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I love this new take from Dove on turning negative messages in advertising with positive messages.

Whats the harm, lets give it a go

Sophie Kaesai – Get thin or die trying

I interviewed Sophie Kaesai (she of Geordie Shore fame) about her recent documentary ‘Get thin or die tryin’ for MTV on the perils of plastic surgery for Evolve magazine last month. In her lovely Geordie burr, Sophie is very chatty and friendly, I could see myself having a great night out with her and the gang. Hopefully I’ll be asked at some stage. She is a very busy lady and was preparing to go off to Mexico for the next instalment of the show. Searingly and refreshingly honest Sophie and I had a great chat and more importantly a laugh.

You hosted a documentary ‘Get thin or die trying’ how did you get involved with it?

The MTV producers called me and asked me they said its because I am open about my weight, happy, love talking, love people, and have had issues with my weight. They felt I was the right candidate, I was dead open to doing it. Its an issue that is close to my heart for instance I know some girls won’t take contraception because they think it makes you fat, then they get pregnant, or have an abortion all because they refuse to take contraception so they don’t get fat.

What did you discover when you did the documentary?

Good and bad things. I was in the operating theatre watching someone get lipo done. This man was getting implants and his heart was going all funny, people started panicking it was terrible. He was like a mouse on the bed getting things done to himself.

Were you shocked/surprised/upset by any of it?

Yes, I always thought it would be great to have lipo and stuff done, but after watching the procedure, it was awful. The person on the table or having stuff done is like a blank canvas, for the Dr’s its work and they forget you are women/people, they are so rough with the person on the table as well.

Have you ever considered plastic surgery or lipo, would you now after doing the show?

I did yes, in the beginning of the programme, I was wondering whether to get lipo or not, it was about my journey to decide what to do. Now , no way would I have anything done.

What do you think of the Boob scandal i.e. where they were using mattress filler in women’s boobs?

I didn’t hear about it for a while and when I did hear about it I thought it was a sick joke, its disgusting, I couldn’t believe it. I’m not against boob jobs but only if they use the proper stuff.

Do you feel under pressure to be skinny now you are on T.V.?

Yes, definitely, being in the public eye with thousands watching you and with Twitter etc everyone has an opinion and if you are on T.V. then you can be misconceived and people say you are fat and ugly and you go back to those days. I have always been confident but when the show came out it (my confidence) got knocked a bit.

There are some right nasty people out there, I presume you’ve had your fair share of them, how did that make you feel?

At first it was awful and I cried at some of it. I asked the producers not to show me and I wanted to hide. I stayed in, boozing and eating crap and I put weight on. I felt fat ugly and disgusting. Its better now and there is no abuse, and now most of the comments are supportive now I’ve lost a bit of weight. They’ve just moved onto someone else.

On the plus side I’m sure you’ve also had some positive comments also?

Now I am getting amazing, inspirational, role model comments on twitter. Someone tweeted that had anorexia and an eating disorder and that the programme helped them and she said it saved her life. How great is that?

What would you say to young girls considering surgery after doing the show?

Do what I did, its easy for me to get surgery but I didn’t. Stop being lazy, do it healthy, eat well, go to the gym. If you are slim or not love how you ware. Look in the mirror and say I am lovely and gorgeous and then you will believe it.

Do you think there is a difference in size between Northern girls and Southern girls?

Yes I do, in London girls are slim and tiny, they are so slim, dead skinny and have a different look. Londoners are on the move all the time. Up North e are more laid back.

What’s your fashion style?

Rock chic, girlie girl, little dresses, sparkles, skulls, pink, it depends. In the North its trackies. In London I get more glammed up. I love the High St, I don’t like designers, not interested in High fashion. I love Primark.

Geordie Shore

How did you originally get involved with it?

I applied on Facebook, I saw the ad when I was on a train on the way back from London. I thought it was TOWIE. Me and my friends saw Jersey Shore and knew it was similar. It then all happenedcalled me really quick, 2 weeks later they called me and that was that. I gave up work, went on the show. I did it for a better life really. I was working in a call centre and wanted something else.

