LOULOU - Canada’s Shopping Magazine for the Plus Size Fashionista

LOULOU Magazine accomplishes something in Canada that I would love to see in the United States. It combines a fashion magazine with three known plus size merchants to create a very nice reading and shopping experience. Not long ago I wrote about troubles plus size ladies had in other countries finding trendy clothing. I also had trouble finding websites in other countries so many thanks go out to LOULOU Web editor (See Update) Benoit Jodoin for helping out.

On the surface the magazine does not have an upfront theme to attract larger women it seems to be just another digital version of a fashion magazine. Initially I was a little confused with the navigation of the website, but once I got the hang of things I realized that LOULOU is actually features clothing from a number of stores, including Addition Elle, Penningtons 14+, and MXM. Think of the magazine as a source that has already done the window shopping for you all you have to do is browse the results then go shopping wild.

After reading the article Confessions of a 14+ Model I was reminded of all the issues that ladies go through that want to model. Crystal Renn a top plus size model reveals a side of modeling that will serve as an inspiration to everyone.

Just like any other magazine LOULOU Magazine has plenty of content for readers to go through regardless of size. Additionally for those that prefer to read the old fashioned way, print subscription options are also available. When it comes to shopping at the three sponsored stores there shopping cart has a unique feature that I have never seen before. If you shop at one of the merchants then click to shop on another the shopping carts are linked so in the end you make one purchase from up to three sites instead of making three separate purchases. The one drawback is they only ship to Canada and the US, but they will soon be accepting Paypal payments giving shoppers more choices.

On the blog front LOULOU offers two blogs. One from Toronto editor Afiya Francisco that gives you the inside scoop on life and fashion in the city and the other from LOULOU’s resident shopaholic Dara Fleischer writing about her latest fashion and beauty obsessions. You can keep up with both blogs as well as the main website by adding them to your favorite newsreader.

Even with the initial navigation glitch LOULOU is an excellent shopping source for plus size ladies in both Canada and the United States. Stop buy and try them out and make sure if you are asked how you found out about them you say that you read about the magazine on Full Figure Plus.

UPDATE: Benoit Jodoin is not the editor of the plus size section, he is the editor of the web site in general. Also, the printed version of LOULOU does not feature plus size fashion every month. There are three plus size specials per year, one for spring and two for fall. The plus size section of the web site adds original content every month.