Heya ladies, how are we??? Hope you’re all keeping well and looking fine! Now as usual things have been go go go on the Curvy is Beautiful front with lots of hunting around for new prospective suppliers and of course keeping tabs on the hottest new styles coming in soon. I will be sure to put these up online here and on Facebook as soon as pre-order images are released from the look books! So stay tuned!

Now amongst the swirls of fabrics and gorgeous frocks, there’s been lots of other things on my mind, but the main thing I’d like to talk about is the ‘love who you are’ motto I’m plugging over here.  Now most of you may or may not have noticed, but I tend to use the word curvy a lot. This is how I like to describe us women who have a little something to grab onto! Now one thing that’s really gotten my gripe lately is the constant degrading labels that society seems to be throwing around about us ladies. You open a magazine, newspaper or an online news or fashion website, and everything is all about people’s size. If I hear or read of one more person being referred to as plus size, large, big, fat, overweight or obese because they’ve gained a couple extra kilos, I think I’m going to scream!

People really need to get off this labeling bandwagon and get the f*ck over it! Excuse my French! Amongst many other labels, I personally am really not too keen on the term ‘plus size’ because it’s associated with ‘big’ which I don’t really like. But it seems to be the common lingo these days for anybody that’s over a size 14 (which I think really, is just ridiculous). I mean what does that make those who are smaller than a 14? Are they ‘minus size’?! Pfft please!

Now I know there are many different types of women out there, many who are proud of their shape and size, and who wouldn’t find society’s labeling offensive, but there are many women out there, who aren’t ok with it and I don’t blame them. Mainly because, stereotypes seem to follow those labels pretty closely. I detest the fact that people assume I’m most likely unhealthy because I carry a bit of ‘extra’ weight. In fact, according to my BMI (Body Mass Index) I’m apparently obese, yet I have no issues when I exercise, I don’t feel unhealthy and I think I look pretty damn good when I put on a gorgeous dress and my dancing shoes! So tell me Mr BMI calculator how the hell did you come up with your figures?! I think it should be called the FGI (Feel Good Index) and should actually have realistic indicators to measure how you feel!

Which brings me to my next point….society’s assumption of what size you should be to be healthy. Now what a load of garbage.  I know people who are over 100kg in weight, they are happy and have no health issues. I also know a couple of people who are at that 65-70kg mark and they have health issues like high cholesterol and high blood pressure.  But according to the BMI calculator, they’re within their healthy weight range. So does this mean their health concerns are ok, because they’re supposedly not ‘overweight’ or ‘obese’? Go figure!

Where do we draw the line with how much emphasis we put on the million and one articles that are written about how much we should weigh to be healthy, what we should and shouldn’t eat and how we should and shouldn’t look? When did people stop trusting themselves, trusting their own judgment and looking at how they actually feel about themselves, within themselves? If you were constantly surrounded by positive affirmations and re-enforcement (instead of the negative ones that are often pushed out by society) would you feel differently about yourself?

Now I’m going to leave you with that thought and also with another inspirational quote from Julie Parker… “The only opinion about yourself that is important, is your own. Seek validation from within”

Until next time

x