This Plus-Size Fashion Blogger Recreated Pinterest Looks To Make A Strong Statement About Fatphobia
Pinterest is the only app right now that distracts me from all that’s happening around. It has no ads or depressing news, just aesthetic images of everything that calms me down. NGL, scrolling through fashion looks and pinning them for future (I’m hopeful) has been my ultimate escapism these few months. And I can’t be the only one. With a closet full of basic tees and clothes from last year, we have no choice but to experiment and style everything we own to make a chic outfit. And those cool outfit pins on Pinterest do help. However, I’ll also admit they don’t always turn out as well in real life as they look on those models.
The reason is that some clothes look better on certain body types but that doesn’t mean we should limit ourselves to specific types of clothes because we are curvy or skinny. I mean, I envy the fact that women with proportionate body shape and medium sized breasts that look just fine in a crop top or a tank top can pull off almost everything but not all of us are blessed with a standard body type. However all the fashion pins on Pinterest always feature skinny women with flat stomachs which is a bit frustrating. Unless you specifically type in curvy girl fashion or outfits for curvy of plus size women, you cannot find inspiration for your body type. What’s up with that?
A fashion blogger Brooklyn who shared a TikTok video about how a flat belly is seen as an accessory for these outfits but if a fat woman wears it, it is considered inappropriate, provocative and gross by society. She tried on three outfits from Pinterest which included a white skirt paired with three different tops, a T-shirt, a crop tank top and a skimpy white top. She said in the video, “I am missing the key accessory that makes these outfits so desirable and perfect to society. And that is a flat stomach. Flat stomachs are accessories in the sense that they’re an add-on to an outfit. People view an outfit as better because there’s a flat stomach attached onto it, whereas when a fat woman wears the same thing we’re viewed as gross, showing too much, provocative. That’s fatphobia!”
View this post on Instagram
Talking to Buzzfeed, she said she wanted to inspire her followers to wear what they please regardless of what society says because society is sprinkled generously with fatphobia. She said, “I’m sure I wasn’t the first plus-size person to do it, but I felt like with my specific body type and size, I could help a lot of my followers understand that they can wear anything they want and look great doing it! I chose Pinterest outfits specifically because it was already a trend, and I noticed that Pinterest is a platform where you generally only see the beauty standard body type being represented in fashion.”
She added, “When I refer to a flat stomach as an accessory, I am in no way being mean or bitter! I’m completely okay with thin women using what they have, but I just want people to understand that it’s not the same for fat women. Our fat stomachs are systemically considered an imperfection, while a thin stomach is something that society would see as an elevation to an outfit. Fat women don’t have the privilege of accessorizing with their fat stomachs unless we want stares and rude comments.”
Also Read: Anjana Bapat On Being A Plus Size Belly Dancer And Why People Are Triggered By Women Who Are Confident About Their Bodies
She initially made a TikTok video but later posted it on her Instagram account too. Her followers lauded her for saying what they had been feeling since long. A user commented, “I’ve thought about how skinny bodies and flat stomachs are used as accessories for the past few years now and it seems I’m not the only one…wild” Another wrote, Oh my god. This is literally a toxic thought that was and has been imbedded into my mind. That “this outfit would be cute on you….” only because they are skinnier or it being said you’re adorable now all you have to do is lose a few lbs.”
Fatphobia is very real and the fashion industry is somewhat responsible for fuelling it further by sticking to skinny models to sell their clothes. It makes us think that crop tops and revealing clothes don’t look as appealing on plus-size women, which is ridiculous. It’s nice to see influencers like Brooklyn who are not only calling out fatphobia and smashing these size-specific fashion norms but also encouraging women to wear whatever the hell they want.