Do you still work outside of the show?

I’ve presented and done some Personal Appearances. I want to become a presenter. I did back stage at T4 at the beach and interviewed celebrities and musicians and I loved that. I want to get the next series out of the way and I don’t know if series 3 is the last one, I’d love another one but nothing lasts forever.

How has your life changed since doing the show?

Oh its changed for the better, it’s the complete opposite to what it was before. I was working in a call centre, thinking of being a hairdresser. I year on I am living this mad lifestyle with all these people.

What’s it like living in the house with the others?

Its really really good. At 1st we were all strangers but they are all really great people. We have our ups and downs and sometimes they would do your head in, six weeks solid with no phones or anything is hard.

What’s next for you?

Series 3 is being shot in Mexico and I would like to do some presenting.

Any holidays like Magaluf planned this year?

Apart from Mexico I would like to go on holiday with the girls. I’ve never been to Marbella and I would love to go there.

Have you a boyfriend?

I do, he’s involved in the show. He is used to the life and knows it can be hard. He is not going to Mexico, he works for MTV and DJ’s

It is serious?
We’ve been going out a few months now and its great.

Would you recommend a night out in Newcastle?
Definitely, go to the Diamond Strip, Madame Koos, Floritas, Bijoux, Tuk Tuk, Riverside, Koosday on a Tuesday – it’s a great night out.

Evolve’s motto is Be Proud…Be You..what makes you proud to be you?

I love my boobs, I have good boobs, a good personality, am bubbly and friendly. (boyfriend is nodding about the boobs). I love being meself and the skin I am in, there is no point unless there is craic and banter.

I wish the lovely Sophie every luck and success and of course a great holiday in Mexico.

Evolve…Be Proud…Be You

Clements & Ribeiro on their SS12 SWAN collection for Evans

In January I was invited to preview the new Clements Ribeiro SWAN collection for Evans. I loved it and keeping schtum until now has been pure torture. Evans have pulled out all the stops on this, the collection was shot by leading fashion photographer Angelo Pennatta, styled by Victoria Young and modelled by Tara Lynn (Ford) and Robyn Lawley (Milk). It’s a very wearable, accessible collection with a strong 1940’s influence. Sizes range from 14 – 32. The collection incorporates Clements & Ribeiro’s signature floral prints, textured broderie anglaise, and silk fabrics in gorgeously vibrant colours.

I predict this collection will be a major hit, in fact I tried to buy some pieces on the first day of the launch and some sizes had already sold out. This could well be the collection that has the rest of the designers clamouring to get on the curvy bandwagon.

I had the pleasure of interviewing the design duo, they kindly took time out of their holiday to speak to me.

Congratulations on your amazing new collection for Evans. It has garnered lots of press attention, all extremely positive, were you expecting this sort of a reaction when you were first approached?

CR: The plus size market wasn’t really on our radar until we were approached by Evans. We were in our own bubble and in the fashion bubble.

Not many designers want to be associated with curvy and plus size brands, – why?

CR: Unfortunately the plus size issue is largely ignored by the high fashion world. We live in a culture that associates fashion with thinness, what with all the skinny models and size zero celebrities. But the moment we were approached we were instantly inspired, we saw a great opportunity to tap into the market and use our design skills to bridge the gap.

I love the nod to the 40’s, vibrant colours and cut of the clothes which is a giant leap away from the traditional offerings, what inspired you to base your designs on those themes?

CR: Our most stylish plus size friends have always been into vintage, as it is often difficult to find original, quirky designs in their sizes on the high street, so we looked into the 40’s and 50’s world of pin ups – an era when the female ideal was more voluptuous, therefore embracing a muse that does not apologise for her size but celebrates it.

Were you surprised at the lack of choice in terms of pretty, well made, fashionable clothes for women with curves when you started on the collection?

