Content area
Full Text
'I want to show that just because you’re plus-size, you don’t have to be wearing black and baggy clothes,' says the Bake Off finalist
Over the ten episodes of Bake Off’s 2020 series, it was Laura Adlington who captured the hearts of the nation through her charming, unpredictable rollercoaster of incredible cakes and messy disasters. She was called a ‘motherf***ing baking queen’ by Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke and formed a close bond with the show’s newest presenter, Matt Lucas.
Six months after losing out to Peter Sawkins in the final, Adlington is still baking up a storm but she’s added a new string to her bow, scouring shops for the best pieces for plus-size women like her and inspiring them to feel more confident about themselves. Now, her 146k followers on Instagram are as likely to be there for the inside track on her best fashion buys as they are for a key lime pie recipe.
31-year-old Adlington has always loved fashion, but in a tale which will be familiar to so many women, she’s often struggled to feel included when so few shops catered to her size and tastes.
‘I remember going to the high street on a Saturday with my friends and not being able to fit in the clothes so I always went for bags and accessories,’ she remembers. ‘I really struggled through my uni days as well.’
It was ASOS’s Curve range which proved to be ‘a real game changer’, an antidote to the frumpier designs on offer at more traditional shops. ‘No disrespect to Evans or places like that, but there was nothing really that was trendy before that, you didn’t want to look like a...