I havent got the crop top (yet) but was super intrigued by the recent fatshion out of Singapore and did some googling... boy, I was blown away...

FIRST up! There was a Crop Top Movement byStylish Curves (http://stylishcurves.com/join-the-movement-breaking-all-the-rules-plus-size-women-can-wear-crop-tops/) Breaking all rules in plus size fatshion was interesting as the idea was to encourage girls including plus size girls. We deserve to have some fun in fashion and we deserve to be taken notice for our styles as well.

Now I did more googling and found some really cute plus size trendsetters!

 

Our very own SINGAPORE plus size blogger! Aarti! Check out her blog by clicking here.

 

(all images are from various bloggers, click onto the name and you will get to see their website/blog! Gabi Fresh, Allison Teng, Margie Plus, Stylish Curves, Nadia Aboulhosn, Garner Style, Aarti)

SO THE QUESTION WAS... How will I look in a crop top? Will I have the guts to wear this beautiful piece? How will I rock it? AND most importantly, will you girls be ready to try on this fatshion? I got inspired and I thought to myself; ' Hey Kayde, JUST DO IT. Being one of the leader in plus size, I just gotta give it a try... And yeah, I did 2 looks! 

 (ALL the outfits are sourced from different place as I wanted to try out these fashion 

to see if you girls can accept such styles.)

After viewing the images, I thought wearing crop top is actually quite okay! In fact I love it! I just need to pair of with a outer piece (my crop top is  spaghetti straps and I am not a fan of spaghetti straps) What do you think girls? Can you accept such styles? Tell us what you think! Lets have fun with fashion and show the rest of the world (plus size fatshion) that we can dress well too! 

Before I end off, I must confess that I ended wearing something simpler tt day as I had new stocks arriving in shop and I needed to be in my most comfy outfit. Hence my actual plus OOTD (outfit of the day) is like this :

I assure you that you will see me in a crop top soon! And when tt day comes, I will be posting the OOTD ! Have a great and fatbulous week ahead ladies!

You all ARE beautiful, I ASSURE YOU.

Blog: Greatly Blessed, Truly Grateful

(this post was done earlier, but I got really busy and couldnt complete it. But the girls were so sweet and did a party for me and I decided that to show them my gratitude, I must complete this post.) 

2 days ago, I turned 31. I just arrived from Jakarta the day before and I was supercharged with all the excitement that I encountered when we were there. We were invited by the Kagumi Girls (one of the 3 plus size community in Indonesia) to attend a fashion show. I will blog more on that event soon and today, I wish to pay special attention to none other than myself...

Every year this time, I will always ask myself what I have achieved for the past 365days. Did I use it well, did I grow in terms of maturity and most importantly, did my baby KAYLENE grow well. I was sitting down looking at my calender that was filled with events and I must say I am extremely proud of myself for the past 1 year. I really think I truly deserve this A* score as I have achieved a lot. In June 2013, KAYLENE was the first plus size Singapore brand to showcase her work in New York - Full Figured Fashion Week and the response for our collection was very very good. The girls love our collections so much and we have bloggers from all over the world to mention our brands. Over there, we have made new friends like Nicole (model) Keri (model) Gwen (founder of FFFWeek) Marie (blogger) Dani (blogger) and many many more. We still keep in touch with them and once in a while, we will chat via FB or Instagram (@kayleneonline)

We then did a renovation for the shop, a simple but much cleaner layout, redid our logo and in some ways redid our branding and directions. The designs are much more exclusive now and we sealed up some exclusive collaborations with suppliers from Hong Kong and USA. We were also extremely blessed and fortunate to have met our local factory manufacturer which specialised in making top notch local brand in the industry that includes making apparel for Converse, Metro, Dyel etc. I was super blessed by my manufacturer, she gave me important contacts on how to get fabric sourced from Korea and really rare and unique fabric. I met good people along the way this time. It was a really tough transition during that period but we pulled it through, we have crossed a very difficult hurdle. We also did extremely well during the festive period and many old time customers who actually came back to support us told us that they love our new collections and they want more. I was so happy and so touched that the choice I made to rebrand was a wise one. It definitely was a DAMN tough one but we pulled through....

