Author: PetitePlusMeow

Social Media Enthusiast. Learning Designer. Curvy Fashionista. I'm a 30-something Canadian born Bengali (parents are from Kolkata, India...for those of you who need to know that type of thing). I've been chubby-curvy-plus-sized my entire life. Standing at a height of 5'2 and with a darker complexion, it has always been a challenge finding outfits or "looks" that really suit me. Living in the fashionable city of Toronto since birth, with a solid career has finally allowed me to embrace my love of pretty fashions in clothing, shoes and everything in between.

Hello, Yellow!

It was a gloomy partly cloudy day in Toronto … and surprisingly chilly for a July day.

With an afternoon full of meetings in the downtown core (yuck), my mood needed some lifting. So I decided that my outfit needed to be bright, loud and fresh.

Here’s what I came up with:

I’ve been searching for “the perfect yellow” – very difficult to find. Found this lovely light-weight sweater in the clearance rack ($14) at Reitmans in The Duffrin Mall the other day, figured I’d be saving it for the Fall, but today was just cool enough to unveil it.

My favourite parts of this outfit are the shoes and purse!!! Picked up both pieces LAST summer…..when I was totally obsessing over this amazing turquoise colour. Even my earrings match in this outfit. Aren’t these shoes just fantastic!!!! Gawd! I love them! 🙂

So….Waddya think?

Multiple patterns! Loud colours! Too much for an afternoon in the office? Maybe…..buuuut I don’t care.

I like it! It totally lifted my mood – and I’m ready to face these meetings with a “passionately neutral” approach 🙂

How I Got The Look:

Yellow & white stripped summer sweater from Reitmans; Grey checkered pencil skirt (click here to see skirt in other posts), Dorothy Perkins from The Hudson Bay Co.; Fabulous patterned peep-toed pumps from Nine West; Turquoise purse from Aldo Accessories; Earrings gifted.

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Deep-V Faux Wrap

I have to say that I’ve been really, really good about NOT making too many additional outfit purchase since my Cross Boarder Shopping Extravaganza earlier this summer. Buuuuuuut, every now and again, usually when I finally make it into the office downtown, I maybe find an amazing piece or two that is simply too lovely to pass on.

Like this amazing sleeveless deep-V faux-wrap dress I saw hanging in a Winners rack just as I was leaving. There isn’t much of a plus-size selection at many of the locations in the downtown core, or so I’ve found. This dress that I fell in love with for instance, was a XL in straight sizes. Dun dun dun…..

I didn’t even have time to try it on – just held it up against my body. I decided that the DBA (designated-boob-area) was ample enough, the pattern and fabric forgiving enough, that I just ran it over to the checkout and hoped for the best.

Later that week I found myself running errands in The Duffrin Mall (who, I must say, have really stepped-it-up from the frightening array of shops it housed from my memories as a teen), and discovered these fab booties on sale at Reitmans…… regular price $60 — marked down to $14.99!!!!!!

A little accessories love: Suede Booties from *Reitmans*; Jean jacket from Old Nay; Bow earrings and vintage purse were gifted & thrifted.

New Sunnies!!! My first Aviators…from ElleHardware

And like that a country line-dancing outfit was born! 🙂

I rocked this outfit and made my way to Boots N’ Bourbon for their Thursday Night lesson + 1/2 priced appies and $5 beers!

Happy to say I wasn’t a complete disaster on the dance-floor. Thank goodness for all the vid clips from my previous blogpost: Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy!

Giddy Up!

How I Got The Look:

Dress from Winners (Wellington/Yonge); Jean jacket from Old Navy; Booties from Reitmans; Aviator sunglasses from Elle Hardware (West Queen West); Bow earrings were a gift and vintage suede purse thrifted/gifted.

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Graphic Tiki

Nothing screams summertime like tiki prints!