CR: We actually feel we are in a very privileged situation in that we may well be the only high end designers creating for the plus size market, especially when we realise the limited choices within the plus market itself! Everything seems to be too timid, self effacing and even less choice if you are looking for something of better quality or for a special occasion. Having worked on the range now a year – we are currently working on the third collection – it does become clear how difficult it is to balance the quality/needs balance, but creatively it has been a joy – just wait until you see the A/W collection! Designers shouldn’t need to be intimidated by it.

We’ve always been told that designers shy away from the curvy market because its difficult to make clothes fit such diverse sizes and the clothes are more expensive to produce, is this your experience?

CR: It is a challenge, but a very stimulating and refreshing one. With globalisation fashion has embrace diversity in race and skin colour, and has taken baby steps towards accepting the different body shapes an sizes – see the success of both US and UK’s ‘body’ issues. In France French Elle already runs a special plus size issue every season and glossies such as V magazine and Vogue Italia have had special plus size issues, so the time is really ripe for such an initiative. The range itself is quite easy, as we were learning as we went along, making sure we respected the different shapes and proportions, without compromising our inspiration.

Will there be a A/W 12 collection, what can we expect?

CR: The A/W range is bolder and more sophisticated. We have improved our sourcing and the quality of cut and fabrics is superb. The best thing however is that the range has a strong fashion point of view that directly reflects what’s going on in high fashion right now. And save up for our coats. We have learned how difficult it is to find the right coats for bigger girls and I can tell you: we cracked it!

Evolve Be Proud…Be You

All Walks Beyond the Catwalk – ‘Fashion for Positive Change.

I spent a very interesting and thought provoking afternoon talking to Caryn and Debra in West London recently about www.Allwalks.org and their views on diversity within the fashion industry and media and how it affects today’s women.

All Walks Beyond the Catwalk is an initiative founded by Caryn Franklin, Debra Bourne and Erin O’Connor. They work with cutting edge designers and photographers to promote change. In June they launched All Walks Centre of Diversity at Edinburgh College of Art, and are heavily involved with the All Party Parliamentary Group’s campaignforbodyconfidence, backed by Minister for Equalities Lynn Featherstone.

You founded All walks 3-4 years ago in response to the widely held view that not enough diversity is represented on the catwalks and in fashion. What prompted it?

CF – The fashion industry is powerful and we wanted to broaden the range for women that could benefit the industry and present an inclusive, emotionally considered offering to women. This campaign comes from the heart. We had had enough, the offering got narrower and narrower. Women were being presented as 3 dimensional human beings, sexualised, and stereo typed. This is not against thin pale women, its about all women getting together who feel disconnected from what the media and fashion industry is presenting them with, which is a big shift away from the traditional industry.

What is the message you want to get across?

DB – There is a split – the catwalk caters for the fashion industry, its very narcissistic, in that you are given tall, beautiful, thin models, in order to fulfil press and buyers expectations. The catwalk space’s prime objective is luxury branding which is the opposite for the average consumer and promotes a body shape that does not reflect the consumer. These days those images are telegraphed globally, which means the catwalk shape and aesthetic is presented to everyone as standard which is simply not true. The catwalk is primarily a corporate and marketing space, however it is also being used as a consumer space. This space should exist, and we are not suggesting changing it but lets have a conversation with people in power and influence to take into account the average consumer.

CF – This industry makes billions and the corporates do not want to change that. We need to get it away from root profit and bring in the well-being of the consumer. Consumers are fed an identity that doesn’t fit. We also need to create a linkage between being thin and large. The thinking is being thin will sort out obesity. There is not enough mainstream linking up with anorexia and obesity. There is a preoccupation with obesity and a disconnect between Corporate regulation, it should be about the emotional and physical well being of the consumer as well as consumerism.

Have you noticed a change in perception over the years within the media and fashion industry as a result of your campaign?

DB – Yes I have seen a shift and it’s a positive shift. Mark Fast regularly uses Laura Catterall ( Cosmopolitan, Special K). I have seen other young models emerging who are curvy.

