Plus-size Woman, Unite!

After all, you are not alone in this world.

Sudah menjadi sifat dasar manusia untuk hidup berkelompok...untuk bisa hidup bersama-sama dengan orang lain yang memiliki nilai-nilai yang sama atau sesuai dengan nilai yang kita yakini. We will do anything to be fit in, right? People that don't have similarity will be excluded and created another group with that has mutual interest and so on.

When I was younger (and before social media), it's hard to fit in. Gue pernah ada di dalam suatu peer group yang sebenarnya punya mutual interest, but I didn't feel 100% belong only because of my body. They can easily use each other clothes because they have similar body size, but I can't do that because i have bigger figure than them. When people talk about our group, I never heard my name as a person that other people perceive as beautiful because I have bigger body than the others.  I have no idea how many time boys saying that they want to be my boyfriend as long as I reduce my weight. Their words affected me and lead me to un-healthy diet only to feel belong...to be beautiful by having slimmer body. You know what? that diet didn't work and I ended up feeling sick and unhappy. I'm 100% sure, that feeling...that condition won't happened if I believe on what I believe right now: beauty can't be measured by your body size.

Gue rasa, hal ini gak hanya dialami oleh gue seorang. Ada satu (or more) orang-orang yang merasa insecure dengan tubuhnya sendiri dan end-up can't fit into a group. But before the 'social media' era, it's hard to find people with similar experience yang bisa diajak curhat or benar-benar memahami apa yang gue hadapi. 

with Ririe Bogar, initiator of Indonesia Plus Size Festival.

Di era media sosial ini, tak lagi sulit untuk menemukan orang-orang yang punya pengalaman yang sama dengan kita, punya cara pandang yang serupa dengan kita dan untuk bisa masuk ke dalam kelompok yang sesuai with our belief. Jika bicara tentang pengalaman menghadapi body image issue, rasanya event yang gue hadiri kemarin malam adalah salah satu bukti bahwa you're not alone in 'fighting' against the beauty standard. Indonesia Plus Size Festival adalah sebuah event yang didedikasikan bagi wanita bertubuh besar.....a simple event that remind everyone to celebrate their own size.....an event where woman support each other to be more confidence and loving their body. Salah satu penggagasnya adalah Ririe Bogar, an influencer and also a motivator who wrote a book called 'Cantik ejaannya bukan K.U.R.U.S.' Event-nya sendiri berlangsung pada tanggal 17 & 24 Februari dan 3 & 10 Maret di SQ Dome, Jakarta Selatan dan terdapat serangkaian kegiatan, such as fashion show, talkshow, zumba & yoga class and some performances from plus-size women. 

For me, this event is a way to celebrate our size and share the perception about your size doesnt define who you are and your beauty. Lewat fashion show misalnya, it show the audience (and soon...the world) that your body size can't stop you to be involved in fashion world...can't stop you to wear anything that you love to see on magazine and tv. Lewat kegiatan talkshow, kita berkesempatan untuk mendengar dan belajar dari pengalaman orang lain agar kita yang tadinya gak PD dengan bentuk tubuh dan merasa tidak bisa produktif karena ukuran tubuh menjadi sosok yang lebih menghargai tubuh kita dan tentunya jadi semangat untuk lebih produktif lagi. This event is something that we need, especially if you have body image issue. 

With the designer of Koozel, Diana.

Di hari kedua ini gue sempatkan untuk hadir menyaksikan fashion show dari salah satu plus-size fashion brand yang dapat dibilang cukup baru, Koozel. The designer, Diana, was very kind enough to sent me a clothes from her collection as her support for plus-size woman that believing in the same value in helping woman to be confidence with her body. I came to the event simply to say hi to her and thanking her for the clothes and the spirit that kinda inspire me to write again today. Tidak hanya itu, gue juga bertemu dengan Panda, a designer from Malang that has the same spirit with Diana and reflect it through the clothes she designed. The fact that she wants to bring the same euphoria of celebrating your size to Malang is inspiring. Tak lupa, I also met Ririe Bogar, the initiator of this event and thank her directly for the event that empower plus-size women to be confidence and feeling beautiful. It excited me to meet and have small talk with people that believing similar value with me. Because of these kind of people, woman who has self-confidence issue because of their body no longer feel lonely. 

My hope is that by having this event as annual activity, a lot of women out there doesn't have to feel lonely in 'fighting' against body image issue....a lot of girl out there can be proud of themselves no matter what size they wear....a lot of people can share body positive vibe to each other so no more bullying and no more ED issue need to be happened in Indonesia. It's time to celebrate who you really are!

and it's time for me to write more about body positive :p