Just the way you are
Some of my male classmates in high school used to make condescending remarks towards me because of my petite body shape. Girls around me had what some call figure 8 or hourglass shape, something many people consider to be the ideal female body shape. As a girl in her formative years, this got to me quite a bit.
Unfortunately, I didn’t feel like I could do much about it back then. I couldn’t alter the way I looked. There were times I took my clothes to the tailor, hoping to find a way to make them more fitted so they could reveal a different body shape when I try them on. I learnt to live with that awful feeling of not having something that was, in fact, out of my hands.
Out of curiosity, I once visited the doctor’s office to get checked and find out if my body shape was due to a medical condition. To my dismay, other than the suggestion of eating more meals containing iron, nothing much came out of that appointment. So, there I was, feeling sad about and betrayed by my body until it hit me.
My body shape is exactly that. It is mine. It has nothing to do with what others consider to be ideal. Just like my personality, my body shape is innate. Although some people can naturally or artificially alter their body shape, most people have little control over their physical features. Instead of feeling stuck in our body, we ought to learn more about it and take good care of it.
So, I decided to take some time to learn more about my body. I learnt about different body shapes and types and the freedoms and restraints that come with each of them. More importantly, I learnt how to look good in my God-given body shape. The outfits we wear, and the way we wear them, matter. It’s essential to dress up in a way that suits our body shape.
Society has conformed many people to prefer one body shape over the other. They go about making a mockery of those they’ve deemed to be too petite, fat, short, tall, or even too dark-skinned. This kind of thinking is disgraceful and distasteful, at the least. We have to be better; we have to do better.
Whatever your body shape may be, do not let anyone make you feel like you’re missing out on something. You’re beautiful and wonderfully made, and it’s high time you fully embrace your body shape. There’s a unique, refreshing feeling about understanding the beauty that is your body.
Granted, it may be challenging to change our society’s interpretation of beauty, but we can change how we respond to it. We can respond by falling in love with our bodies, identifying and wearing outfits that make us look good and be the best version of ourselves. Identifying outfits that fit our body shapes and types may be the key to redefining our expressions of beauty.
The first step to recognizing what unique feature you have is by identifying your body type. To identify your body type, this is what you need to do:
Measure the following;
Hip + Bust + Shoulder = Body type
Once you know your body type, the next step will be to know what part of your body to highlight. I really want to help you identify your style. And my desire is that I am able to convince you to focus on what looks good on you rather than what doesn’t.