How to get the look you want in plus size with Josie Wass

by | Sep 28, 2020

Registered Dietitian Nutritionists Dalina Soto and Melissa Landry are back for Season 2 of Break the Diet Cycle with an all new format: interviews with experts! Our first episode features Josie Wass, music teacher and plus size fashion blogger who is here to show you how to get the look you want in plus size.

Do you sometimes think you would feel happier and more confident in your clothes at a smaller size? In this episode, we’re calling BS on that message! Why? Our clients keep choosing harmful weight loss diets instead of developing the skills they ACTUALLY need to feel confident in their bigger bodies!

If you are ready to stop on-again, off-again dieting, but you feel confused how you’ll ever find a style that makes you feel good in a bigger body, our guest Josie can relate. In this episode, Josie offers tips to help you work through your clothing concerns so you can create a personal style you feel free and confident in, just like she did!

In today’s episode…

  • hear Josie’s journey to food freedom and why she started a fashion blog on Instagram
  • learn how to introduce color into your wardrobe (and let go of the idea you can only wear black!)
  • get confident navigating plus sizing, especially if you are between sizes and sometimes “XL” in straight-size stores
  • stop buying clothes solely to hide body parts you feel ashamed of and feel great instead

Episode Resources:

This episode was sponsored by No More Guilt with Melissa Landry

Episode Transcript

Melissa Landry:
Hi there everyone. Today, we are excited to open season two of Break the Diet Cycle with Josie Wass who is here to talk a little about finding style, no matter what size you are, no matter who you are getting that look that you’ve been wanting. So we are going to talk to Josie answering questions from our feeds. You guys were so wonderful in asking what you needed to learn from her today. I’m going to pause and have Josie introduce herself, welcome Josie to the podcast.

Josie Wass:
Thank you so much for having me. I’m really excited to be here and chat a little bit. So like I said, my name’s Josie, I run the Instagram account and soon there will be a blog, [A Puls Faction 00:00:36]. My friend, Emily came up with that because she’s clever. So why she’s clever is because I am a teacher. So I’m a music teacher and actually a week from today, I’ll be starting my master’s in education and working towards my licensure for K-12 music. And so right now I teach privately and I run my blog and that’s about it.

Melissa Landry:
Amazing Dalina And I both have masters in education as well. So we are big fans of the learning.

Josie Wass:
I love it.

Melissa Landry:
I just love your background and your story because so many of the women we work with are working professionals. They are balancing the work look, the life look. And so I think you can really speak to this from their point of view, which is fabulous. Can I ask what got you into making your page and your blog? Why did you want to make that?

Josie Wass:
So I think of it as like this big aha moment that I had, and I’ll just kind of happen at once. So I’ll try to make this bullet point version, but basically I am a survivor of child abuse and child trauma. And a lot of the abuse that was done to me was based around food and based around my body, sadly. And that’s because my biological mom, she suffered from mental illness.

Josie Wass:
She suffered from alcoholism and she also had a pretty severe eating disorder, which really played a role in kind of using those things as abuse towards me. And so I was eventually removed from that environment later on in high school. And so then I started healing from all of that stuff that I experienced through therapy and other things. And I got to this point postgrad where I was like yeah, but my relationship with my body and food is totally fine and it’s… Spoiler it totally wasn’t. And so I had kind of thought I was in this place where I was really doing well, but I was still doing a lot of restricting and disordered eating habits were kind of peeking out every once in a while. And kind of the specific moment I remember is this is sometime around when Weight Watchers had rebranded itself.

Josie Wass:
So last year, maybe early, early on in 2019, I don’t know, somewhere around there. And it was really taking on this image of wellness and not restriction and not diet culture, but behind the mask, it was still diet culture. And so I had a friend who was kind of successful with it in losing weight. And for some reason, even though I thought I was in this good place, I downloaded it and I paid the money and I immediately went and told my husband what I did. And he said he was really kind, but he said, why did you do this? You know, this is not healthy for you. You know, this is not good [inaudible 00:04:14]

Josie Wass:
And he really encouraged me to think about why I was doing that and maybe why it wasn’t the right choice for me. And I was like, you’re so right. And he’s really good about checking me in that way. And so immediately deleted the app. Then I remember the next morning getting my car to go to lessons, which seems like such a thing of the past now, because I’ve been teaching out of my house for six months. But anyway, I get in my car and I immediately google body positive podcasts. And I pick the first one, I find I binged all of it. And I just became like a sponge for this information.

