You may have originally met plus size designer Candace Frank in our Curvy Bosses series, where we sat down for an exclusive conversation with the gifted dressmaker to highlight her former line, Bawdy Love Clothing. As you may (or may not) know, Frank co-founded the uber-successful brand alongside fellow couturier Gwynedh Van Allan in 2017. The endeavor started as a way to provide full-figured bodies with empowering lingerie that promoted sexy at any size.
Together, Frank and Allan audaciously constructed pieces that voluptuous ladies could feel confident in, all while serving up #bodypositivity with a side of chic realness. What began as a young love for style blossomed into a money-making reality. Frank recalled during our interview with the then-duo, “As teenagers, we both learned how to make clothing because we wanted clothes we couldn’t get in our size.”
According to Frank, the message was to override the masses’ small-minded ideologies and bridge the gap in trends (specifically) for women on the larger end of the scale. She furthered elsewhere in the feature, “A lot of the beauty and fashion market is based on us feeling bad about ourselves and spending money to fix that. Our goal is to celebrate every body [and] to be truly inclusive. This is about helping you see that you are sexy just as you are.”
Unfortunately, in October 2022, Frank announced via Instagram that Bawdy Love Clothing would be closing its doors. It appears the business hit a few roadblocks that year, resulting in its sudden cessation. She heartbreakingly shared in the caption under a photo of their official logo: “I have been working for the past few months to right the course for Bawdy Love after many large and surprising changes earlier this year. I am disappointed to report that I have hit a dead end and will have to close Bawdy Love for the foreseeable future starting today.”
The Birth of Plus Size Designer Candace Frank’s Chub Rub Clothing
From there, Chub Rub Clothing was born, a reimaged approach to fat fashion that Frank would run independently. She added in BL’s goodbye post, “I look forward to creating a new brand that’s all mine: Chub Rub Clothing. Dramatically soft with a tough edge; she’s fun, playful, and colorful celebration of fat bodies.” Frank concluded, “Don’t think of this as a loss, think of it as a metamorphosis. Watch as I put Bawdy Love into this cocoon and transform it into something that is also wonderful in new and exciting ways.”
It’s safe to say Frank has done just that. With her entrepreneurial spirit and innovative eye, she created an entire chubby-girl renaissance for the big baddies all across the globe. Months after Chub Rub Clothing’s initial unveiling, she gushed in an introductory video, “Allow me to reintroduce myself… I’m Candace. I’m an artist, a business owner, a designer, a creator, and a revolutionary. I use my body to create art, and I use my art to help you love your body.”
When speaking on her sole purpose for the rising invention, at the time, Frank expanded: “I’m creating a brand where your softness, your fatness, your realness can be expressed and enjoyed, and I’m doing this because this is the world that I want around me. I’m doing this because this is the world that we all deserve.”
On February 22, 2023, Chub Rub Clothing officially launched, offering an array of sultry, liberating sets for babes whose only desire is to live boldly, beautifully, and ultimately… badaxx. Frank supremely sewed plus size representation to the front of modern media, cultivating a community for fat freedom with every collection. As if she hadn’t already inspired us to move fearlessly with the fupa, the Seattle-based boss proved that curvy, queer girls matter, too. On and off the rainbow. In and out of the faces that society tries to keep many hidden from.
Happily and proudly, Frank mastered each design with love on every part of the spectrum–no matter what that looked like to others. Be it through a stomach that hangs, a back that rolls, or skin marked with stripes of resilience, she provided a mirror for those who’ve long been afraid to look at their own reflection, encouraging us all to embrace the person staring back at us.
“Chub Rub is a reclaimation of all the beautiful things about us that we’re told time and time again to hide,” the online home for Chub Rub Clothing reads. “Chub Rub is here to help you revel in all the little secrets your bumps, wrinkles, and folds hold.”
But… while Frank’s growing empire for the heavier hotties is now the go-to for dresses, graphic tees, crop tops, leggings, skirts, swimwear, and (yes) lingerie, too, shoppers are in for a sweet treat aside from the fancy fabrics. In fact, Chub Rub Clothing has a variety of statement jewelry, buttons/pins, stickers, art prints, postcards, and even their own Fat Joy Potion for those who like rosy, euphoric scents!
Three years later, Frank continues redefining the narrative for the plush girlies in 2025–one creation at a time. Whether she’s stitching her next best seller, serving as one of the founding faces of Fat Con, or flaunting her spot at Seattle Fat Mall (a collaborative effort with Curvy Cactus), this multifaceted bombshell is a force of inspiration for us all.
Keep up with Chub Rub Clothing online:
Instagram: @chubrubclothing
Website: www.chubrubclothing.com
