The results of the fourth Blog of the Month poll are in - but before we tell you them, we'd just like to remind you all to head along to our new community (Click HERE), for fashionable chit chat and other BSB stuff! We can't wait to hear from you!

So, without further ado...

The poll for this month:

Big congratulations to A Typical Atypical - I'll be getting in touch very very soon to get your bio and photo, and to send you the BOTM winners' badge.

Don't forget to check back tomorrow for the entry form for February's BOTM - and we look forward to seeing you at the community page!

LoveLoveLove

- A -

Image: Operation Beautiful
In the near-future, an interview with Caitlin of Operation Beautiful will be posted here :)

I think that, sometimes, no matter how rational our thoughts are, we need to be reminded that we're beautiful just the way we are. Even if you don't usually feel bad about the way you look, everyone has bad days, when things start to get them down - bad hair days tend to be what I suffer from most frequently, and I found that the easiest way not to feel bad about my massive frizz of hair was to remember something that someone I admire once said;

"I won't ever straighten my hair to impress a guy again"
- Taylor Swift

So, I thought I'd collect some positive body image quotes to remind you all that you're beautiful; pick the one that's most relevant for you, write it on a post-it note, stick it to your mirror, and always remember that you are beautiful.

"Find yourself and your own unique, signature style, rather than trying to be 'of the moment'"
- Dita Von Teese

"There are flowers everywhere, for those who bother to look"
- Henri Matisse

"Wear a fabulous smile, great jewelry, and know that you are totally and utterly in control"
- Donatella Versace

"Beauty is not in the face - beauty is a light in the heart"
- Kahil Gibran

"I think I've become more comfortable about being a human being"
- Cameron Diaz

"I think that whatever size or shape body you have, it's important to embrace it and get down! The female body is something that's so beautiful. I wish women would be proud of their bodies and not dis other women for being proud of theirs!"
- Christina Aguilera

"Eat healthily, exercise regularly, and listen to really good music"
- Perez Hilton

"I've never seen a smiling face that was not beautiful"
- Anon

"Beauty comes in all sizes, not just size five"
- Roseanne

"I don't like standard beauty - there is no beauty without strangeness"
- Karl Largerfeld

The most inspirational thing I found when I was looking for quotes for this post, however, is not a quote at all; it is a secret sent in to PostSecret months and months ago now... and I wanted to share it with you all;

(: Very poignant...

Which are your favourite quotes? And have you got any of your own to share?

LoveLoveLove

- A -

PS - we have a sparkly new community! Click HERE to join!

When it's cold out,  we bundle up in layers and coats. When it's warmer, feeling the sun on your shoulders is nice. But what to do inbetween seasons?  I have used a large men's Tshirt ("Circus Punks") and created the perfect light cover up. Looks great with a tank or a long sleeved shirt under. And because the shirt is about Circus Punks (http://www.circuspunks.com/INTRO.html) I HAD to add the lovely line of fur on the hood.

What you'll need:

• zipper
• faux fur
• pattern for a hood from a jacket or sweatshirt
• underwear elastic w/ ruffle
• sewing machine, thread, pins, needle
• 2 Tshirts

 Shorten the sleeves and add underwear elastic to the edges to make them more curvy. Genltly pull the elastic while sewing to create a rounded sleeve.

Cut right down the center of the shirt and attach a zipper with pins. Sewing in a straight line from top to bottom and then bottom to top. It helps to have the zipper closed while sewing. Since it had a logo on the front, I left the edges raw (no hem).

Use the hood pattern to cut out a hood from another Tshirt. This pattern was in 2 pieces, which were sewn down the middle. Hem if needed and attach  to the Tshirt, sewing along the back of the neckline.

 Hand stitch some fur around the hood using a needle and thread.

I had some leftover scrap fabric to play with, so I cut out some pockets (freehand- it wasn't difficult) and sewed them on, with raw edges, along with some extra elastic trim.

Tips:

• try using different fabric for the hood, or line it with cute leopard or polka dots
• add other embellishments like safety pins, a brooch, patches, badges, etc.
• if you have a pillow case, sheets, or other fabric that you love but just don't need, turn it into something you can wear!

Another idea is to add the fur like a mohawk or ribbon in the front like this gore-geous sweatshirt:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=30402975

A while back I had the privilige of talking to the wonderful Franca of Oranges and Apples about her views on body image - here's what she has to say!

