Kampala Fashion Week

A Curvy Girl’s Guide To Dressing For Fashion Week

By Lyn Atwiine | October 1, 2019

When I got the confirmation that I was going for Kampala Fashion Week, my mind immediately went into Pinterest mode, thinking of all the clothing combinations I had always wanted to try. The thing is, dressing ‘interesting’, when you have a few extra curves here and there, can be tricky. I had a few items in my closet that I knew would work so I was going shopping to get the cherry on the cake. I started with an Instagram DM. There is this brand I had noticed a couple of weeks ago that makes statement t-shirts. I placed in my order for a shirt that made my day 3 outfit complete and went out to find the rest.

The one thing I would say NOT to do is go shopping when you’re in a rush. So I go to this shopping mall and make my way in, looking through all the stores and waiting for something to just jump out at me. I originally wanted my day 2 outfit to be a long sleeved knit dress that would bring the oh-so-chic, I-barely-tried moment, but when I tried one on I realized exactly why that wouldn’t work. It clung to my frame even if it wasn’t tight, and highlighted every bump and roll in a way that was far from endearing. I immediately decided against it and went for the next best effortless option: the shirt dress.

The one thing that jumped out at me was this brown shirt dress. It was long sleeved, not too short n’ skimpy and the fabric was luscious; a sheen that caught the light with a soft feel to it when I touched it. It looked luxurious. I rushed into the store and asked for all their shirt dresses, if they had that gem on display, maybe there were better ones in hiding. After trying on a mountain of clothes I soon realized I was not going to get any better, so I asked for my brown dream. I wore it and it felt right. A bit too loose for my frame, but I guess I’d deal with it later – in styling.

So with my t-shirt being made, I needed something to go with it. A blazer would do, but I have a nice embroidered oversized one hanging in my closet. I will need some bottoms, lest I end up showing up in my random jeans. I walk past this shop that has all this denim. Maybe I could do dungarees? That would be an interesting set of layers. I quickly thought against them once I walked into the shop because I realised the front of the dungarees would cover the words on my tee. The shop attendant brought out a little fold of leather. “Try this skirt on, it would look great on you,” I doubted him. I was thinking it was going to hug even the dimples on my bum bum. When I wore it, it glimmered in the light, the mirror was nodding at me like “yes, yes yesss, buy it now!” I had a t-shirt on so it was perfect to simulate how the look would be. My booty was glimmering, a little too much for my taste, but I remembered that I had an oversized jacket that would hit my thigh maybe. It would look chick from the front and from the back.

Keep in mind I got these just one day to fashion week, I had other thing on my mind and all that. So come day 2 of Kampala Fashion Week, when I was supposedly making my debut, and the dress did not look like what I thought it would. It was unflatteringly loose, so long that I looked shorter and stockier than I’d hoped. I even wanted to wear flats but that would just worsen matters. I tried belting it with another brown belt so that it would be a 50 shades of beige moment but instead I looked like a prisons officer. A mess! I played around with it until I phoned some buttons off the top to make it an off shoulder, then opened the bottom half of buttons to make it a top and put a pair of black slacks underneath. The slight V neck that the buttons made were wonderful for elongating my frame, and the “tail” at the back of the dress was just wistfully floating away from me as I walked.

On day 3 my ensemble came together; with the perfect sized t-shirt saying, “What would Blair Warldof do?” on it, to which I paired a pearl necklace (because that’s exactly what Blair would do) matching with my black on black jacket and mini skirt combo, plus red shoes and a tame red lip. I felt like a whole mood, and was comfortable enough not to go through any of the motions of sucking in my arms or anything.