Celebrating International Women's Day - Real Women Real Sizes

As our brand grows, we wanted to take part in International Women's Day for the first time this year.

We invited 6 of our boss customers along to showcase our new 'Feelin' 70's' collection on a diverse range of different body shapes.

We got talking all things body confidence and the dreaded experience we have all had whilst swimwear shopping in a bid to find a flattering bikini or swimsuit that does justice in all the right places.

Anyway, we wanted to introduce these strong women to you and share their experiences in how they have been able to not only accept their bodies but fall in love with what nature has given them!

Pip
Age: 27,
Occupation: Personal Trainer and Rugby Player

Journey with body confidence:

"Like many women I spent years trying to starve myself in order to achieve what we are told is the “perfect body”. Now I am able to appreciate how much my body can achieve, and how to love the skin I’m in.

Swimwear shopping used to be something I was terrified of, but now it’s a celebration of every bruise, scar and battle I’ve been through"

Niamh
Age: 25
Occupation: West End PR and Photographer

Journey with body confidence:

"It’s been a long road to feeling comfortable in my own skin and honestly I still don’t from time to time. As I get older I realised that yes your body will change and fluctuate, you will bloat and notice your stretch marks but that’s normal.

It’s remembering that your body allows you to do all the amazing things you do & you should appreciate it for doing that. I still look in the mirror and don’t like what I see from time to time but I’m learning and learning to love my own skin. It lets me dance, do aerial, go to gym and feel good doing the active stuff I do.

Swimwear shopping has always been a challenge, honestly there’s nothing more terrifying than stepping out somewhere in front of people in swimwear sometimes, but it’s remembering that you don’t need to look any certain way to wear swimwear. If you feel good and have a suit or bikini you love, wear it and love it. There’s no right or wrong way"

Taiba
Age: 29
Occupation: Stay-at-home mum turned Entrepreneur (Mindful Motherhood Co) & Tech Founder.

Journey with body confidence:

And so began my very conscious journey of acceptance, and eventually, genuine love and gratitude for my body. I learned that the more I looked after my body, the more it looked after me. I started indulging in self-care, journalling, and mindfulness and felt a huge shift. It was a very conscious effort to improve myself. I wasn't improving my body, it was still in the postpartum stage and I gave it time to heal, but I worked on my mentality and self love. I started to see my looser skin and stretch marks as symbols of strength, rather than flaws.

And most importantly, I realized that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes and that there's no such thing as a "perfect" body. That's the attitude that I will take into my 30s :)

Swimwear Shopping;

I've always been very petite, had a short torso, big boobs (for my size) and a small waist. One-piece swimsuits were a pain because of the short torso, if I got a smaller size it didn't fit my boobs. A larger size wouldn't fit my body.

A bikini that was sold as a pack was also difficult as I was always a larger size up top, and a smaller size on the bottom.

I always had to find bikinis that were sold separately (top and bottom). I also needed to have a tie-function bikini - because of my petite frame and larger chest, I could never find the right size that would fit around my bust and then provide enough support.

Natasha
Age: 26
Occupation: Health and Well-being Manager

Journey with body confidence:

For as long as I can remember, I remember dieting and wanting to be smaller. I’d stretch my arms up in the air when looking in the mirror and just wish my tummy looked like that all the time. As I’ve got older, the more I’ve accepted how I am. I’ve realised I probably will never have a flat tummy, be a size 8 or have slim legs and that’s ok!I feel (more often that not) genuinely at peace with that which has been huge for me.

I realised that we are conditioned to think that the smaller you are, the more beautiful and worthy you are - which is absolutely not the case. These messages are fed to us relentlessly and it is easy to see how people (including myself) end up adapting views that we aren’t good enough because of our clothes size or number on the scale.
Filling my Social media with body positive people ( Particularly Olivia Kirkby and Sadie Bass) has really helped me realise that you can still have body fat and still be killing it!

Realising we are more than our outer shell and placing less emphasis on that in my mind has been big too.
Positive self talk, as cliche as it is, has been so beneficial. For every negative thought that comes to my mind about my body, I find something I like. I find it helps me to neutralise those negative thoughts and shift my perspective.

There are days where I don’t feel confident and I do still get insecure but I want to show women of all ages you don’t need to be a straight size to wear that bikini. You can have stretch marks and cellulite and wear the shorts- you don’t have to hide away because you don’t look like people from love island.

Body confidence is certainly a journey and in all honestly is not one I feel I have reached the end of. It’s a work in progress and I’m okay with that. The difference between 17/18/19 year old me and now is honestly like night and day. Seeing that progress in my own views and confidence about myself since then has really been incredible and encourages me more than ever to keep pushing and keep trying to change those toxic ingrain beliefs a lot of us grew up around.

Jade
Age: 26
Occupation: Clinical Project Manager

Journey with body confidence:

I’ve always been a confident girl (mostly down to my mum blasting Destiny’s Child Independent Woman in the house since I can remember!) so even on bad days, I know I’m still that girl! Swimwear shopping was a struggle when my boobs came in (it feels like they came in overnight) and always went for full coverage. However with age I’ve realised that the skimpier the better 🙌🏽 

Alixia

Age: 23
Occupation: Product Designer/Marketing Assistant

Journey with body confidence:

Having Type1 diabetes is a hard disease to put on display, always being covered in bumps and bruises from regular injections and having a CGM (continuous glucose monitor). I have found my confidence grow through sport, such as rugby and surfing, making me feel comfortable with my CGM. Only recently has my experience with swimwear shopping become more positive, with more realistic body types and even diabetics modelling swimwear being more relatable.