Kelly Osbourne on Fashion and Plus Size Clothing

Kelly Osbourne speaking at Lucky Fabb  April 2013 in a mix of designer & high street fashion. Photo ©M. Hall

It’s been a rumor for a while, but a few weeks ago at Beauty Con Los Angeles, Kelly Osbourne confirmed that she is working to launch a Plus-Size clothing line.  I’ve heard Kelly speak at both Beauty Con and Lucky Fabb about how when she was heavier (than the sample size she is now) that is was hard for her to find stylish clothes in larger sizes.  At Lucky Fabb, earlier this year, she made it clear that she hasn’t forgotten the designers who wouldn’t lend her clothes for red carpet events because she wasn’t model sized.  Now Kelly may have the last laugh by getting into the hottest growing segment in fashion: Plus-Size clothing.

Kelly Osbourne shares information about her clothing line on Twitter via @KellyOsbourne.

“I had one of the most exciting meetings of my life this week — it pretty much green-lit my clothing line,” Miss Kelly O told the audience at BeautyCon in Hollywood last month.    “When I lost weight and started to wear the clothes I always wanted to wear but didn’t fit into, that’s when [my perception within the industry] really started to change,” Kelly said. “It did give me a bit of a bittersweet feeling towards the fashion world.”

I always love it when  I have the opportunity to hear Kelly speaks at conferences.  Her honestly is refreshing.  No word yet on what designer or brand would help Kelly launch her fashion label, so stay tuned.  I could see the Kelly O line sold at Zara, H&M or even  QVC.  When Kelly spoke at LuckyFabb, she mentioned that she loves wearing an item of relatively inexpensive clothing from Zara along with a piece of really good jewelry to dress it up.   She offered the advice that you can invest in great jewelry and match it with inexpensive trendy clothing to create a great look.

And who does Kelly look to as her fashion icon? “It really is my Mom.  She taught me so much about fashion. She taught me howto dress, because when you don’t have the luxury of being a size 2 it is a lot harder to learn how to dress, learning how to layer it and hide things.   For example, Kelly says,  “if something’s cut on the bias it can elongate you and make you look skinnier.”

As for the one beauty item Kelly can’t live with out? At Lucky Fabb she noted it’s her perfume, Extreme. ” Everyone in my family has a signature scent.”    As for living recessionista, Kelly had some unique advice, ” Put your money into your shoes, your handbags, and one nice  blazer, and put everything else into vintage and high street and no one will know.”  In the photo above, Kelly is doing just that, her outfit is from Zara, her jacket is by Karl Lagerfeld and her shoes are by Stella McCartney.

Kelly noted that she knows many celebrities that shop at Zara, but then they cut the tags out so no one will know. Surprisingly, Kelly revealed that she also is an avid reader of “Do It Yourself” or DIY blogs, because she likes to customize  clothing to make her clothing unique, to have what ” no one else has.”   For example, she might take a jacket and cut the sleeves off.

“Everything was all about structure before the recession. Now, it’s not so much, so right back to the 1930’s where’s it’s kinda swinging, there’s a lot more fluidity in clothes because of their seams and it’s cheaper to manufacture, ” Kelly told the audience at Lucky Fabb Spring 2013 in Los Angeles.

Clearly, Kelly Osbourne knows a lot more about fashion than you might think. I was really impressed by her observations. I’m following Kelly on Twitter for updates on her fashion line. On  her Twitter feed, Kelly notes that her fashion line will launch next fall and range in sizes from size 0 to size 18. Watch this space, I think Miss Kelly O is perfectly sized for success in fashion retail.