Is curvy the new normal?

Part 1

“Let it be seen that you have a figure and don’t hide it again in such an oversized sweater.” That’s what May said when I shouted from the fitting room with my overheated head in the sleeve of a sweater that nothing, absolutely nothing suited me. And I’ve been brooding over that for a week now. I didn’t actually realize it, but I’m hiding. The rolls over the waistband, my upper arms, and even my breasts I magically make a whole size smaller in the shirts I wear. During a clothing-item-by-clothing-item inspection in my closet, it turned out to be true: I am in a concealing phase of my so nice and Dutch.

And suddenly I see them everywhere… Buttocks, breasts, bellies, thighs, upper arms. A curvy cousin of Gigi and Bella, the new show Curvy Supermodel, a young woman who went from thin to curves because there is simply more work in the curvy industry in Het Parool. A girl on Instagram, who definitely has two sizes more than I do, with millions of followers. So I wonder if I am hiding what is actually the new standard. Is curvy the new normal? On the street, of course, for years, but I mean in fashion, among bloggers, on TV where you standardly look five kilos heavier and in magazines?

If it’s up to the fashion houses, not quite yet. It’s rare when I find a shirt where both breasts fit in a somewhat decent way. High-necked looks either sad or the bust takes on enormous proportions. I was in love with a wrap dress from Zara, I had to wear it to a wedding. Let’s put it this way: they didn’t fit in at all, so much so that the bottom of the wrap dress remained somewhat revealingly open. The dress after that in the fitting room (same size, but really exactly) I could fold three times around my waist due to the gigantic meters of fabric. The question mark above my head couldn’t have been bigger. By the way, I also found it unfair because that second dress wasn’t nearly as high on my wish list.

You know what? I just typed ‘part 1’ under the heading. I’m going to investigate curves and shapes, in parts, because I firmly believe that this topic comes in segments. Maybe even in body parts. From breast to butt and also a bit towards the thigh. With tips, revelations about what is actually sexy, why a model gets the plus-size label, and how it comes that extremely thin has been the guideline for generations.