HOW TO DRESS FOR YOUR BODY TYPE

First of all: don't.

As a long time lover of What Not to Wear, fashion is something that has always intrigued me but never something I'd say I completely understood. I see the before and after; oh my god, look at her newfound confidence (crying ensues). And, as someone who has been challenged with accepting and embracing my body over the years, I've become increasingly comfortable with the fact that I will never be lower than a certain weight range. I was recently in a conversation with several of my beautiful coworkers discussing how we all somehow fell on the upper half, or teetering on the BMI scale between "average weight" and "overweight." I was amazed; these gorgeous women whose bodies I'd admired and wished mine to morph into, were actually struggling with the same body esteem issues as me, and frankly, most women our age. 

That made me want to do a whole lot of reflecting on how we perceive our bodies, and one thing I cannot fathom is putting your body type into a set category. If I see "pear-shaped" one more time, particularly with an example being Shakira or Kim Kardashian (like, seriously?), I might barf. The truth is, our bodies are all unique and shaped in different ways. And honestly, no one knows your body better than you, so how should they know how to dress it? Yet "dressing for your body type" has 100,000+ hits on Google, closely followed by "how to dress your plus-size body," which raises other issues. What does it even mean to be plus size? When I look at a lot of plus size models, (for example, H&M's praised and criticized plus-size campaign), they really just look like average size people. Does this mean that anyone above 120 lbs is automatically plus size? I'm not sure if anyone recalls Sarah from America's Next Top Model season 9, who was ultimately eliminated because apparently she was too thin to participate as a plus-size model, yet too heavy to compete against the size 0 models. So what is our fixation on not portraying accurate depictions of women across the country? 

Photoshopping is only one issue, but even no-retouching campaigns such as Aerie Real only focus on models of a small demographic--women that have never had to worry about encountering the dreaded "overweight" category. 

There are many fashion blogs out there that attempt to break down this fashion model which only caters to the flat-stomached. But often the label of "plus-size" lingers around, often synonymous  with "curvy." What if I identify as curvy, but not necessarily plus size? I am not the same size as a model; does that mean I am plus-size?

We have great strides to make in the fashion industry with body image. And although What Not to Wear  has its controversies with assuming they know what's best for women (sorry Clinton and Stacy), it always hits home with one thing: all women in all shapes and forms are beautiful. How do you dress for your body type? However you want. If I want to wear high-waisted shorts with my wide hips, I'll do that. Maybe this swimsuit might show a stretch mark, or this shirt was meant for someone with a lower bra cup size. Who cares? Wear the clothes you think look good and suit your personality. No one knows you or your body as well as you.

Life is too short to be deemed simply "pear-shaped."