Josie Wass:
And around the same time, a friend of mine, Caroline, who on Instagram is known as justmeandmymirror, we go way back to like middle school. She had I guess, restarted posting her outfits on Instagram. And I felt really inspired by that. And I was like, I’m learning all this stuff. And I feel like I want some creative outlet for myself where I can talk to like-minded people about this. And so I just started, I just… At the end of May of 2019 I just started posting my little teacher outfits every day. And I really had no expectation for what it would become. And it’s been really amazing. So.

Melissa Landry:
Inspiring, go see my little hairs are standing up hearing that story. People come into this space from so many different directions. And one of the commonalities we always hear is this… Like you said, the aha moment of I’m going to do this one more time. Or maybe, maybe it’ll be different. Either themselves or someone in their life calling bullshit and saying no more, we can’t keep doing this. So what a gift that your partnership with your husband sounds amazing. [crosstalk 00:06:04] And then that experience, and then be so inspiring to others as you’re healing yourself, like truly that resonates so much on your page. And I encourage everyone to just pause the podcast right now. We’ll go to her page to follow, see the outfits, see what she’s doing because it’s really natural. It feels like you were meant to do that Josie, so.

Josie Wass:
Oh thank you. That means so much.

Melissa Landry:
So today I kind of want to leverage all of your genius and all the work that you’ve done to continue to inspire others. We are really looking for our listeners to learn this because one of the biggest roadblocks we find working with clients is their relationship with clothes is honestly the hardest thing to reshape or to create a more positive relationship with clothing. And so we thought today by maybe answering some of their questions and giving some encouragement to say you know what? You can have that relationship with clothes that you always wanted, even weight loss isn’t the center [inaudible 00:07:05] a path to get there that doesn’t need to be part of it. That would be such an amazing gift to help our listeners. So we have a couple of questions. Is it okay to ask you some of these and then me, you and Dalina can just kind of talk through what we can about these questions?

Josie Wass:
Yeah, I’m ready. All right, Dalina re you ready? She has-

Dalina Soto:
Yes. I’m muted because I don’t want it to be like all the outside noise. Sorry guys.

Melissa Landry:
Speaking of coronavirus virus, her kiddos were always… They’re like the understudies of the [crosstalk 00:07:33].

Melissa Landry:
Okay. So this one we’re going to start with is about color. A lot of clients have told me, and this is my mom’s at a bigger body. She tells me this all the time. It’s all black. The patterns are always sometimes like, what is this pattern exactly? Who is this inspired by or who is it for? The cuts of clothing are sometimes difficult and many women want to dive into color and pattern, but they’re not finding maybe what they’re looking for, or they don’t really feel confident to dive in on that because I’m just going to feel more comfortable in black. And so I’m curious for you, how do you approach color and pattern when you’re choosing an outfit?

Josie Wass:
So this is such a good question. I mean, all the questions are such good questions, but it’s hard because I… So I’m actually a huge fan of neutrals. If you can’t tell from my page, I love like really classic stuff. I love simpler patterns. And so for a while, I think maybe it was just the ingrained idea that I couldn’t wear color that maybe drove that at first. And so it’s been interesting to kind of get it back into my wardrobe, but still love neutrals in not a body shaming way, if that makes sense.

Melissa Landry:
Yeah.

Josie Wass:
And so I guess my sassy answer to that question is to, in order to get into it, you just do it. But it’s… I mean, it’s not quite that easy though. I am a strong believer in baby steps. And so I would say maybe if you are wanting to experiment with more color, think about what colors… Maybe two or three, what colors make you feel like the most you’re most like yourself or the most confident. And for me, that’s kind of primary colors, like really dark reds and kind of into burnt oranges. I love mustard yellow and I love me some Navy. So I kind of started with those. Like I eased them into my capsule wardrobe at one point, because capsule wardrobing is something I’m really interested in and I kind of started easing them in and now I’ve kind of branched out into other colors too, which is really fun. So I would say, just start with a couple that you really feel that you really like yourself in that you really feel confident in and then it’ll open up slowly from there I think.

