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Bikini Body Confidence

A few weeks ago, we launched a call out for ladies who have never worn a bikini or haven’t worn one in a long time to come and join us for a Curvy Kate photoshoot to remember!

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We were overwhelmed with applications in the short time we did the call out and we want to say THANK YOU, thank you for being YOU. Just for hitting send on that email, you took a step on your body confidence journey and for that we are forever grateful!

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We choose FIVE fabulous females to join us on a rather cloudy day after England lost the Euros, but one thing was for sure – these women brought the sunshine! Here is why these ladies applied to be part of our Wear The Bikini campaign:

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Tajinder

Wearing Sea Leopard in size 30DD

I applied for the bikini confidence campaign for the younger me who never thought she’d see herself in a bikini. Growing up I never fit the stereotypical image of an Indian girl. I was curvier, had curly hair and bushy eyebrows.

I was bullied for looking different and the media didn’t show faces like mine. All these elements resulted in my lack of confidence and all I wanted to do was hide. I was nearly content with my body, then pregnancy hit and my body changed again. I had stretch marks, rolls, curves, body hair, and then it hit me. This is what a NORMAL body looks like. It’s not an airbrushed version I see in glossy magazines or filtered to the extreme on social media. Rather than hiding behind oversized clothes I started celebrating my body one step at a time. From wearing crop tops, tailored pants, wrap and bodycon dresses. I was feeling like myself again. When I saw that Curvy Kate was looking for bikini babes, it felt like the ad was speaking directly to me. I knew I had to apply, for both me and other women. Even if I only inspire one person, I’m happy. My aim is to remind everyone that we are BIGGER than our insecurities. We’re all so beautiful and that’s the least interesting part about us! So wear that bikini, you are beYOUtiful already!

Rachel

Wearing Sea Leopard in size 32GG

Back in the day I loved to wear a bikini. I was passionate about representing what a real woman’s body should look like. In 2008 I did exactly that, and took part in some local fashion shows and photo shoots to promote body positivity for real women.

Fast forward 10 years to 2018 and that confidence and body positivity were stolen from me by a diagnosis of triple negative breast cancer, followed by surgery and chemotherapy. All my confidence was drained as I was stripped of the woman I once was and now an unrecognisable stranger looked back at me from the mirror. I didn’t like what I saw and felt I needed to hide away. It was as if a light had gone out. Over the last 2 years I’ve regained my health and fitness, and noticed that my positivity was still dimly flickering like a light at the end of a long, dark, lonely tunnel. I just needed to find my missing mojo! It came in the form of Curvy Kate’s Bikini Confidence Campaign. I thought if I can do this, then I could prove to myself that I am still that confident , positive woman, just a little older and wiser, with more life experience, a few battle scars and a new image ,but ultimately alive, to live my best life.

JACKIE

Wearing Wrapsody in size 34K

Me? Wearing a bikini? You’ve got to be joking me — 11 year old me is screaming right now. Bikini’s, feeling secure, feeling sexy, like I fit in one has never been on my agenda because I grew up being used to accepting my fate that having a fuller bust meant restrictions, you don’t have the luxury of wearing things everybody else does because you have a large chest.

And so I accepted very early on I will never find a bikini that makes me feel empowered, sexy and confident and that bikini’s were not for me. And now lo and behold 15 years later here I am wearing a Curvy Kate bikini that makes me feel all those amazing gorgeous things that I didn’t know whether I was ever going to feel. Me? I look at my self in THIS bikini and instantly I smile this is FOR me, And it’s for YOU. I spent so long denying myself the pleasure of wearing a bikini and parading around the beach in my body and now finally I feel my younger self looking over my shoulder like “Finally. Have your moment girl you waited a bloody long time for this.”

Sophie

Wearing Hibiscus in size 32J

Applying for Curvy Kate to help me get back into my bikini was a huge step for the journey I was personally on.
I’ve spent the last 2 years of my life dressing down, hiding my body in dark colours and heavy fabrics. Faking it on Instagram.

Feeling disgusted at what I saw in the mirror and terrified to express my sexier and more confident self in a public space.
I was a victim of a sex attack on holiday, and in the process lost trust in some of my closest female friends. The R word is prevalent for many of us, in our lives, and the statistics surrounding women and sexual violence are sickening, we often forget how severely it takes a toll on our bodies and mental health longer term, on our relationships and support networks, this isn’t something which goes away in a day or two. I found the way I consumed media surrounding women’s bodies changed, I covered the mirrors in my house, I wasn’t ok letting anyone close to me.
I have been working through a lot of the emotional scars in therapy, I had started taking myself for dinners and really indulging in self care when this opportunity arose… and I could think of a better way to throw myself In the deep end and face that last hurdle, how I felt about my body. Now FELT being the operative word here…. Because this experience was mind blowing. We all started the day with sheepish looks, nervous giggles, holding our bellies, hiding under dressing gowns.
But, come on now… that wasn’t going to last! With beautiful and encouraging women on our side the genuine smiles were shining before lunch time. And what an EXPERIENCE! We dragged ourselves out of our insecurities and into the limelight… we had tears, we had hugs, we had each other.
Curvy Kate thank you for putting me in a bikini, and even more than that; gifting me with these incredible women to indulge with, in the clarity that all of us deserve to be seen, to be sexy and to love our bodies… no matter what we’ve been through. We all have a story.
Every one does indeed have a story and Curvy Kat created this campaign so that you can tell you story, feel empowered in life not just your bikini!

Sarah

Wearing Sheer Class in size 34HH

I'm looking forward to wearing a bikini again as I haven't worn one in over five years!! I've been insecure about my body and size for a very long time, notably my belly area where I carry the most weight but in a way, the pandemic has taught me to be a lot more kinder to myself

Those cheeky takeaways that I used to berate myself for became a treat and those days feeling terrible because I didn't complete a workout became "it's alright, you can do it tomorrow". I feel that I'm finally in a good and healthy place with my size and body and would love to show it off in a campaign like this, I feel like all those years feeling like a didn't have a summer body are gone now and I want to flaunt what I have! Nobody should feel like their body is unacceptable, and campaigns like this are important to show how diverse all of our body types are while still being absolutely gorgeous. The only person that really needs to feel comfortable and happy with my body is me, so I'm putting on these bikinis made me feel absolutely amazing! X

Eloise

Wearing Wrapsody in size 30H

If you’d asked me a couple of months ago what’s the most terrifying thing I could imagine myself doing, modelling for a national bikini campaign would definitely have been up there. It was only a few years ago looking at myself in the mirror was something I’d struggle to do, or avoid completely.

I’d wear clothes I didn’t like to disguise the body I resented. You’d rarely see photos of me. It was miserable never truly being myself. I’ve worked hard to give myself happiness in lots of parts of my life - I have a profession and lots of people in my life that I love, but I never worked on loving myself. When I saw the Curvy Kate callout, it felt serendipitous. I always said to myself I’ll wear a bikini for the first time when I’ve lost that stone or toned up my tummy. I had to be perfect. Signing up, I knew I wasn’t the heaviest I’d ever been, nor was I the lightest. I didn’t feel ‘ready’, but that was the point: my body was already a bikini body. All bodies are bikini bodies.