Hey Cats,
As the lovely Kitty Rambles is off getting married I jumped forward to guest post because Kitty is pretty rad and we share a love of alternative make up/fashion and True Romance! I am sure you're all with me when I say a huge congratulations and are waiting eagerly to see pictures and posts about the big day.
Well I am Kitty Kaos and I blog over at Adventures Of A Riot Grrrl (http://www.adventuresofariotgrrrl.com/) I blog about fashion, feminism and more. I haven't always been very body positive and grew up the fat grrrl. All my friends were super slim and I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb and then I discovered the amazing world of riot grrrl packed full of kick ass women who didn't care what the world thought of them and weren't afraid to speak their minds. So I am going to share some things I have learnt along the way.
The media around us today is becoming a little more inclusive but there are always huge slip ups that when faced with it can hit you. Like when self centred you tubers make horrible videos or a brand you follow posts a negative tweet. You can suddenly feel like you're back at the start. What a lot of people don't tell you is that's normal. Body positivity is a journey and it takes time to build but slowly you start to notice yourself making small steps like wearing a sleeveless dress or not wearing leggings. You know what you discover when you do? The world doesn't stop spinning, nobody points and laughs at you and on those sunny days you are so much cooler it can be so liberating and freeing that you may find yourself never looking back.
Experiment with fashion that you never would have dreamt of trying. You may never have thought of trying a bodycon dress or a tube skirt or even wore a dress at all. For the longest time I told myself I couldn't wear dresses I was that mopey teenage girl who wore baggy jeans and big band T shirts to try and hide the fact that I was fat. Let me tell you a secret...your body shape will still be there and you will still have lumps and bumps but dressing them in clothes that make you feel amazing will make you feel so much better about yourself. One day that mopey teenager saw a dress and thought what the hell and tried it on and never looked back. Now I constantly push my own boundaries and keep surprising myself. Sometimes I love the things I try and sometimes I don't but that is all part of the fun!
Ignore the labels, honestly it sounds crazy but I can wear anything from a size 18-24 depending on where I am shopping. So many shops get their sizing so wrong. Which is why bloggers are great to follow because we will tell you if an item comes up small or big. Don't take it personally if you put on a dress and it is a size that scares you. You don't have to share that with anyone else if you don't want to. Most importantly look at how it fits you and how it makes you feel once you take the labels away. Instead of focusing on the negatives think of the positives, does it make your bum look awesome? Or is the most comfortable wearable skirt you ever found, even better if the answer is both!
Surround yourself with positive influence. If you find that magazines you're reading aren't making you happy or representing you then find new ones. I love reading fanzines, blogs and Slink magazine caters for plus size awesomeness. Social media can be a great place to dive into as there are so many body positive and welcoming communities now like #pizzasisters4lyfe or #whatfatgirlsactuallywear. Go drool over the awesome style and start planning your next killer outfit. You can find me on Instagram too (https://instagram.com/misskittykaos/) come and say hi. There are also some amazing artists you can find on social media like Melly-Em Clark (https://www.etsy.com/uk/people/mellyemclark) and Murder of Goths (http://murderofgoths.co.uk/). When you surround yourself with positive media and people you will feel a lot happier inside and out.
Most importantly remember that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. You're beautiful and you deserve to be happy we only have one life so start living it!
Do you have any tips for body positivity or a story to share?
Flipping love this post. And you. And Mrs Kitty :) The point about labels has been one of the hardest for me to adjust to on my own body positivity journey and I still squirm a bit when ordering from the top end of my size range. But who says any given fashion brand gets to dictate what size a woman is "supposed" to be??!
ReplyDeleteLis / last year's girl x
exactly! I can wear 4 different dress sizes depending on the brand!
DeleteThank you and yes oh gosh i had to get some work trousers recently and they were way off my size im talking 2 or 3 bigger than i usually wear if I took it to heart then I would never want to get naked ever but I do haha xx
Delete