When I was growing up, brands such as American Eagle Outfitters and Aéropostale were popular and coveted at school. I always sported my Aéropostale t-shirts with pride, but I never felt like they were flattering, especially for a curvy girl like me. It was always a struggle finding clothes, especially bathing suits, that made me feel confident and comfortable about my body.
As I got older, I ditched the Aéropostale clothes and started leaning towards American Eagle Outfitters' clothes. Something about them had always appealed to me aside from their popularity, and to this day I still find the brand to have the best quality clothes out there. Enough about my love for the brand, there is a real reason why I truly think they are great.
Aerie, which is a brand associated with AEO that makes more clothing like underwear and bathing suits, has been upping their game with the realistic body types shown by the models they choose to wear their clothes on the website. Recently I was looking for bathing suits online, and my heart was so happy to see women that look like me on the site.
Curves, no curves, black, white, the diversity of women modeling the suits was endless. Aerie has been doing this for a couple years now, but I really noticed the evolution recently. AEO and Aerie has been unretouching their photos and showing real models, and acknowledging the fact that there is indeed more than one than body type out there.
I honestly think it is a big deal because we need to be showing younger girls that there are different body types out there. I know when I grew up there was no diversity in models in clothing ads; it was basically all skinny white girls with no stretch marks or flaws. Now AEO and Aerie are showing what real women look like; no touch ups.
We are so worried about having the perfect body we see modeling the bathing suit we like online that I think we kind of lose sight of the fact that it is not real. That girl you see probably was retouched, or maybe she spends 24/7 in the gym. In reality, that is not the case for every one. Your body is carrying you through life, but goes through a lot. Different stages, not just one stage or type that every one else is going to have.
So thank you, American Eagle, for realizing that there is such a variety of different body types and people out there, and for making clothing that makes us feel beautiful and comfortable.