Melissa Landry:
I love that answer. So if you can just pick like one, two, three colors and then you just start keeping an eye out for that color when you’re out and about slowly, it starts to integrate into your wardrobe. Now what the heck is a capsule wardrobe? I have no idea what that means.

Josie Wass:
Okay. So it’s comp… It’s not complicated, but there are varying degrees of it, so the way I do it is seasonally. So you can also do it like a week or in a month or in shorter periods of time, but I do it seasonally. So okay. So for my spring capsule, what you do is you select a certain amount of pieces that you decide and you want to err on the side of the minimal, which kind of means something different for everybody.

Josie Wass:
So you pick a certain number of pieces that all go with each other and you wear those over and over and you mix and match them all season so that you’re getting the most out of your wardrobe. And it also really helps to kind of freshen things up when you change it out every season. And specifically for me, it helps with my shopping. It really helps me to not shop quite as much because I’m kind of doing the planning before the season. And then I have my capsule for the entire season. And I’m really not doing a whole lot of shopping until I’m preparing for the next season. Does that make sense?

Melissa Landry:
I love it because you know, when you think about relationships in general, you have to show up in a relationship to be in one. What I love about what you’re saying is that you have a consistent way that you show up your clothing and you think about it and you interact with it in a super intentional way. Ladies, that makes so much sense because if you’re anything like me, I’ve got like… I’m looking at them because I record in my bedroom and you have piles of this piles of that. I don’t know what I’ve got. It’s hard to get a relation with something you don’t understand. So I love that you have almost like a schedule to interact with your clothing.

Dalina Soto:
So I have a question for you Josie, because this gives me a little bit of anxiety. See, I’m typing so I’m loving this and you are more type B. [crosstalk 00:12:27]

Dalina Soto:
So for me, I’m like, I tend to not to wear the same thing over and over and over again. So I guess my question to you about this capsule and I feel like maybe I attract clients like this too, because it’s my personality. But I feel like I always hear I just don’t want to wear the same things over and over again, which is why I shop so much. So how, and I’ve stopped Melissa knows this, I’ve stopped.

Melissa Landry:
You’re trying. You’re doing it.

Dalina Soto:
I’m very… I’m trying Marie Kondo. So how do you mix it up so that they look like different styles? Like I’m just trying to figure out how you do this capsule thing.

Josie Wass:
So if I typically wear something like I’m thinking it was very specific outfit right now. I don’t know why I’m thinking about like this blue and white striped shirt that I wore forever with high waisted jeans.

Josie Wass:
So that’s like obviously a really simple way to wear something, right? And so what I would then do is try to mix it up with different bottoms or whatever. Like one time I wore like this canvassy linen jumpsuit over-top of it, which was cool. Something I would’ve never normally done, I feel like, but it was because I was really trying to stretch what I had or like, oh, then I paired it with the mustard skirt. And I feel like when I change something as small as accessories or shoes or something like that, I can really make it a whole new outfit. And this might also give you anxiety, but it’s something I… It’s one of these memories from my past that has kind of resurfaced, but this will show you just how typing I’ve maybe have always been.

Josie Wass:
But I remember in middle school having a file folder of note cards where I wrote down what I wore and then I would refer back to it if I wanted to wear a certain piece again, but I wanted to change it up. Like, this is literally what I was doing when I was like 12 years old.

Melissa Landry:
You were destined to make an Instagram page. Like this is the beginning-

Josie Wass:
[crosstalk 00:14:32] Recently I was like, you know what? [inaudible 00:14:35]

Melissa Landry:
So many really like origin story. [crosstalk 00:14:42]. No, I see what you’re saying because the more… Also I love Dalina that you just like called out type a type B differences between us. because we’re constantly working through this in our team. When you think about your closet, like if there’s a lump of clothing there, it’s hard for you to brain to make those connections of like oh, that’s shirt could go nice with those pants. And so by almost like you’re weeding out a little bit and then you’re rotating that smaller playing field of clothing, there’s new inspiration that can come from that without buying new clothes at all. Is that kind of the hope in this process?

