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What Does Beauty Mean To You?

Here is what 5 young women from all backgrounds said about what beauty means to them

Mariah

Beauty to me is the way people sees other people inside and out.

Sarah

"It's not in the clothes you wear, the makeup you apply, or approval of the world; beauty is found in the simplicity of yourself, living in confidence as a precious creation of the Lord."

Ariel

" Having the love and forgiveness of our beautiful God shining in and through you - pouring into others from the life you lead, that is true beauty. "

Mandy

Beauty is a woman experiencing peace in the stillness of trusting in God. When a woman stops striving and begins to trust, oh how beautiful she is.

Kim

Beauty is YOU, for you and I are fearfully and wonderfully made in God’s eyes. Beauty is what pours out of your soul stronger than your flesh.

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The Runway of Fashion and The Runway of Life

A discussion about this week’s Victoria Secret fashion show, and the affects it has on the way young women see themselves

This past week London hosted the biggest fashion show of the year, the Victoria’s Secret annual fashion show. Media from all around the world came to London, to take pictures of the beautiful models coming down the runway, and interviewed all the celebrities who made it to this event. This is the show of the year that gets aired on television networks worldwide, and the models who land this show get the opportunity of a lifetime. Needless to say, this show is the most talked about show of the year, not only in the fashion world, but also on social media. Where millions of girls around the globe, get to see these models that the society says have the perfect bodies.

What the fashion world and media does not cover is how this show affects the way that young women see their bodies. Their coverage does not include the girls that feel ugly in their own skin, who run to the bathroom picking apart their looks because they don’t look like the models on the Victoria Secret runway. What most women don’t realize is that those models on the runway only represent 0.08% of all women. Even some of the most beautiful women in the world don’t make it into that show.

What I have personally learned over the years is that, although the models in the Victoria Secret fashion show are beautiful, that is not reality. What society doesn’t realize is that those models train for hundreds of hours in the gym, take countless diet products, apply a myriad of beauty products, and diet for months on end, to prepare for this show. Most women will never come close to looking like the models on the runway, because even those models struggle with maintaining their own image. They undergo plastic surgery, hours in the gym, months of strict diets, and some take unhealthy measures to look that way.

These unhealthy images that young women have placed in front of them, destroy their self-image and the way they see themselves. Girls..you don’t need to look like the Victoria Secret models on the runway to be beautiful, you don’t need to wear what they wear, talk like they talk, and walk like they walk to be stunning. Confidence is way more beautiful than looking like a Victoria secret model. There is much more freedom on the runway of life, where you can be yourself, and not have to work out 8 hours a day to have a size zero waist. The runway of life gives you the opportunity to be free in your body, express yourself through your own unique fashion, and gives you the ability to shine brighter than any spotlight on the fashion runway ever will.

Remember…you were always more than enough.

Christina Boudreau
The Founder of Beauty Has No Size

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Erin's Story

12/7/2014

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Erin's Story

The beautiful Erin is a model and role model who seeks to inspire women everywhere to love their bodies and live healthy lifestyles.

I got discovered for modeling a year and a half ago by the owner of an agency while eating dinner at a Chipotle in Hollywood. She approached me and asked if I’d ever considered being a model and that she had an agency just for plus sized models. When she called me plus size, I was offended. I was not and am still not plus size. I wear a size 10/12 and knew that plus size was size 16 and up. She then explained to me that plus models generally aren’t plus size. A plus model is usually between size 6-16. That was insane to me. How could you call a size 6 plus size, especially since the national average is a size 14! Regardless, I decided to give it a try and I’m so thankful I did because I am now working internationally and get to help so many girls with body image issues find their beauty.

I myself never really had issues with my body, I knew I could be thinner and more toned but I never really cared enough to do anything about it and I'm thankful to have never fallen into an eating disorder like most girls typically do. I’m now at a point though where I’m very happy with my body and completely comfortable with myself in every aspect. I’m glad that I got the opportunity to be a curve model rather than a straight model. I now understand that no matter your size, you determine your happiness and success. Curvy is beautiful, as is skinny. I don’t really see size as beauty but rather find people’s beauty in what they do: in how kind they are, how loving, how forgiving, how optimistic, etc. The most important thing now is for women to strive for health not a number on a scale or a dress size. Not every body will look the same at a certain weight or size and those things are irrelevant anyways! All that matters is your kindness.

