Grace: Vol.Up.2

I'm a fat lady. There's no other way to put it. That's what I am. It is by no means who I am though.

I am a fat lady, who is allowed to be beautiful, attractive, sexy, cute and all of those other words that don't ordinarily come along with the 'Fat' word. 

Over the last few years I've been on a bit of a journey with my body and my own road to self acceptance and I firmly believe that it's an ongoing adventure which never really ends. 

A few months ago I was asked by the amazing Velvet D'Amour, if I would be interested in taking part in her editorial, Vol.Up.2. Now, I'm no model but there was nothing to think about really, how could I say no?

On the day of the shoot I turned up on a very cold February morning armed with a suitcase full of beautiful clothing sent to me by the amazing Shawna of Chubby Cartwheels and met Velvet at a fabulously quirky London apartment. The awesome hair and make up girls, Rachel Williamson and Rebecca McMahon turned up and began working to transform me into a new Naomi, the Vol.Up.2 'Grace' Naomi...




These pictures are fantastic (and there's more on the site). Chubby flesh, double chins, visible belly outline, bare arms, they're fantastic because these pictures showcase all the things women work so tirelessly hard to hide ALL OF THE TIME. 

My hands are up, I'm one of those women, I can't help it, but as women we're driven to desperation trying to attain and maintain that 'perfect body Mecca'. Constantly looking for miracle fixes to hide all of our 'ugly flaws'. When I first saw these pictures, I'm not going to lie they were difficult to take in without that critical voice in the back of my head going 'Oh my god, look at your fat arms' but the more I look at these pictures the more I feel proud to be the person in them giving a big fuck you to the pressure society places on us to conform to it's 'beautiful' standards. 

And there it is, these pictures are another stop on my journey to self acceptance and that road to loving my body, every chubby knee, every wrinkle, every crease, it's all mine, it's all real and it's all beautiful, no matter what society or anybody else wants to think about it...

I don't expect everybody to understand some of the sentiment behind this post, especially some of my friends and readers whom are consumed with hating themselves or obsessed with 'commercial beauty' standards, but I hope you will all take away something from what I say. Beauty isn't just about the biggest cleavages, the fake tans and the size 8 waists, it's about so, so much more...

Check out the Grace issue of Vol.Up.2 and see all the other beautiful, real, amazing models who took part....


BIG LOVE
XOXOXOX

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