Josie Wass:
Yeah, I think so. Yeah, because you’re just getting the most out of your wardrobe and something that’s helped me too is it’s I’ll have, this is mostly for content when I feel like I’m getting a little boring on Instagram.

Josie Wass:
I have my best friend pick out my outfits or have my husband do at once for a week. And I’m also going to do one soon where it’s my straight size friends styling me in outfits that they would wear. So that kind of helps bring new perspective because it’s like, my husband did a really amazing job when he did this because he picked out things that I… Pieces that I love, that I would never pair together or think to pair together. And it was just like him from the outside, knowing that I love those things. But I guess it’s putting some of his style in there, which was really fun just because I would have never thought of what he goes here-

Melissa Landry:
Coming back to your first statement too, which is like just to do it sometimes getting other people involved. If you’re feeling a little bit of that fear or resistance to mixing and matching these things that don’t belong together or that’s not me or my color now you’re getting that little push too. So I kind of love that as a takeaway. If people want to be actionable, maybe you pair this process with someone in your life who can maybe inspire you in a way. You’re not yet they’re doing that for yourself. So I love how you include other people in your life in this. It’s awesome.

Josie Wass:
It’s a lot of fun. It keeps things interesting.

Melissa Landry:
So Dalina, what would be your like one or two colors based on Josie’s advice?

Dalina Soto:
Oh man, if you guys saw my closet, you’d probably [crosstalk 00:16:56] I don’t know. I’m always like… I have so many black pieces. I think that… I guess if you could see in my branding, purple is usually my go-to color, like a lavender or a variation of it. So I feel like I have a lot of that mixed in and I catch myself always gravitating towards that, but I think I need to start learning more about accessories issues and shoes because I like that, I think that way, but then I never dress myself that way.

Melissa Landry:
[crosstalk 00:17:27] have the pieces. Amazing.

Dalina Soto:
Yeah.

Melissa Landry:
Amazing. And you pointed at me when Josie said a mustard yellow because that’s my-

Dalina Soto:
That’s you.

Melissa Landry:
That’s my baby. [crosstalk 00:17:36].

Josie Wass:
Love it.

Melissa Landry:
Amazing. Okay. So I want to move on to this next question if we’re ready. That was fabulous. I already am like going to hang up this call and just go to town on my closet.

Melissa Landry:
I love those types. Okay. So this next question really has to do with some of the conditioning we see both from the media or places in our life. A lot of our clients have had comment about their bellies, their thighs, their arms, and over time they learn to gravitate towards styles that hide those parts of their body. Not because they like the look, but because that feels safe. And so one person had said everything gathers around my stomach and people point out my weight. That’s a fear around that. How do you stop buying clothes solely to hide the parts you feel ashamed of so you can work towards what your true personal style is?

Josie Wass:
So that’s another good/hard question. This one has a lot of layers to it I think. And the first being that I don’t want people to think that it’s solely their fault for dressing themselves in things that hide their bodies because for a really long time, especially the plus size fashion industry has only been about that. So I mean, I’m thinking to when I’m in high school and I’m shopping at Torrid when they’re first kind of starting out and a lot of things were baby doll, so that it skims over your belly or slimming effects, genes or things like that. So yeah, it’s hard because for a long time, everything was like that and everything was black and no patterns and the same thing, flattering or slimming or whatever you want to call it.

Josie Wass:
And I feel like we’ve really seen an evolution of that in the past, like maybe five years or so, where things are… Or pieces of clothing are more being made to not flatter our bodies. I almost said flatter that’s not what I meant, but not flatter or hide, but instead celebrate our bodies. So plus size people can still wear trendy things that we’ve only ever seen on thin, straight sized people, you know? And so that is really encouraging. And so I feel like… I feel I’ve rambled off of your question.

