Hey guys! I want to officially say thank you so much to everyone who voted, campaigned and supported me over the past few months. I could not have done this without you and you all mean the world to me! Please watch the video below to get a small update on what's going on with me/MTV/YFF:
In case you haven't seen them, here are a few outfits I've worn recently:
MTV TJ Finale: Dress-Faith21/Accessories-Fennimas/Shoes-Jeffrey Campbell
Tonight is the night! All of the work I've done this summer competing to become the first ever MTV TJ culminates tonight in a LIVE finale! The winner is determined by text message votes during the show, so you MUST watch and vote during each elimination round! PLEASE tune in tonight at 10/9c on MTV. If you're on the west coast or if you don't have cable, you can watch it streaming on mtv.com. Make sure to follow me on twitter, because I will be tweeting from the show and I may need your help :) There will be footage of me throughout the past week so you can see my outfits and the Brooklyn Bridge fashion show I put on as well. Thanks guys, I love you all! No matter what happens, I've had the time of my life and the support you've shown me has been overwhelming and humbling.
Today from 6-6:30 pm, I will be having a meet up on The Brooklyn Bridge! Our MTV Challenge is to get as many people to come to our event as possible (one of the rules was that I couldn't announce it until today at 10 am!) Come see NYC's most fabulous plus size models walk the bridge, be filmed by MTV, and support my journey to become the first ever TJ! A few important notes:
You MUST be there by 630pm or you will NOT be counted by MTV. Obviously, it's best if you get there as close to 6 as possible.
We are meeting at the platform closest to the Manhattan side (where the arches are!) and that's where the runway show will be held.
YOU will have the chance to walk the "runway" show too! Wear your cutest outfits and the best dressed will be determined by plus size model Mia Amber, Plus Model Magazine editor in chief, Maddy Figueroa, and me! The winner will receive a $100 American Express gift card!
Draw a heart on your hand so MTV and I know who is there for me.
Please come, tell EVERYONE you know in the NY area, tweet, Facebook, etc! This is the biggest challenge yet and I want it to be a success! Love you guys and hope to see you tonight at 6!
MTV has kind of taken over my life. It's a very good thing, except for the fact that YFF has obviously suffered. After next month, things should be smooth sailing.
Thanks to all of you, I made the top 5 in the MTV TJ Competition!!! I am so grateful to each and every one of you who voted and helped spread the word for me. Next week, the 5 finalists will be flown to New York City and compete in more challenges which will culminate in a LIVE finale. The finale will be on MTV (and streaming on MTV.com) on August 8th at 10pm EST, and the winner will be chosen based on LIVE VOTES. Set your phones/calendars to remember. I need you guys now more than ever! Spread the word through twitter, facebook, youtube, your blog, text messaging...old school flyering.... Please make sure everyone you know tunes in to vote--people will be eliminated one by one throughout the show! It's super intense, but worth it in the end. Make sure you not only follow me on twitter @gabifresh, but also keep up with my tweets next week, especially if you are in the NYC area--I may need you!
I know many of you have already seen the pictures on our official conference site, but I wanted to post a recap of last weekend here as well. It went by so quickly, and I already miss all of the girls so much! I have gotten a lot of questions about whether or not I will be hosting it again next year, and I honestly don't know yet...when I make a decision I will let you guys know.
The girls arrived at our hotel in Chelsea on Thursday evening and went to our kick-off event, a cocktail hour with Torrid. I wore a top and skirt from H&M and black flats by Jessica Simpson. Clothes from Torrid's current collections hung on the walls, and we even got to try on their jeans and take home our favorite pair! I took the Source of Wisdom skinnies, which are absolutely amazing (great stretch and fabric quality). Chris Daniel, the president of Torrid, was in attendance, along with people from their marketing and PR teams. Everyone was truly interested in our feedback and I was honestly impressed with the clothes on display. I think Torrid has definitely improved over the past few years. Editors from Glamour.com, StyleList, and The Associated Press also interviewed us, and we were written up in each publication!
Friday morning we met up (super early) with Evans for breakfast. I went for a monochromatic look by wearing a grey striped dress from Faith21 with some cute grey heels by Forever21. We had to split up into three tables because our party was so large, but the Evans girls were amazing. I sat with their stylist who was so fun and we got to see sneak peeks of some of their recent photo shoots. We then went back to the Trump Soho hotel to see their fall preview, including the Beth Ditto collection. I think every girl fell in love with what they saw. Seriously, I cannot wait for the fall pieces to be released! I have to say it's the most fashion forward collection I have ever seen for plus sizes, and I am super excited. There is a ton of military inspired clothing, along with great materials and details. Everyone's favorite piece seemed to be the shearling coat, but I also loved a pair of velvet stretch trousers and a beautiful leopard print fur coat. We weren't allowed to take pictures of the Beth collection, but there were some adorable key items, and it's very different from what she put out last year.
We then headed to the Monif C. Boutique, where we ate (more), drank sangria, and discussed the history of each of our blogs. Monif then told us how she got started, and we tried on some of her clothes. I loved this event because it was very intimate and relaxed, and Monif was truly interested in hearing what we'd like to see from her in the future.
After we ran back to our hotel to change and freshen up, we all grabbed a cab and headed for Brooklyn for my favorite event of the weekend: the Meet & Greet! I wore a gold netted top from H&M and a body-con skirt from Forever21. I had an absolutely amazing time meeting you guys! I can't explain how much it meant to me to hear your stories and feedback. You are all truly inspiring! Thank you to everyone who came out, as well as a huge thanks to Deb and the entire team from Re/Dress NYC!
