#161: The Myth of "Flattering": Clothing and Body Acceptance with Anti-Diet Personal Stylist Dacy Gillespie (Best Of)

"Dress for your body type", "define your waist", and "only wear what is flattering". The anti-fat bias we talk about on this podcast all the time extends into how we dress ourselves and what we feel worthy of wearing.

As our bodies change (as they will continue to do throughout our life), many of us are met with barriers to body acceptance. And our clothes are a massive part of that. But they can also be a pivotal part of our liberation.

This week we're joined by Dacy Gillespie, a weight-inclusive anti-diet personal stylist. We untangle the mess of our closets, dismantle patriarchal ideas of fashion, and challenge our sense of what we "should" be wearing based on our body shape and size.

• What’s on Dacy’s plate right now (and importantly, what's not)

• Dacy’s journey to personal styling and anti-diet work

• Why having a passion for clothing is not vain

• Fashion’s role in body image and societal pressures

• Understanding clothing sizes and body measurements

• Size acceptance and our clothes

• How to shop for new clothing as your body changes

• Steps to take to identify your personal style separate diet and beauty culture

• Letting go of old clothes and emotional attachments

• How clothing sizes impact our body image 

• The life-changing magic of finding your authentic style

• Challenging the inner critic when shopping

• Barriers to accessing clothing in a larger body

• The limitations of “flattering”

• The fashion rules we need to ditch 

• How to deal with your closet

About Dacy:

As a weight inclusive, anti-diet personal stylist, Dacy Gillespie helps her clients reject fashion rules and ideal standards of beauty imposed by the patriarchy, white supremacism, and capitalism so that they can uncover their authentic style. Through their work building a functional wardrobe, Dacy’s clients make a mindset shift from thinking they need to wear what’s flattering to unapologetically taking up space in the world. After a lifetime of jobs in high-stress careers that didn’t suit her highly-sensitive, introverted personality, Dacy started mindful closet in 2013 in an attempt to create a more emotionally sustainable lifestyle. Her work has been featured in Forbes and Real Simple and she is a frequent podcast guest. Dacy is married and has two boys, ages 5 and 9.

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Podcast Cover Photography by Anya McInroy

Podcast Editing by Brian Walters

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