Melissa Landry:
No, that context is really important as for us. And I’m so glad you brought that up, right? That for me knowing my mom, like she grew up… She was born in the fifties or her plus size clothing journey was nothing like what women today have in terms of availability and role modeling and the internet. And so just knowing her I completely appreciate the context that… She loves style and would really like love when we would get to dress in clothing because we were straight sized kids so I just think that’s important thing to acknowledge that the times are changing, but they have been hard. So yeah, it’s normal if you’ve always gravitated that it’s because it’s what you’ve been around. It’s what you can, and of course it feels comfortable if that’s what you continue to wear.

Josie Wass:
Right.

Melissa Landry:
So have you personally… I mean, you’re straddling that like you’re, you’re much younger than my mom, but you were starting to see, like you said, with Torrid their shifts. So did you have to go through anything personally in terms of your-self talk or how was it that you became comfortable in all the styles you now wear?

Josie Wass:
Yeah. It’s been part of… I feel like especially in the last year or so, it’s in part of that journey big time. Like my big thing on Instagram right now is wear what you want. Like, I feel like people are getting tired of hearing it, but I’m posting about it all the time because it’s something that’s so relevant to me right now. You know, I’m not only telling other people to do that, but I’m also telling myself in a way, because I mean, basically for the last decade I’ve been kind of the same way wearing “flattering things”, wearing a lot of black. Not allowing myself to wear things like shorts and tank tops, even in the summer. And Ohio summer is really hot and really sticky and nasty. And so it doesn’t make sense for me to be in something like jeans and a cardigan.

Josie Wass:
It doesn’t make sense. And so I have really had to work through some of those rules that I set for myself. So not only like plus size fashion rules specifically, that kind of society has set for us, but also my own rules. And so, like I said, the shorts thing, I kind of ease into that with baby steps. It was kind nice because quarantine was going on when things started getting hotter. So I tested out the shorts in the house and then I started wearing them to the post office or to the grocery store. And then it was just like full blown shorts all the time.

Melissa Landry:
Love it.

Josie Wass:
And it’s one of those things, just like the color thing. If you take a baby step into it, eventually that kind of snow falls. And so I would say if that’s something that you’re struggling with… With rules that you set for yourself, maybe try one piece that’s kind of out of your comfort zone or one piece that’s a trend you’ve always seen on thinner bodies and just try it. And then it will probably evolve into something way bigger than that, so.

Melissa Landry:
That’s such good advice. I had a client who recently shared that she wore a tank top on a walk by herself and she’s like, I survived it, it actually felt good. My arms were cool. I wasn’t sweating my butt off and I felt free. And that then translated to what, I think I’m going to wear one at the next barbecue I go to, so… And by the way, you can hang out there as long as you want, if just wearing it within your own home is where it’s at. You can do that indefinitely if that’s what serves you. So really encouraging people not to rush the process, to see it in that sequence, just like Josie is role modeling is so inspiring that you said your page like a little over a year ago, for you to be wearing all these styles, taking photographs, inspiring other women it’s such an amazing thing to know that that’s possible.

Melissa Landry:
You just got to kind of stick with it and get yourself to your personal style, whatever that is. It’s amazing. All right. Our next question, I do think all sized bodies struggle with this one, though it’s more challenging when you’re in plus sizes and there’s a smaller range of clothing available and that’s when things aren’t true to size. So I… This person specifically referring to XL sizing, which is a significant size, because it’s often the last time you are able to be in the straight size world. And her frustration is sometimes she’ll order that it’s too small. And then she’s kind of on the cusp of plus. And so that can often mess with people’s self-confidence around clothing because there’s safety and being straight sized because you have more options. So I think this question is a bit of a two-parters. How do you become comfortable with the idea of being in plus sizes if that’s feeling hard for you?

Melissa Landry:
And then the second thing is how do you deal with the frustration of, I wanted this to fit, edit doesn’t fit, and now I have to return it and do that whole rig of a role. What is your take on not things not being true to size?

Josie Wass:
It’s so frustrating-

Melissa Landry:
Solve all their problems, Josie. So…

Josie Wass:
It is so frustrating. And specifically for this person who is asking this question, I feel you. And I feel for you because being an XL is something that’s called mid-size. And so I feel like mid-size people have issues of their own just because they usually sit between about a 12 and a 16. And so sometimes they’re too big for straight size and they’re too small for plus size. And so then it’s like, where the heck do I shop? And can I even trust that it’s going to fit me?