CF – We work a lot with colleges, we are planting the seeds in the colleges and giving students choices and opinions instead of the traditional fashion stereo types and ideals. Students and emerging young designers are now choosing to work with diverse models, they previously thought they had to think one way, and we interrupted that signal.
In Plymouth and Edinburgh we worked with students on designing for ordinary bodies. They were not getting a thorough training because they were designing and making clothes for size 8/10. We provoked thought. They couldn’t transfer their designs to a live body. Colleges wholeheartedly embrace this and it is now a live project.

CF – Designers are working with brands such as Evans and feature a more individual model. American Apparel is doing street casting. Debenhams are using older models. There is currently a study underway at the Judge Business School to back up Dr Phillips Diedricks study that size 14 is the most desirable shape. If you see these shapes in the media you will feel better about your own. In our lectures we ask the Q’s of young designers ‘what impact would that (your designs) have on well being? Students we have reached in the system are slowly making those changes. Its like a super tanker.

CF – Retailers are now realising that there is more money to be made by having authentic, female friendly offerings. Women are recognising their power, they will take their money to the retailer that honours them by not having airbrushed images and providing more realistic models.

Evolve …Be Proud…Be You

I had the pleasure of attending the Body Confidence Awards (sponsored by Bare Minerals) and hosted by Jo Swinson MP (Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Body Image) with Rianne (Editor Evolve) last night in the Terrace Pavilion (overlooking the Thames) – that picture you always see on the news when they show the Houses of Parliament.

It was a fantastic night and there were some truly deserving nominees and winners.

It started well when I bumped into Duncan from the YMCA who provides the secretariat for the APPG on Body Image in the corridor on the way in.

Caitlin Moran won the Broadcasting/Print/Publishing Award for her hilarious and laugh out loud book ‘How to be a woman’. I read it last year on holiday to Ibiza and nearly got sectioned for laughing out loud by myself on Salinas beach when reading it. If you haven’t read it, do so now! I tried to hunt her down but missed her…

It was great to chat to Lynn and Natalie from Bare Minerals about everything from San Francisco, Minsk (don’t ask), The Wire and who will win the French Presidential election.

It was lovely bumping into Debra Bourne again from All Walks who are instrumental in bringing this body confidence issue to the fore. Look out for my interview with Debra and Caryn in April’s issue of Evolve out on Monday 23rd April.

I also managed briefly to say hi to a very busy Caryn Franklin from All Walks who was buzzing around and who also presented the All Walks Beyond The Catwalk Fashion Award which was won by Mark Fast. I also had a great chat with Charlotte who works for All Walks with Debra, Caryn and Erin and also writes her own blog CAVA COMA.

I had a right chat with Emma Moore founder of Pink Stinks who together with her twin sister Abi very deservedly won the Mumsnet Award for Promoting Body Confidence in Children award.

It was lovely to finally bump into and meet Anna Shillinglaw owner and founder of Milk Models. She assures me she will keep sending those stunning girls with real figures down the catwalks.

I had a complete hoot with the girls from the fantastic Vivien of Holloway who sure know how to party and rock those curves (and they like me love a drink!). Shame they didn’t win the Retail Award instead of Debenhams but hey ho you can’t win em all, but I was very shocked and so it appears were Debenhams that they actually won it! Surprised, well me too! Anyway, will definitely be looking for a night out with those gals very soon.

I also shamefully ambushed Arlene Phillips (the look of sheer terror on Arlene’s face says it all, she couldn’t wait to get away) who presented the Celebrity Ambassador prize to Davina McCall who was a no-show which sort of says it all really. Not sure why she was even nominated never mind why she won it but it was the voters decision!! I would have personally picked Gok!

I also ambushed the very lovely Cerrie Burnell from CBeebies who presented the Retail Award.

In all a great night and I am looking forward to next year’s already.

Now for some piccies of the evening.