The company also grew in terms of manpower, where we have 'promoted' (sorta) Juliah to be our manager to oversee the day to day duties and also so blessed to have our newcomer Fern to help out in the shop. Office side is good too, with Evelyn stepping up on our online business as well as The Plus Mannequin. My sister Gen has on board too to expand the acessories section as well as junior sizing (which will be launching maybe next year!! UK10-14). In year end, we are very likely to expand too. Details cannot be revealed as yet as there are still alot of talks going on. Our quantity per designs has also expanded! This time in size and and quantity. But we still kept it exclusive and unique, making sure each purchase is special. The increased in quantity is to cater for the girls who tend to be newer than the regulars who got the yummies faster than them. BUT be rest assured, we will still keep a close eye on quantity as well as quality control. The increased quantity was also to make sure that the online business will thrive on her own too, with intention to reach out to overseas customers.

In March this year, the girls and I have started to be on a hunt for bloggers worldwide. The response is extremely good and the next we know, we flew up to  Jakarta (6 of us) and met a bunch of new friends. They are from Kagumi and Kombes, a plus size community in Indonesia. Our friendship was genuine and pure, with the intention of bringing 2 countries closer and hopefully form a community that all Asians will join. We also had a Australian blogger (more to come) and Hong Kong blogger who reveiwed our items and expressed how much they love our items. All these is part of a new project in which we will be announcing in later post and I believe you girls will be excited for us as well.

Now that it is June, we are so blessed to have lined up our schedule for the rest of the year all the way till 2015. ALOT of changes are happening and ALL are specially planned out with you in our minds. For a teaser, in July, we will be hosting our FIRST EVER wellness event on seeking alternative health remedies to PCOS and other common 'plus size problems' like Diabetes, Depression and if possible more. (To understand more on why we are doing this read here.) This is part of our project to giving back to you girls and we hope you girls will come support this extremely meaningful event. Later dates and info will be revealed but meanwhile, would like to have a show of hands if anyone are interested in going for this 3 hour talk (dont worry ladies, not selling, this event is borne by us) 

In September, we are in talks on doing a special fashion show! But of course, all is still uncertain. More info will be updated along the way. December is going to be SO FUN! we are in talks of expansion and I pray and pray that all will be smooth sailing for KAYLENE and the mall. Please pray for us for this expansion so that more girls will be able to visit KAYLENE at their convenience.

Eh EH! I forgot this blog post if FOR ME and ABOUT ME... ok no more digress. I am very happy and blessed to have very very good people surround me and KAYLENE and placing her where she is today. From suppliers to customers to friends to family to frenmily and to co-workers... they have helped KAYLENE so much. I am never be able to thank each and everyone of you but I will repay it by giving my best for you. If all goes well, KAYLENE will transition into something even more exciting and I believe that will be the best return of love to all people surrounding me. 

Argh! I digressed again... the dinner was special with KAYLENE babes attending the dinner and I invited a special friend who is very much a mentor to me and helped grow KAYLENE to where she is. I wanna thank my KAYLENE babes for this special night and I believe next year this year, there will be more girls involved! 

Happy Birthday to myself, KAYDE... You did well for the past 1 year and you deserve to give yourself a good hug. More great things will come and enjoy every moment of it. Till next year, I will post again and ask myself the exact same question... What have I achieve so far?

I love you all from the bottom of my heart..

and yes! We all wore yellow! Shooooo cute right! Me likey!

What's up with my (and your) body?

I have been getting comments on how bloated I have become and what's with the weight gain and seriously this is annoying me to bits!!!

Ah ha! Before I get you into thinking that I am not a true blue advocate for plus size, allow me to explain. After my detailed explanation,  you decide if my sudden weight gain is indeed frustrating.

Many many many people tells me that they are appalled and curious on the food intake I chomp on daily. While it is not unusually little,  my portions are... normal. I eat just like my petite friends (1 portion) and I have drastically cut down on my alcohol intake (I mean like I haven't feast on wine or beer for 2 years?) I really do eat normal you know! I do not add 50 cent rice or add an extra soup on top of my meals. Just.one.blardy.portion. If that is the case, where did I go wrong?

With regards to health issues, my gynae did diagnose me with PCOS and yeah it kinda sucked. This "woman problem" causes increase in weight and loads of other nitty issues. But from the bottom of my heart, I am really fine with it. I learnt to accept that I am not 100% fit like any other ladies (actually many many many girls suffer from PCOS or anything related to women's health) I am really acceptive of my body and I try my best to keep this temple as healthy as possible. In short, despite my body not being in her 100% state, I am really very happy. But not th recent days with my sudden bloating and hence the increase in weight. 