Josie Wass:
And then also there is that feeling that transition and that, I don’t know, maybe like shame of crossing the line between straight size and plus size. And so it can be really hard. I mean, my advice to someone who isn’t an XL body, I would say maybe start shopping in more plus sized retailers just because they are actually doing good stuff right now where they’re extending a little bit lower than what is traditionally called plus size. So places like Torrent and Lane Bryant are now selling clothes, like down to 10, I want to say. And so… And they’ve been around for a long time, so they really got the fit down on curvier bodies. So if you’re a curvier person maybe going for retailers like that, even if it does feel a little bit uncomfortable, saying that now you’re shopping plus size or whatever find the clothes that are going to fit your body. Remember that your body’s not the issue. The sizing is the issue, the clothing is the issue.

Melissa Landry:
Dalina is hands up right now. She is raising the roof.

Josie Wass:
And I still have- [crosstalk 00:00:27:00].

Dalina Soto:
Seriously?

Josie Wass:
It’s hard. Yeah.

Melissa Landry:
Yeah. I mean, it’s hard when you have to constantly convince yourself. And I think that’s the hope is that over time we do see inclusivity be the norm and not the wow celebratory exception. I mean, I think some of these brands are giving this praise for things they should have been doing always. [crosstalk 00:27:19] Creating. When you see the average size of women and you see the market that’s available for women who are plus sized it from a capitalistic perspective, if they’re kind of make money, it makes no freaking sense to me actually why this is the case. So that’s amazing advice too. And I love that you can also acknowledge some of the emotion that comes up with this, just because this advice is here and we can put it on paper doesn’t mean it’s comfortable. It doesn’t mean it’s easy.

Melissa Landry:
Even for people like Josie, when you see her on Instagram and you’re like, wow. She is actively applying this process in the same way. And I just think that’s such a comfort for our clients to hear because they feel like they should be there already a lot of the time. It’s just amazing how you show up for this Josie, it’s incredible.

Josie Wass:
Thank you, and it’s hard because I think we think that one day we’ll magically get to this place where we feel fantastic about our bodies and everything is sunshine and rainbows, and we won’t have any issues anymore. And that’s totally not the case. And we… I mean, growth is linear. Growth is not linear, sorry, just messed up my own thing. But it’s not… It’s just a… It’s a day to day thing. It’s not something we arrive at.

Josie Wass:
And so it’s okay. I want to hold space for that. If you feel like you’re changing sizes and you feel a little bit sad about that for whatever reason, that’s okay. But I would encourage you to think of it as trying to spin it in a positive light and like, hey I get to get new clothes now. That’s kind of fun or I get to try out some new brands or something like that. You know?

Melissa Landry:
That’s great. Yeah. Like what if there’s a little bit of joy in that sadness? What if part of this means you get to rediscover or yourself and answer that question? What are my colors? And get to know this part of you yourself and let you evolve. That is, I think what we all want in life is to become who we are and clothing is one way at going through that experience, for sure.

Dalina Soto:
And can I say that we did not talk to Josie before this, but she literally is talking like she’s been our friend forever because this is something that I know Melissa and I are. We’re always talking about, you’re going to have bad days. You’re going to have days where your body image is at a one and you feel crappy about yourself and maybe you don’t want to get dressed up or you’re just just having a bad day. And I love that you shared Josie that this isn’t linear because we always talk about this and I’m always like, listen, if you follow a page that tells you that it’s always going to be rainbows and unicorns run because that’s not real life. Everybody struggles. And we can’t continue to tell people that it’s always going to be okay. because it’s not. And it’s okay to sit in the sadness. It’s okay to sit in the suck, but it’s okay to also try to find something positive. It might not happen the same day might take a week or two, but always trying to look at something in a positive way, it can help too.

Melissa Landry:
It’s possible. You can do that.

