Confidence beyond measures
Over the past year, as I am entering my mid-twenties, I’ve put on some weight. Some call it maturing, but what I find to be the most frustrating part is how in one store, I can wear a size small, yet somewhere else, I can barely squeeze into a large. Even though it is clear that I’ve gone up in size I refuse to own something that is a size I don’t feel comfortable in, even if it looks good on me.
It is undeniable that our culture has always been obsessed with size. We are continuously being bombarded with direct and indirect messaging that smaller is “better” but vanity sizing also plays a role in this. Vanity sizing or size shrinking — larger cut clothing pieces are labeled as a smaller number size in order to appease the customer into thinking they are smaller. Not only that, but vanity sizing also plays to our insecurities and manipulates us into buying clothing that we may not even like because the tag says a size smaller than we typically wear.
“When we equate sizing with self-worth, vanity sizing essentially allows us to buy a superficial dose of confidence. We think: I fit into a size 4, I AM good enough! But this is almost always short-lived because true self-esteem doesn’t come from a piece of fabric with a number on it,” says Alexis Conason, author of The Anti-Diet Plan.
Why give a f*** about the number on the tag of a top? If it makes us look and feel good, why can’t we just be happy?
With my brand, I want every woman to feel confident while wearing her clothing by taking the focus away from the size numbers and/or letters.
By renaming the sizes I hope to create a sense of body positivity and help women like myself keep their excitement while shopping even when going down or up a few sizes.
I’m fully aware that this is not a one fits all solution and that it only focusses on the tip of the iceberg. What really needs to happen is that we start to stop caring this much and solve these deep-rooted body image issues by fighting back against these unrealistic beauty ideals.
Knowing, and truly believing, that size does not equal self-worth is something I still need to work on myself. As I grow, my brand is growing with me and the goal is never to be perfect but embrace all that we are.
