Meredith Shaw describes her long-standing relationship with Canadian retailer PENN. as a “slow burn.”

Shaw has been an authentic and enthusiastic advocate for the brand (originally known as Penningtons) for years as a stylist on the Marilyn Denis Show and now as co-host of Breakfast Television. But even before she and PENN. were partners collaborating on a summer dress capsule collection, she was a customer.

“It’s been a long game,” she says. “We’ve been getting to know each other and building trust.”

At the same time Shaw was getting to know PENN., an experience she thinks mirrors that of many other plus sized women in Canada, she was building herself up as a major player in the world of Canadian fashion. And she’s very aware of the eyes that are on her.

As a size inclusive advocate and stylist Shaw practices the philosophy that true style means following what you love and she believes that plus size women know what that means to them.

“We’ve been sold a lot of confusion and I just don’t buy it,” she says. “ I think you know what you want to wear, I just think especially with a plus size audience, we haven’t necessarily been given permission to follow that love because we’ve been disappointed.”

Her bold and flirty summer dress capsule collection with PENN. “an OG in the plus sized space” specializing in sizes 14-32, is a hand-selected lineup of 10 silhouettes and styles that celebrates the love of getting dressed for summer.

The Get Dress’d with Meredith edit is an “offering that will hopefully feel like candy,” says Shaw. She wants the selection to remind plus size women that there are options, that they belong in the fashion space and they’re going to look great this summer.

“And it’s not gonna be hard!” she says, having drawn on her experience working on sets as a model and stylist and understanding how garments wear on different bodies. Shaw specifically selected styles to accommodate a variety of needs with hidden practicality.

 “Not every dress has stretch in it, I wanted that to be a part of it,” she says. She also specifically chose different lengths, levels of stretch and contour to create a total summer capsule that will cover the bases from casual to formal.

After years of impeccable and unapologetic styling, something she says she’s “had to figure out and learn” as a size 16 woman, Shaw’s edit (which is just the beginning for this partnership) hopes to hand a bit of that expertise and empowerment over to other women.

The Get Dress’d with Meredith will be available in store and online May 5.

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