Transformation or Assimilation? Examining Identity and Organizational Tensions at Full Figured Fashion Week

Full Figured Fashion Week (FFFWeek) is a week-long event envisioned to be a countervailing force that challenges traditional body standards in the US fashion industry, showcasing plus-sized models and offering a safe space for fat bodies to commune and patronize plus size vendors. However, two years of participant observations with a critical lens has revealed how FFFWeek employed organizational decisions that demonstrate the complicated context of fashion and fatness, along with the ongoing struggle between body positive and fat accepting discourses, and the inner workings of capitalism and hegemony as an attempt to create social change.