I picked up this graphic tiki dress from Forever21 recently — with full intentions on saving it for the Toronto Vintage Society’s annual Tiki Party this August. (Check it out this year friends….super fun times…add it to your summertime fun calendar!) 😉

Buuuuut I couldn’t wait!

Since my toes are a bit of a disaster and badly in need of a pedicure… I pulled the tags off this sucker and paired it with my black high-tops that I’ve been dying to break in since my Cross-Boarder Shopping Extravaganza .

This dress (in 2x) was a bit big on me – the length and the shoulder weren’t the best fit, plus turned out that all-day wear made the neckline of this cotton dress pretty droopy & wide. Not cute.

But since these pictures, I’ve put it in the washer/dryer and am happy to report it’s a much better fit and has shortened up nicely. HAZZA! 🙂

Farewell lovely cat-eyed sunnies. Sadly, I’ve since misplaced these gorgeous sunglasses…sigh. Ya’ll know what that means….an excuse to buy new ones!!!! 🙂

How I Got The Look:

Graphic button up Tiki dress, Forever21+ (Eaton Ctr); Black hi-top platform kicks, Torrid (Walden Gallery, Buffalo); Vintage Cat-eyed Sunglasses, The Public Butter; Grey cross-body purse, Michael Kors

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Summerlicious Nights

Toronto kick’s off their Summerlicious season!!! Which means this petite plus diva gets to get dolled up to discover and experience the diverse cuisine this city has to offer at exceptional value!!! For two mouth-watering weeks in July, foodies savour delicious three-course prix fixe lunch and dinner menus at more than 200 of the city’s top restaurants.

Last Night a gf and I tried out CHURCH APERITIVO BAR. Located in an old church at Queen and Dovercourt….this spot’s speciality is Italian cuisine. The food was delish with very generous portions. The meatballs were just like my ex’s Nona used to make (once you added some of their chili-flake sauce). There’s a built-in 18% gratuity, and the paired wine with the menu turned out to be $15 PER GLASS. A little outrageous, I think, but waddya gonna do once your belly is full and the bill comes. Sadly, I failed to take any photos of my food … which is very unusual for me… guess we were more hungry than we thought. 🙂

Here’s what I wore:

Does this dress look familiar? That’s cuz … it was one of the dresses I wore for the collaboration photo shoot entitled “IS IT SPRING YET?” with Rebecca Northcott Photography and Your Big Sister’s Closet this past Spring.

I fell in love with this dress immediately! So much so that I had to buy it BEFORE we even got to the location for the photoshoot 🙂

If you look closely at the photo shoot pictures you’ll see my bra strap is showing … sigh. At the time I didn’t have one that was suitable of the way the back of this dress is cut. Buuuuuuut in the newer pictures from this post – this has been corrected with Cacique’s Lace Racerback Bra!!

Black suede platform sandals (Nine West) give me the height needed to wear this lovely maxi dress without any alterations!

Short Diva Trick – I tied a wee knot in the bottom of my dress so that I don’t trip over the length whist indoors without those sky-high platform sandals.

It was a bit on the cooler side that night – with temperatures threatening to dip into high teens tonight (+18) … so keeping that in mind, I paired this gorgeous maxi with an open black 3/4 sleeved cardi (Reitmans). In an effort to keep it ‘summertime fun’, I tied it in front rather than keeping it open so that the lovely paisley pattern doesn’t get hidden. 🙂

How I Got The Look:

Black & paisley maxi dress from Your Big Sister’s Closet (click here to see the photoshoot I did for them that prompted me to buy this dress)

Sandals from Nine West Outlet (click here to see my cross-boarder shopping haul post)

Black open cardi, Reitmans; Silver teardrop earrings, Payless; Black clutch wallet, Ardene

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Backless Nautical Navy

Ooo!! It’s summertime and I have to admit, I’ve been baring my arms and legs much more than I ever had in pervious summers.

