One of the beautiful things that happen when we accept and love bodies is that we own it in the world on our terms. No f*&ks given about who we are, how we look, or what other people think. We stand strong, proud and free. We become unstoppable forces of nature. And we get to inspire others to do the same.
But to get there, it helps to see other women who look like us doing it. They might still have bad days too, but most of the time they embody the confidence we know we want to feel too.
So every month, I will be bringing you a round-up of curvy women showing us what’s possible.
Ready to see who inspires us this month?
February’s Curvy Women Inspiring Us
Adele honoring Beyonce at the Grammy’s
Adele is a queen in her own right, and while she won the Grammy herself for album of the year, she acknowledged her soul sister’s achievement in her speech. Seeing her share the spotlight tells us so much about her heart. Girls compete, women empower and uplift each other. We’re all in this together.
“The Lemonade album, Beyoncé, was so monumental, and so well thought out, and so beautiful and soul-bearing. And we all got to see another side of you that you don’t always let us see, and we appreciate that. And all us artists adore you. You are our light. And the way that you make me and my friends feel, the way you make my black friends feel, is empowering, and you make them stand up for themselves. And I love you. I always have. And I always will.” – Adele
Lady Gaga at the Super Bowl
She’s not what one might consider curvy, but a curve of her body was brutally shamed at the super bowl. First, let’s just acknowledge how ridiculous it was that her beautifully soft belly, which was just barely peeking out over her very tight scant bottoms was shamed. Gaga responded with the voice of an empowered woman who doesn’t give a fuck and doesn’t think you should either.
“I heard my body is a topic of conversation so I wanted to say, I’m proud of my body and you should be proud of yours too. No matter who you are or what you do. I could give you a million reasons why you don’t need to cater to anyone or anything to succeed. Be you, and be relentlessly you. That’s the stuff of champions. thank you so much everyone for supporting me. I love you guys. Xoxo, gaga”
The 27 Plus Models at NYFW
These babes. Be still my heart. Brave beauties who didn’t lose themselves in an eating disorder to model. From Ashley Graham to Instagram star Minahil Mahmood (better known as @bae.doe), they had the confidence to step onto the runway, take up space and show the world that all bodies deserve to be here and curves that jiggle are sexy af. Thanks to Christian Siriano who seems to be carrying the torch of plus design, who sent 5 of these beauties down the runway in his show.
The 27 models numbered more than twice as many as last year, proving to us that the body positive movement is working to diversify and represent curvy bodies in the fashion industry. Yes, we’d love to see more body types beyond hourglass, but we can also be grateful for progress over perfection.
Tess Holliday
To know that we belong, we have to see that there our other bodies like ours, or so much diversity that we see that we are one, beautiful, unique snowflake. Tess Holliday and nine other women stripped down to jeans, shoes and black bras, and carried signs around Union Station in Toronto, Canada to do just that. They took a stand for body diversity by holding up signs encouraging people to take photos and share them on social media to start a conversation about body acceptance.
“Today something amazing happened & I got to share it with these amazing women,” Holliday, 31, wrote on Instagram Wednesday.
“Yes for body diversity. Yes to walking through Union Station in just your bra & jeans. Yes to us embracing our bodies at all stages.”
Do you like this feature? Because of the importance of body acceptance and women’s issues today, we’d like to place a spotlight on these powerful voices of diversity. We are endlessly inspired and awestruck by all the amazing feats by these women and what they are accomplishing every day, it is only fitting to express our admiration and share the love.
Is there anyone you would like to see us feature in the upcoming months? Which curvy babes inspired you?