BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER - PLUS SIZE FASHION

On September 15, 2010 history was made in New York City. The first ever plus sized fashion show during NYC's famed Fashion Week was hosted by OneStopPlus.com, gracing the runway with beautiful models, clothing and accessories. I'm wondering, what has taken so long? Two-thirds of American women are over a size 14 and the fashion needs of these women are now a 47 million dollar industry (www.time.com). In America in the 1950's, the pin up models were at least a size 12 and icon Marylin Monroe wore a size 14. In modern day Hollywood, if an actress is not a "sample" size 4 she is scrutinized for being overweight. Every pound she gains is monitored by the public and she is put on"baby bump" alert and talk becomes of finding reasons to why she has gained weight. 

What caused America to change it's view on beauty? When did the "average" size change from a size 12+ to a size 0?

In many foreign countries, like Africa, being full figured is a sign of health, wealth and fertility. Superficial standards of beauty are set around the world and there is no common standard of international beauty. The perceptions of young women are determined by their individual cultures'. Many women struggle all over the globe with the way that they look because they feel they can't live up to the perfect standards that they are bombarded with in the media. Companies like Dove are now showing the truth about the perfect images protrayed in the media. Celebrities are retouched, elongated, slimmed, nipped and tucked. So who is to say who is beautiful and who isn't? [see BLAKstar's previous post on Dove and their time lapse video showing a model photo from start to finish.]

Are we able to go deeper and look past the physical attributes of people? Can we accept our peers as they are and respect each other for our personalities, character and accomplishments? Or are we doomed to conform to the social, economic and physical pressures that divide instead of unite us?

In my opinion true beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What is it that your eyes see?

Ladysingsblu

OPERATION BEAUTIFUL

Some people read the newspaper or watch the news in the morning to start their day. I usually don't, but what I will do is go through some of the blogs and websites I follow to see what the bloggers have posted. During my morning view of tumblr (make sure to visit BLAKstar's Tumblr ) I came across someone's post on this site called Operation Beautiful - they say they are "changing the way you see yourself one post-it at a time". I dug into their site and I must say I think what they are doing is...beautiful.

Operation Beautiful's mission is to end negative self-talk and to get people (specifically women) to see that when we speak negatively about ourselves it hurts us spiritually, emotional and physically.

The movement was started by Cailtin a 26 year old woman living in Charlotte, NC. She began by posting notes in restrooms, gym locker rooms, grocery stores and other places that random strangers could read and hopefully be inspired by the words of encouragement.

I am staring at the post-it notes sitting here on my desk..I think I will post some Operation Beautiful notes and I think all of you should too! Make sure when you do post some notes you email photos of them to Operation Beautiful as they like to read the notes and see the differences people are making, as well as they post a lot of them on their site . Email them HERE

MeaLee
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