About Us

Hello angels! Welcome to Gaudy x Miggs: a heart-filled collaboration between designer Lois McMillan and plus-size writer Marie Southard Ospina. We are a couple of queer, fat-positive, feminist mamas and pals based in rural West Yorkshire, and we are super grateful that you’ve popped over to check out our very first capsule collection. 

 

So here’s a little bit about us!

 

Lois is the designer behind Gaudy Grrl, an exciting independent shop full of unapologetic homewares, accessories, and apparel. Her style is a one-of-a-kind mishmash of vintage, punk, and (you guessed it) gaudiness that will brighten up any room. When she isn’t sewing, she’s likely spending time with her three small children, two of the human variety and a chihuahua called Butch; or making delicious homemade jam with fruits and veggies she’s grown herself.

 

Marie has been a fashion and culture journalist and digital content creator for 10 years and much of her work focuses on fat-acceptance and stories about identity. Through both her blogging and professional projects, she’s become part of an affirming community of fatties committed to making the world a kinder, gentler place. Marie spends her offline time hanging out with her daughters and enjoying life in the countryside after a few too many years in NYC.

 

Back in the summer of 2020, Marie sent Lois a text containing just three words: plus-size cottagecore. As a fat Colombian kid, Marie longed to be an extra in films such as A Little Princess or The Secret Garden, but knew there was a distinct difference between her body and those of the protagonists in these stories. In the time since, her body has grown a lot, her life has changed immensely, but her love for ensembles such as these has never wavered. She feels very lucky to have a close friend whose style, politics, and interest in fat-friendly slow fashion aligns so closely with her own; not to mention one who has been able to so beautifully bring Marie’s wildest design dreams to life.

 

We’ve combined our mixed experiences and skill sets to create this capsule collection in the hopes that more fat folks understand a simple message: that we deserve to be the protagonists of our own storybooks. We would love it if these garments remind you that there is strength in your softness.