Blogging has gotten me braver in my outfit choices and more confident to rock things I’d normally shy away from. Like this fantastic dress I picked up cross-border shopping recently … I was immediately drawn to it on the rack. Buuuuut upon picking it up I noticed that an important piece of fabric was missing ….that critical piece of fabric that covers up my giant bra clasps and that loveable back roll that gets formed upon wearing said giant bra.

Doesn’t this dress just SCREAM: Summer!!! I just love it!

The hi-lo skirt is perfect for petite beauties as there will be zero ‘tripping-up-the-stairs’ incidents as there might be with lengthy maxis (least it’s the case for moi…seems I’m terribly clumsy). I’ve already professed my love and devotion to all the nautical-ness in fashion since the Spring…so this dress just needed to be mine! Click here and here and here and here for all my previous nautical love posts friends!

A special shoutout to the lovely coral floral necklace and earring set I’m wearing in this post. Picked it up from this cute lil’ boutique called One Girl Who on St. Clair West in Toronto. Recently rediscovered it among all my jewellery….. doesn’t it just add to the summertime fun feeling of this outfit? 🙂

How I Got The Look:

Backless Navy Striped dress from Rainbow Clothing from recent Cross-Border shopping trip; Coral floral necklace & earring set from The Girl Who; Pink purse from Your Big Sister’s Closet; White & gold sandals from Le Chateau

So… waddya think about the backless-ness of this dress? Would you rock it? How would you style it? I wanna know what you think friends….tell me in the Comment Section below!

Dog Days of Summer

I’m a total city girl. Growing up cottage-less, I’ve never really got to enjoy “the great outdoors” much as a kid…and have only really started to appreciate being out in nature as an adult.

Before moving into a shoe-box sized condo, I owned a house in the East York/Upper Beaches area of Toronto with a standard mini-backyard with just the right amount of grass and greenery to lounge and laze about a summer afternoon, with the pup.

Sigh … I miss that lil’ green space. Nowadays, I’ve taken to keeping a picnic blanket, book and bottle of water pre-packed in a beach bag at my door so that when the mood strikes, me and The Bertso (that’s the pup) can re-create that zen-like lazy feeling in Trinity Bellwoods Park instead. Here’s what I wore on a recent lazy weekend afternoon:

How I Got The Look:

Orange Italian Leather sandals from Hudson Bay Co.; Lime floral tank from Lane Bryant; Jean skirt (with built-in shorts) from Reitmans; and a ridiculously large floppy sunhat from The Public Butter (vintage shop on West Queen W/Duffrin)

Moi, looking a lil’ dopey after 5-hours of sun worshiping

These Orange Italian Leather sandal’s life came to an end…sigh

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Shout-outs from Kiyonna

Ooooooo!!!

Just discovered that Kiyonna Clothing gave me shout-outs on their Facebook page and their “Real Curves” Pintrest page of me in their Valentina Illusion dress!!! ❤

If you missed my original blog post about this dress, not to fear….just click here 🙂

And if you wanna buy this dress for your very own, or anything else from this lovely line….with a special PPMeow! 20% off….click here 🙂

For other blog posts I’ve done on Kiyonna Clothing check these out:

FRUGALISTAS UNITE: KIYONNA SALE!

and

KIYONNA’S BLACK LACE

and

#MYVEGAS STYLE

Photo credit: Rebecca Northcott, Rebecca Northcott Photography

Classically Feminine

There’s just something about wearing pink that just makes me feel pretty! Pink lace, to me, just screams “classically feminine”.

I picked up this dress from Forever21+ with frost still on the ground and have been dying to make it work for a summertime office look. How cute are these sleeves!??! Love them so!

(Click here to see how I wore it this past winter/spring)

Wanting to keep all my accessories Black and White to match my thrifted flats and new paten-leather Kate Spade purse…..I removed the brown belt that came with this dress and replaced it with this cute skinny black bow-tie belt instead.

