It Is Time To Love Your Body

For my final project for my MA Magazine Journalism, I wrote pieces for a British Teen Vogue. A lot of them were about positive body image. Here is one on curvy models and Body Gossip:

It is time to love your body.
Teen Vogue reports on the change of attitude in the fashion world.

“Breasts are back”
“The woman silhouette”

Seeing the key trends for a/w 10 and the ever growing number of curvy models used in magazines and on the catwalk, I have started to feel optimistic that maybe the size 0 trend is on its way out. But are we just seeing a further existence of the gimmicky trend curve?

Here at Teen Vogue we want you to feel good about yourselves, whatever your clothes size, but with the constant stream of perfectly looking models and celebrities, is it any wonder that the number of people suffering from eating disorders are increasing? Or that more young girls are suffering from low self-esteem or BDD? The fashion industry may not cause these mental illnesses but they can help to make us feel better about ourselves. That is why I hope Trend Curve will turn into the norm.

With this season’s trends telling us to embrace our womanly curves maybe it is a possibility!

Here are some of the trends, which celebrate being a woman:

“All woman” with Louis Vuitton’s boned corsets and grown up circle skirts.

“Hourglass” - Dolce and Gabbana showcased corsets and roses into womanly shapes.

For a/w 10 it seems that our new heroine is the curvaceous bombshell. Basically it is time to be proud of your assets. Corsets are praised for giving women a nipped-in waist and a heaving cleavage re. Victorian times. Think of your favourite Jane Austen period drama! This is the figure everyone is coveting.

Models to admire: Lara Stone, Doutzen Kroes, Laetitia Casta, Haley Morley, and Crystal Renn.

TV programme, Mad Men, has been described as inspiration for some of the new trends. I personally would love to be January Jones, so I am ready to wear nipped-in waist dresses, little cardigans and celebrating being more curvaceous.

It is important to feel good about your body, especially when the majority of the media tells us that we are not good enough. Charities like Beat, who support those suffering from eating disorders, aim to educate the media into promoting positive body image. A new campaign called Body Gossip has also been created:

Ruth Rogers, the creator of Body Gossip, came up with the idea when she was a student actor in New York where she was encouraged to lose weight by several people. She found a group of women who had formed a support group for people refusing to conform to society and the media’s ideas of the perfect body. It was then she realised that everyone has a story to tell about our bodies.

Ruth says: “Not enough is said about how most of us have at least one body worry. So the fact that Body Gossip exists, it reassures people all over the country that we, as a society, have body worries and those body worries are normal. No-one is alone in worrying that their body has imperfections and we are not abnormal for not having the airbrushed bodies that grace the magazines and ad campaigns.”

With regards to the size zero debate, Ruth advocates that everyone has his or her own natural body shape – some of us are naturally a size zero. Therefore it is really important that the fashion world does not start to exclude them in the quest of trying to be a fairer business.

Ruth states: “We should look at our natural body shape – the shape we are when we eat healthily and exercise in moderation. And that is our healthy body shape and society should not be encouraging us to shrink or grow to be anything else.”

She has some great tips for body confidence. Here are some of my favourites”

“Share your body concerns with others – you will soon realise you are not alone and that everyone has bits of their body they do not like. And then look at those friends who worry about their tummy or their bum or their nose – I bet to you they look gorgeous right?! Well there you go – to them, you look gorgeous too!”

See more about Body Gossip at www.bodygossip.org and ways for you to write your body story.

Body Gossip

The team: Natasha Devon (journalist and positive body image campaigner)
Lee Simmons (graphic designer)
Sarah Bakker (Film maker)
Danielle Simmons (photographer)
Imogen Bond (theatre director)
Lynsey Tash (producer and organiser)
Emma –Jane Haigh (Beat ambassador)
Kieron Jecchinis (actor)

Body Gossip also works with Beat (since 2006) and the National Osteoporosis Society.

The best body stories are performed by celebrities: here are just a few who are involved:

Shobna Gulati from Coronation Street
Nikki Grahame (her book is called Dying to be thin)
Anne Diamond (her campaign Fat Happens)
Natalie Cassidy

Body Gossip with Natasha Devon also takes confidence work shops into schools and colleges.