I’ve seen many changes in the fashion industry over the last year and a half of being in it and I’m hoping for these types of changes to continue. More and more companies are booking average sized women to represent their lines, and certain brands have pledged to never photoshop any images they use to promote their brand. I am constantly urging designers and store owners to allow curve models to represent them and most of the time, they agree! I think really all I want to see is a mixture of bodies being used, different sizes, ages, ethnicities, etc. we are not all the same and we cannot keep pretending we are. If someone is a size 2/4 naturally or because they eat clean and workout, fine, and if someone is a size 8/10 naturally because they eat clean, workout, and have a broad bone structure, fine but the eating disorders need to stop. The bullying needs to stop. People are called ugly and pretty whether they’re fat or skinny so let me say it again, YOU ARE NOT DEFINED BY YOUR SIZE. stop acting like you are and live your life the way you want to.
xx -Erin Grady

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High School and Body Image

12/2/2014

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High School and Body Image

Liv goes unmasked to talk about the struggle that high school young women face today with body image and how the media has affected the way young women see themselves

In high school, I had an overall great experience. I had great friends. I got saved. I found my identity and I started to understand the deeper meaning of things. Yes, I went through some ups and downs that helped me grow into the person I am now, but who doesn’t? High School is a very important time in a youth’s life. What a lot of people didn’t see, (which surprised me), is that I had major body issues. I guess no one knew because I’ve never been that girl that says, “Oh my gosh, i’m so fat.” or “Ugh, I’m so ugly”. I don’t like putting myself down or exposing my insecurities to others because it makes people feel uncomfortable, and to me, it sets the bar on how other people think you view yourself.

    My body issues were rooted in a tie between the plus modelling industry, and the high school standard. I was confused, and I talk more about that in the other blog post I did. (http://www.beautyhasnosize.com/blog/september-30th-2014) It also came from the fact that I’m a big boned, 5,11 asian-american. Where I grew up in Maryland, It was mainly white, and other tall girls can understand that it doesn’t make you feel the best when you are a Large/XL in clothes at age 12 when your friends are still shopping for XS, (plus I was 1 out of 3 asian kids in my white school). I stuck out… ALOT. I always constantly compared myself to my petite body friends who had all the boys’ attention. I would never be them, so I considered myself the ugly one who was just there in the background. All I wanted was to be liked, and considered pretty, even if I wasn’t attracted to the people who thought so. I just wanted to fit in and feel accepted.

    It took a lot of tears, diets, cleanses, work outs, and emptiness to understand that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. I never appreciated the little things like my health, or where I was because no matter how healthy or thin I became, It was never good enough for myself. If I reached my goal weight, I looked for the next number I could reach, the next jean size I could fit into, thinking that that could buy me happiness. "Maybe if I’m a size 6, Whats-his-face will finally like me", or "I can book jobs as a straight model at size 2”. I was my worst critic and my worst enemy. I absolutely tore myself apart.

     I started looking through old pictures from about 2-3 years ago, and my heart broke. I was never fat, nor overweight. I was healthy. Yeah, I wasn’t as small as my friends, but they are 5,0! I put myself on a completely unrealistic scale trying to be like them. I wish I could go back and love myself. Ideally, I would love to be the way I was before, before I gained weight (now) and I don’t think that it’s wrong to want to be the healthy size that once gave you confidence. But that doesn’t mean you have to tear yourself apart with wherever you are now. You might look back one day and feel heart broken for how you thought at this moment too. I will always say the same thing on this topic: healthy goals aren’t a bad thing, don’t let people shame you away from them, but hating yourself IS a bad thing. You can still love yourself while reaching your goals. Your body is God’s gift to you, He lives there, so honor it. Don’t think I have it all together, because I am and will be in the midst of that same process for awhile. I have a lot of wounds that I let Satan create, and I’m letting God heal them, slowly, one by one.

        Today, most high schoolers face the same problems all women (and men) face too, which is wanting to feel beautiful, loved and accepted. Media plays a huge role in feeding lies into the heads of everyone on the planet, by setting unrealistic goals with photoshop, etc. Even for plus models, they are photoshopping you to look bigger, who would of think it?! We grow up with an unrealistic standard that we may reach only if we spend thousands of dollars, starving ourselves for a thigh gap, change our nose/forehead/eyes, etc. with plastic surgery, completely destroying what God created, only to find that it’s emptier than what we left it for. “Skinny = pretty”, and curves or anything in between is absolutely unacceptable, right? Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. If we only knew the truth at that age. If you are a high schooler reading this, here is the truth: You are beautiful. If you are 400 pounds you are beautiful. If you have crooked teeth you are beautiful. If you have acne you are beautiful. You are hand crafted by the best artist that ever existed. Don’t you think His opinion is more important than the other humans He created? His opinion is that you are loved. You are worthy.

      I would be such a hypocrite if I told you that I love how I look all the time. I don’t. I would give anything to be that size 10 again. But slowly and surely, with prayer and petition, I’m trying to love myself because God does. I’m trying to honor my body, because God does, and I’m trying to get healthy again, because it’s important. I hope that you will try too. And remember, BEAUTY HAS NO SIZE.

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What Does Beauty Mean To You?

What Does Beauty Mean To You?

Here is what 5 young women from all backgrounds said about what beauty means to them

December 12th, 2014

The Runway of Fashion and The Runway of Life

A discussion about this week’s Victoria Secret fashion show, and the affects it has on the way young women see themselves

Erin's Story

Erin's Story

The beautiful Erin is a model and role model who seeks to inspire women everywhere to love their bodies and live healthy lifestyles.

High School and Body Image

High School and Body Image

Liv goes unmasked to talk about the struggle that high school young women face today with body image and how the media has affected the way young women see themselves

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