I've struggled with disordered eating and over-exercising as a teenager and in my very early twenties, and my personal experience has been that body issues have been a result of an underlying issue in other parts of my life. It has been much better for me to put the effort into sorting out these other areas rather than trying to overcome my issues by working on my body through changing my diet exercise etc. As I've become more confident and in control in my relationships, education, career etc, I've naturally become more confident in my body, without ever directly doing anything about that specifically. That's been my experience anyway.

Now that my exams have finished, I've finally got time to write a very important post that I've been meaning to write forever and ever, about BSB's lovely best friends! They've sponsored us through our Christmas competition, and they deserve a lot of love for that, so we're here to tell you all about them. We promise that Body Image Season will be back very very very very soon :)

Don't forget that you can read What Katie Thinks About Body Image (featuring Katie of 'What Katie Wore') now - CLICK HERE.

Illustrator Claire

Can be found at -  www.illustratorclaire.com

Claireis a BSB columnist and professional illustrator,who also runs an Etsy shop, selling "hand-drawn magnets, craft-based sculpture and my Mum's old jeans".

She donated her Fridge-Style Game  to the Christmas competition prize-fund, but our favourite of her products at the moment is her Magnetic Romance set, worth $6.50, which is about average cost for her products.

Take a look;

"A gentleman, a lady, and the flowers she breathes over him, depicted in magnets.

Hand drawn! One of a kind set."

See it HERE

We'd recommend this shop to anyone looking for a unique, eclectic gift for a friend, or for someone who just wants to jazz their kitchen up a little bit!

CoCo Rose London

"Unfold when the going gets tough"

Can be found at - www.cocoroselondon.com

CoCo Rose Londonis run by a very lovely lady named Janan, who kindly donated a pair of CoCo Roses for the winner, as well as a bunch of other stuff for everybody else. They sell foldable shoes to store in your handbag, for nights out when those heels get too much... and foldable bags to keep the heels in afterwards!

Shoes cost between £30 and £35, and bags cost £3.50.

Our favourites are their Vesper Shoes -

You can see them HERE.

We'd have to recommend these to literally anyone who has ever felt the strain on their feet after too long in their stilettos - they come in a range of colours and styles, so everyone is sure to find some that they like :)

I Love Cutie Pie

"Cute, Kitsch Vintage Jewelery"

Can be found at - www.ilovecutiepie.com

The lovely Dani of I love Cutie Pie donated a beautiful necklace towards the competition. They sell a lot of wonderful, unique jewelery - necklaces, earrings, bracelets and rings in cute vintage styles. Jewelery can vary in price significantly, as is to be expected, but prices are reasonable, and everything is beautiful!

Despite the fact that my ears aren't pierced, my personal favourite product is a pair of gorgeous earrings called Stupid Cupid -

See them HERE

We'd definfitly recommend this store to all lovers of unique jewelery, and the vintage look - it's an absolute goldmine for that kind of thing!

So, thank you, once again, to all our lovely best friends - make sure you check them out!

We'll be back to normal, and talking Body Image again very very soon!

LoveLoveLove

- A -

Katie MacKay had a huge 2009; from starting a tiny little blog with her boyfriend to international press, she has been praised for her style and individuality. I was so glad that such a ray of sunshine in the fashion blogging world agreed to a chat with me about the Body Image Campaign!

Image from What Katie Wore

What has What Katie Wore taught you about body confidence?

I guess that because it all started with a guy, and a year-long love letter, that I have found that what I wear has made others happy and has inspired them to dress for themselves. I know that I have my good days and bad days, and my reeeeaaaalllly rough days but I don’t care: others comments have given me the confidence to keep going for the whole year

What do you love about yourself?

I like my ankles as they’re tiny so I can wear all types of shoes and they look pretty. But my favourite thing about my body is my skin, I know its pale and in places it’s almost see-through but at 27 I’m finally fine with that - it’s no longer as spotty as it was either! I don’t feel that I have to be more tanned, though there was a time when I would have loved to have been. I can embrace what I have been given.

So, what do you not like very much?

I don’t like my thighs, but y’know it’s not the end of the world! I can cover them up and know what make them look and feel better or worse. I’ve found through this how to dress for my shape and even if you don’t love your shape, you can create a perfect silhouette without dieting. Me and Joe both love food so we eat out or cook a lot, but I would rather exercise-lightly (of course) than crash diet and not eat at all.

Why do you think What Katie Wore has inspired so many people?

