The first thing I want to say is that the following words are in no way meant to bash on the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show or the models in it. I LOVE watching the the fashion show every year, I love the fancy way the lingerie is styled and the costumes and the singers and the glitter and all of it. I think it’s fabulous. I think the models are beautiful and I know they have all worked EXTREMELY hard to get to the point in their careers where they can walk in it. I know that these girls are in an industry that puts more pressure on them than anything we can imagine. Just to clear that up :)
The problem is that every year when the fashion show airs, my facebook news feed suddenly becomes filled with self-hate statuses from girls about their weight. And it needs to stop.
Being skinny doesn’t make someone beautiful, and being beautiful doesn’t mean someone has to be skinny. Why does one thing need to equal the other? Why do girls forget about their amazing accomplishments, their strengths, their big hearts, and feel ugly because of the amount of fat on their bodies? Doesn’t that seem really crazy? And yet every single girl I know, myself included, will get down on herself because of her weight. And it’s ridiculous. You girls are SO GORGEOUS, whether you look like a Victoria’s Secret Model or not. I want you all to be able to watch the fashion show and say “Yes, that model is beautiful, and cute, and sexy, and pretty, and so am I.” Be healthy and be yourself because that’s what makes you beautiful (andddddd cue One Direction!!)
Here are some links that are just sort of helpful in the realm of body image and self esteem.
Healthy is the New Skinny– This is a way awesome website that has Fashion Editorials with natural-sized models. Super refreshing to see and the fashion photography is absolutely killer!
Curve Appeal- This basically just a Tumblr blog that posts user submitted photos/stories and fashion shots that show curvy girls. I love it because I think it shows how many different body types really exist in the world, and it’s so rare that we see images of these body types.
Un-edited Victoria’s Secret Photos– Some photos from a recent Victoria’s Secret catalog got released unedited, and a photography website wrote an article detailing everything they edit in each picture. Really interesting and it shows how much they can alter the pictures we see!
Pro Photo Editor– This is the portfolio of before/afters of a high end photo retoucher. I just wanted you guys to see, again, the power of photoshop when it comes to what we see in magazines vs. reality. You can find lots more of these by googling High End Retouching or Professional Beauty Retouching.
I just feel really passionate about this subject because I have this amazing job where I get to work with absolutely beautiful ladies, and most of the time they don’t even know how pretty they are. So when you see a facebook status tonight that says a girl is starting a diet tomorrow, write something nice on it that tells her how pretty she is. Just a few words can go such a long way.
And to end on that note, here are some of MY favorite words by completely amazing JK Rowling:
I love you all, you are more beautiful than you know :)
by Haley