Many people surrounding me noticed my change in body and they told me to ask for doctors opinion. I honestly tell you, I really hate the idea of going to see the doctor ( I mean, I got no time la! But no excuses!) BUT I told myself that I will be going deeper into investigating what is going on with my body but before I do that, I decided to just be brave and tell you girls. The main reason for me telling you girls is simply because I noticed that MANY MANY MANY girls (mostly plus size) are so unaware with their health and body and push it to laziness and because they are fat. Their low self esteem has caused them to ignore their own health. The constant scolding and nagging from others made them feel that dont even deserve to manage their health and body. THIS IS NOT TRUE! Plus size or not, short or tall, woman or men, we ALL need to understand our body well enough. I have been neglecting this important factor personally and I do not wish more of you to be in my shoes.

So tonight, I would like you to spend a little time with yourself and speak to your own body. Does this constant pimple outbreak on your face bothers you? Is it really normal? Did you ever question yourself on why your knees always hurt? What about that back ache you have been dealing for years? Arent you even bothered by the fact that you are constantly binging on those chips at night? And like myself, have you been putting on weight despite you trying your best to eat as healthy as possible? 

While most of us blames it on lack of exercise which honestly I AGREE, but is there more to that?

Go ahead, take some time today and ask yourself what is going on?

I wish you all good health, good wealth tonight! While you are figuring out the issues you are currently facing like me, do also remember to take some time off to accept who you are and that it is okay be where you are now....

I am Kayde and I am a plus size blogger

FFF Week 2014 is finally here!

Finally the time is here! Full Figured Fashion Week 2014 has finally arrived!  This year is going to be the last year and I have been reading from many MANY bloggers that this year's show is going to be a blast! 

Looking back to exactly a year ago, Kaylene and team has arrived in New York, jetlaged but bursting with excitement as we were preparing for our first ever showcase to the world... 1 year has passed and Kaylene has grown so much after returning from FFFWeek. Sniff sniff, what a nostalgic moment for me... 

Many of you have asked why we didn't take part this year's finale for FFFWeek.  We had bigger plans for Kaylene and hence we decided to rest this wonderful opportunity. Australia or London maybe? I will try to liase with some friends made in USA and pry some info on the happenings in New York yea?

I would like to take some time off of congratulate FFFWeek and Gwen Devoe on this year's show! Team Kaylene prays that the show will be a 100percent success!

Gtg! Time to snooze and get ready for my breakfast appointment with Aarti! Who is she? Will fill you in real soon....

Love
K

KAYLENE: These Summer Treats Collection (part2) is up! **updated 17/6/14

For the dress fanatics! We are very pleased to release this new batches of dresses. 'These Summer Treats' Collection screams SPRING and we are not ashamed of it! Vibrant colours but paired carefully for the shy ladies... The end result? They are really gorgeous, from design to workmanship to fabric choice. We deliberately chose good material to make these dresses in order to pump up the luxe factor in each design!

Only in FREE SIZE. FITS 40 to 45 waist v well! LURVE!!

Only in FREE SIZE. FITS 40 to 45 waist v well! LURVE!!

Only in FREE SIZE. FITS 40 to 45 waist v well! LURVE!!

This is the newest addition to the dress series for this new collection! WE love the neon prints are so bold but yet feminine to wear for that date or even to work!

Classic skorts are in!!!! Wheeeee~

Jacket/Blouse. Uber cute to the max. What say you?

This long blouse has been cleverly paired with a nice skort! Couldnt tell isnt it?

This is so exciting! We made this into XXL and now more girls can enjoy this lovely piece! We have included new colours for the outer high-lo sheer top! Yummilicious!

Bridesmaid series is out! We are launching Lavender and Tiffany Blue first! Yellow and Navy Blue will be out next series!

Bridesmaid series is out! We are launching Lavender and Tiffany Blue first! Yellow and Navy Blue will be out next series!

Love the design and material of this dress. This dress is believed to be one of our super hotseller!

For the hopeless romantics! This dress exudes femininity and grace. Love the detail on the neckline. Dont worry girls! Not much of a peekaboo!