How I Got The Look:

Blush pink lace dress from Forever21+; shoes and earrings vintage/thrifted; Stripped paten-leather purse Kate Spade; Skinny Bowtie belt SWAK from Gussied Up

How would YOU style this dress? Would love to hear your thoughts and ideas within the Comments Section.

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Black Summer Prints

I usually try and avoid wearing too much black … especially in the summer. But there are a number of fun black-summertime-prints that I just couldn’t resist!

This hi-lo maxi dress (Target) has been with me for a few summers now – don’t look too closely, as you’ll see the black bits fading due to wash and wears. It’s one of my easy-peasy-favourite pieces.

Being petite (short) the train of this dress does sometimes cause me trouble. I’ve been known to trip up the stairs in this dress and also had a horrible experience with an escalator that nearly ended this dress’ life! Luckily, I managed to rescue and repair it and keep it among my summertime wardrobe still 🙂

Since the dress has a giant pattern with solid black boarders, I added a pops of colour with my coral purse (Aldo) and bright green stoned earrings (Stella & Dot), plus my stroppy gold & white sandals (Le Chateau) plus my vintage cat-eye sunnies to keep the looks casual for weekend wear of errands and city roaming.

Are you a fan of wearing black in the summertime? How do you incorporate it into your summer looks? Use the comment section below and let me know how YOU’D style this dress?

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Vintage Gypsy Cabaret?

I was at it again, representing with the Toronto Vintage Society at last weekend’s Electro Swing night-o-fun … looking for Best Dressed guy and gal. This time the theme was: Vintage Gypsy Cabaret. My immediate reaction was…..Whaaat!?! This made me dig deep when coming up with an appropriate look to match my TVS Sistas.

Outfit planning has been tricky to say the least….what the heck is Vintage-Gypsy-Cabaret anyway?! Google’s answer was the following…

….and from which inspired my overall outfit of excessive accessories (Thank You Jacquie, Founder of TVS) and giant hair inspiration of Kate Moss Biba.

I’ve been dying to somehow create a look with these fabulous silky Ali-Baba/Harem Pants I picked up on my trip to the Motherland a few years ago … just never really found an occasion where they would really fit. But they totally worked to help create that Gypsy feeling for this fantastic themed event!!!!

The evening began with pre-drinking at Erin’s … followed by excessive photo-taking of our outfits:

The Event & Best Dressed Winners:

Me and my TVS Sistas on stage….asking the audience to determine who BEST DRESSED was for the night.

10421503_809591515718406_4837104656577647159_n — Final Three for “Dapper Dude”: Alex, Patrick and Daniel

10430492_809591785718379_9162443959395387830_n — Final Three for “Darling Dame”: Sam, Foxy and Clair

10410576_809591332385091_8536558676859040825_n — Moi …. introducing TVS and the Best Dressed Contest. Clearly I enjoy having the mic in my hand

10443456_809591629051728_5430756783390965308_n — TVS selected these three for Best Dressed ‘Dapper Dude’

The ladies really stepped it up tonight….It was uber difficult to pick ‘Darling Dame’ based on these three finalists. Check out their costumes up close – all three were fantastic!

Best dressed guy and gal went to: Daniel and Sam – winners of gift certificates from Gaddabout Vintage Clothing – congratulations you two!!!

10456821_809591899051701_4628860598226836655_n — TVS with the Winners of the Best Dressed Contest!

With Taste of Little Italy happening that night just outside of Revival’s Electro Swing — the TVS Sistas took to the street to dance along side this One-Man-Band!

Other shenanigans of the evening included….

Photo Credit: David Tom — for the full album of photos taken from Electro Swing’s Vintage-Gypsy-Cabaret night click here

How I got the Look:

Black crochet tank from Forever21+; Black lace bra from Lane Bryant; Golden-green Harem/Ali-Baba pants from my travels in Jaipur, India; excessive accessories, plus turban and feathers courtesy of Jacquie of TVS; sandals from Payless