Josie Wass:
Absolutely. [crosstalk 00:30:32]

Melissa Landry:
My last quick question, before we go, one of the things I love about your page, Josie is like many fashion bloggers do you’ll actually tag where some of your pieces are from, I love your looks. I’m just fangirling here big time today. I always tap my brother how the hell did she get that? That’s really cute. And a lot of the brands I recognize they’re stores that I have seen or heard of, which I love a lot of times, fashion bloggers to me feel totally inaccessible. I’m like yeah, I’m not going to have a Dolce & Gabbana whatever. That’s not in my pay grade. When you think about where people might be shopping, what are some favorite brands where people can find cute, affordable plus size clothing that they can feel good about? What are some of your favorite brands?

Josie Wass:
This is so hard. This is the hardest question [inaudible 00:31:19], no I’m just kidding. I… As far as like really accessible ones online and in store depending on where you live, I feel like these are kind of universally pretty accessible places like Torrid. Like I mentioned before, Lane Bryant and this one kind of surprises people which has made well, they actually carry extended sizing. I don’t believe that they do in store yet, which is a whole nother issue. But I think you do online. I think they go up to, I want to say like maybe a 26 or so. So yeah, I get all my denim from their big fans. I would also say [Target 00:32:05]. Target has really stepped up their clothing game in the last few years, especially with plus size offerings. And if your particular Target does not carry a lot of plus size stuff, I would definitely look online, but they carry a lot of different smaller designers now.

Josie Wass:
And I feel that their sizing is way better than it used to be. Straight size and plus size, it’s a little bit more generous. If you’re into athletic wear, Athleisure. I really love Fabletics. They have really helped in kind of my journey of kind of reclaiming a movement from myself after it was sort of used against me when I was younger. And it showed me that I don’t have to wear all black. Outfits will work out. Like I can wear cute patterns and I can feel cute and be sweaty and like love it.

Melissa Landry:
I could have that.

Josie Wass:
Yeah, exactly. And so they… I feel like they’ve helped me a lot to just kind of branch out with athletic wear. Those are what I would say most accessible as far as brands, but there are tons out there if you do a little bit of research.

Melissa Landry:
Yeah. And I think Instagram is such a great place, Josie I notice you tag a lot of other influencers in different size bodies and different types of bodies. And so following you I think is such a great start for listeners to have the algorithm actually serve up other influencers and brands. And so I just love what you’re doing to just keep us educated and aware of all the different looks and brands that are out there. So awesome.

Josie Wass:
Yeah. I think-

Melissa Landry:
I have to say Madewell has a fabulous mustard color in their pallet. Usually when I walk in, I can find my mustards at Madewell, so I have to go-

Josie Wass:
And they have like the beautiful, burnt orange they have. Yeah. I love Madewell. I’m a sucker.

Melissa Landry:
It’s got that like seventies vibe that I like. It’s just so wonderful. This was too much fun. It feels like this went by in about five minutes. I want to close with just maybe two takeaways for our listeners. So I have so many in my mind, is there maybe one or two takeaways from everything we’ve talked about? You want to leave them with as something of an action item maybe they could go get started with right after this podcast to improve their wardrobe.

Josie Wass:
I guess I want to say, I want to reiterate baby steps with everything, right? So choosing your colors and just starting with a couple or trying something, a piece sort of out of your comfort zone that isn’t necessarily meant to hide your body, but it says celebrate it or try a new retailer or something like that. Small little steps that will lead to bigger ones.

Melissa Landry:
Love it. So, so helpful, Josie. Thank you. We can find Josie at A Plus Faction. You will be in our show notes. We are going to promote you on our page. Is there anything else you want to let our listeners know about you and your brand and how we can support you?

Josie Wass:
Well, very exciting. My website should be launching somewhere around early September. And so if you are following me on Instagram, you can check that out as well. I’ll be doing official blog posts starting in September. So very exciting

Melissa Landry:
Congratulations on that. Yeah. This-

Josie Wass:
Thank you.

Melissa Landry:
Episode should come out sometime end of September. So this will all dovetail nicely for people to come find you and check out where that’s at at that point. Congrats.

Josie Wass:
Awesome. Thank you so much.

Melissa Landry:
All right, Josie. Thanks for being here.

Dalina Soto:
Thank you.

Josie Wass:
Thanks for having me.

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