A fatsuit is a bodysuit-like undergarment used to thicken the appearance of an actress or actor of light to medium build into a heavy-set or obese character, in conjunction with prosthetic makeup. Other spellings include fat suit and fat-suit.

It is worn by actors in TV shows (eg the Nina Bott fat makeup to coincide with the release of Shallow Hal) and various films (eg. Shallow Hal). It is usually supposed to provide comedic effect, as in "Weird Al" Yankovic's music video, Fat and Nicolas Cage in Adaptation..^[1]

Fatsuits may be intended to be either deliberately visible, or invisible. Most are intended as unseen body padding beneath a costume (Shallow Hal, Eddie Murphy's Klumps), others appear as realistic flesh and are viewed directly (Fat Bastard in Austin Powers, Tom Cruise's character Les Grossman's hands in Tropic Thunder).

Experience of obesity

Fatsuits may also be used to impart the experience of being obese to the wearer, not just the appearance of obseity to their audience. The suit in this case is weighted, as well as padded. Where the intention is to impart the experience of being seen as fat in a community, its appearance must also be realistic and so a fat suit rather than just a weight belt is needed. Several celebrities noted for their slimness have worn such garments and recorded their, and others', reactions as documentary of social attitudes to weight.^[2]

See also

• bodysuit
• prosthetic makeup

References

de:Fatsuit

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