Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lorna Ketler. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Lorna, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

My mission is to provide fabulous fashion options to women who have plus-sized or curvy bodies. This beautiful demographic is consistently under served in most shopping areas and I believe we all deserve to have options to create our own unique and personal fashion style. For 24 years I’ve been providing a fun, safe and welcoming retail space for more women up to size 24. Ideally we’d be even more inclusive in size options and I work towards that goal. In each of our dressing rooms we have signs that read, “This is a body-hate free zone.”
We have conversations about what we love about our bodies and discourage negative body talk in general.
We’ve all heard the fashion “rules” around what women should wear if they are a certain size or shape. I encourage you to drop those ideas on their head and see what resonates and lights you up! Is it a favourite colour? Or type of fabric? Does it make you shimmy and twirl? Does it feel like butter on your skin? You are the best expert on you and how you choose to adorn yourself.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

24 years ago, I noticed the lack of options for my plus-sized self to shop for fun, funky clothing with flair and style. There seemed to be a vast amount of tent shaped flowery tees and tie-dyed dresses but if that wasn’t your vibe, there wasn’t much else. I believed I could create something better.
My dream was to create a fun and celebratory boutique space with fashion options in plus-sizes.
24 years in and going strong, we have a pretty boutique with an abundant, curated selection of curvy and plus-sized fashions in-store and now on our website.
And we celebrate women. We change the conversation. We encourage everyone to see their own unique beauty. We give back to women’s organizations and build up when and where we see opportunity.
Women helping women helping women. It all works together.
I also challenge myself to walk the walk. To be an example of living a full life as I am in this body. During Covid I started cold water swimming with a friend in our local lake.
We have had amazing experiences and felt the exhilaration of breaking ice to swim in the winter time.
I share photos of myself many times per week, sometimes in my bikini. Not something I ever thought I’d do. Both the cold water and the bikini ;). But/and I feel it’s important to share, to encourage others to do hard and scary things outside of their comfort zone with a less than a traditionally perfect body.
Life is too short to wait for the perfect moment to have a perfect and magical moment/experience.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

Several years ago I had the opportunity to work with a local friend and designer to create and build our own Bodacious fashion label. It was a great opportunity to enhance brand awareness and to fill some holes in what was available and quality in plus-sizes.
We have created a line of soft dressing styles with beautiful fabrics and fabulous fit.
What I knew I needed was a partner who could be in charge of quality control, creatively critique my design ideas and do small runs which is almost impossible to find in manufacturing.
A lovely bonus is that she had also moved to Vancouver Island so we are near enough to each other to work more intimately with the designs and production.
It became a bonus opportunity that I can now offer my customer custom adjustments to our designs when needed.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Over the years there have been many challenges or shall we say opportunities to learn and grow. From bus strikes to sidewalks removed for repair (opportunity for a “we don’t have a sidewalk sale”) to the biggest challenge of all 4 years ago when Covid came to town. All the plans were in place to celebrate 20 years in business. The hall and band were booked. Invitations were being drawn out. And then everything stopped. We had to close our doors for an undetermined amount of time.
Closing the business was not an option and I knew we had a strong and supportive customer base so I did my best to make myself available on social media.
I’d do daily live broadcasts modeling clothes, talking about my day and just sending out love and support to everyone. I also applied and received a government grant for assistance in building my online shopping site. I drove around delivering orders and doing porch drop offs and catching up with my customers in person from a distance. I did what I had to do to survive.
2 years into Covid as other stores were closing around me, I was able to move into a much larger space with more visibility and free parking.
It was the best move ever!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bodacious.ca
• Instagram: @bodavictoria
• Facebook: Bodacious Lifestyles Boutique
• Other: Pinterest bodaciouslorna

Image Credits
Vivienne McMaster @BeYourOwnBeloved