We packed a LOT into one day. For more pictures, check out yffconference.com. I know the posts there have slowed down, but there will be more over the next week or two. Our photographer is still editing pictures and I have a ton of video footage I want to post when I get the time. I will recap Saturday and Sunday in my next post. Below is a YouTube vid with conference clips that I made for my MTV contest. PLEASE VOTE for me (@gabifresh) if you haven't yet! http://apps.facebook.com/mtv-tj-search
VOTING FOR THE MTV TJ CHALLENGE IS NOW OPEN! In order to be guaranteed a spot in the top 5, I must be in FIRST place with votes. You can only vote one time per facebook account. Sometimes the application doesn't launch, but please keep refreshing until it works! Go here now and vote for @gabifresh! : http://apps.facebook.com/mtv-tj-search/
The YFF Conference has officially begun! Make sure you check out yffconference.com to see up to the minute pictures and videos from each day (we already started uploading)! We are also live-tweeting each event, so be sure to follow us on twitter.
The meet and greet is tonight (July 9) at Re/Dress NYC in Brooklyn from 6-9pm, I hope to see you all there!
Lastly, I made this video answering the question "Who are you?" for my first MTV TJ Challenge, hope you enjoy!
Sorry for the lack of posts! Between the MTV TJ stuff, and the YFF Conference both starting THIS WEEK, I have been ridiculously overwhelmed with things. The good news is that there will be plenty of posts coming up (probably more than you want, to be honest).
In the mean time, I wanted to share two videos with you guys! The first one introduces the TJ competition and I originally only uploaded it for YouTube, but I decided it would be cool to post here, too. Check out my red lips and cat-eye and let me know what you think! The second one is simply amazing. The TJ contestants have already made friends with each other, and we decided to do a video lip-synching to the Spice Girls. You are officially seeing a different side of Gabi.
Challenges and voting for the competition both start this Wednesday, and I will need all of your help. I will keep you posted with rules and such once things begin. Thanks for all of your support (and sorry I don't have an outfit to share today). If for whatever reason you are not following me on twitter, please start now! @gabifresh! To see amazing Team Gabi photos that readers have sent in, check out my tumblr: http://gabifresh.tumblr.com, and submit one of your own by tweeting it to me or sending it to gabi@youngfatandfabulous.com
It was such a nice day today, I decided to go to the beach and break out my gorgeous swimsuit that Monif C. was kind enough to send me! Her line this summer is simply amazing, and it proves that fat girls don't have to be relegated to boring black "miracle" swimwear. I'm wearing the red España suit, which has a removable strap. Unfortunately I didn't get to attend Full Figured Fashion Week this year, but check out Musings of a Fatshionista to see some of the other amazing pieces that Monif C. showed on the runway.
Big news! I'm so excited I can finally announce that I have been chosen by MTV to be one of 20 finalists in the running to become their first ever Twitter Jockey, or TJ. The competition will be held during the month of July, and the winner will move to NYC, get a one year contract with MTV, and make 100,000 per year! You can check out my bio/page here: http://tj.mtv.com/2010/06/09/tj-bio-gabi
Anyone who has been reading YFF for a while knows that living in New York City is a huge dream of mine. I tried moving there last summer but ran out of money and had to come back to the midwest. As much as I love fashion, I also love social media and popular culture; this is an amazing opportunity, and I truly need all of your support! How great would it be if there was a fashionable, body-positive plus size girl working in mainstream media (and MTV at that)? Plus, if I win, I can guarantee A LOT more outfit posts...can you imagine my wardrobe if I actually had steady income? Man.
The main thing I need you guys to do is FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY (my username is @gabifresh). There will be a series of challenges and you will have to follow me there in order to help! The more followers and interaction I have with you guys, the better. Secondly, PLEASE help spread the word and tell your friends to follow me. Post on your blogs, facebook, twitter pages, youtube channels, or anything else you can think of! (If you have any additional connections or creative ideas, feel free to email me!) Out of the 20 of us, the top 5 will go to NYC for a week and compete there, and then a live finale show will air on MTV and the winner is determined by votes....meaning I cannot do this alone! My biggest fear is that people will say "oh, how nice! I hope you win!" but not actively help me in this journey, but I hope that's not the case. I love you all so much, thank you for your continued support! I will of course keep you updated as things progress.
I've been wanting to post an outfit for ages, but it seems like whenever I actually wear something worthy of presenting to the e-world, I have no one around to play photographer. The days of setting my camera on random objects and using a self-timer are behind me, and I don't have the money for a tripod. Today, finally, I knew my roommate would be around, so I decided it would be a good day to take pictures. Of course as soon as I got ready, the weather went crazy (I'm talking like, apocalypse). Neither of us were really up for leaving the house, but I went on the back porch for 30 seconds before giving up. Standing in front of trash cans with frizzy hair and wet shoes is not my idea of a good blog post. I included a separate picture of the dress, since we didn't even manage to get a good full-length shot. At least you can get a glimpse of my new lace leotard and Jeffrey Campbell 99 look-a-likes from Forever21. Real outfit coming on the next sunny day!
I'm a fun loving girl who happens to have a flair for fashion. I'm just trying to change the world one fat girl at a time.
For business inquiries, email me: gabi@youngfatandfabulous.com
For all other questions/concerns, please tweet me or write on the YFF facebook page and I will be sure to get back to you.
While I am happy to do clothing reviews, YFF is NOT a promotional blog. Please do not email me asking me to promote your product, sale or event.For more info, please read the FAQs.
#tracker {
position: absolute;
bottom:0px;
right:0px;
visibility:hidden;
}