To be honest I never thought I would inspire anyone - not in my wildest dreams! I never expected to appear in magazines or to have been so lucky to get recognised for what I have done. I just think it’s because I know I’m not perfect, but I’m happy as experimenting gives me a sense of enjoyment and I think others have felt that they can dress how they feel too.

What makes you feel confident about your body?

I don’t think my figure makes me feel confidence about my appearance, that’s all down to the way I dress. It allows me to express myself and others seem to like it, so that gives me confidence.

What is your reaction when readers confide in you that they hate their bodies or that they get criticised for the way they dress?

I’ve found that it’s usually younger people that have this problem and the last thing I would want is for anyone to be bullied for expressing themselves. But I always advise them that you can’t please everyone and in years to come you will realise that the was the people that you made happy that mattered and the naivety of others wasn’t worth your time

Can I just say that it is a fantastic thing that you are all doing, as high streets are starting to show more real sized models nowadays. And in a time when the appeal of magazines is decreasing, bloggers have greater opportunities to provide inspiration to others and I love that!

Katie has previously done interviews with myself and Amy.

This post is actually by Emily, but she hasn't had time to post it - she's writing her Masters' Dissertation at the moment! Wish her luck!

*

Image: HERE

I don’t think us girls will ever be completely happy with our bodies. There will always be something that we want to change. So I decided that this month I’d tell you about my battles to feel beautiful.

I was remembering a (drunken) conversation with a girlfriend one night in a bar in London. We both decided that our chests were the one part of our bodies that we would change. But for totally different reasons. I am completely flat-chested. (Padded bras have been my best friend since... forever!) She – on the other hand – is much more blessed in the boob department. However, whilst I would like to be slightly fuller, she would like to be a little less buxom!

I think the first step to being happy with what you’ve got, is to accept it. I accepted a long time ago that unless I wanted to go under the knife – and nothing would ever induce me to do that – I would have to accept that I was not going to ever have any real cleavage. So instead, I learnt to love my (non-existent) boobs and even to see the plus points of my small chest:

I can wear relatively low tops and still look respectable during the day – even to work.

Loose tops and dresses work without having to be cinched in because they fall easily over my chest and still cling into my waist.

Running and swimming aren’t too much effort (or at least only in the sense that they are exercise and I don’t do that!).

I can easily and happily go braless and not worry about sagging.

As I get older, no sagging worries in that department!

The whole way through high school I was the girl that none of the boys ever looked at and always felt self-conscious. Everyone takes time to grow into their bodies – it might happen in your teens but it might as easily happen in your 20s.

I just know that once you start to love your body and learn how to dress it to its advantage, that is when the real trouble starts. If you thought looking in the mirror was a pain, you have never felt the pain of a credit card bill in one hand and your payslip in the other and the horrible realisation that one is much bigger than the other and it is not the way around it should be!!

Be happy. Go shopping!!

I was reading, recently. It was a recommendation-review, with scans, of the book Fun Home by Alison Bechdel (famed beyond her comics for the "Bechdel Test": does a movie have two women in it, who have a conversation, not about men? If it does, it's worth watching!). This panel stood out, because it reminded me of something. Once you've read it, I'll tell you a story.

Once upon a time, there was a version of me who was smaller, younger and all-round not quite as good as the one communicating with you right now. She was between, for the purposes of this tale, between fourteen and sixteen. I can't narrow it down any further, but I know that it was after Halle Berry wore that see-through, roses-over-the-boobs dress to wherever she wore it (and a fair bit before I met my beloved) because I was travel'd to London to see a design exhibition which included it.

We stopped at a deli for lunch and I ordered a massive and delicious tuna/mayonaise/sweetcorn white-bread baguette, when ALL OF A SUDDEN--

--And I just realised that when posting both my work alongside a published illustrator's, it's not good PR to decide to go with the sketchy-sketchy took-three-seconds look.. but! It felt honest--

--Things turned to the purple ink of a teenager's memory. You see, a lady appeared.

Not so unusual, not so noticable, just some lady. Spaghetti straps with no bra, that's maybe enough to raise an eyebrow? No, here's the thing.

Do you see?

And I.. I was like so.

I look back on this day and I am fascinated by the fact that I went a decade and a half without ever honestly realising that I didn't have to spend the rest of my life regularly depilating my underarms on pain of public shame and unwomanliness. I spent the rest of the meal like so -

My head kept going round and round, round and round, "You can do that? Don't stare/I'm not! You can do that??" And I thought she looked wonderful.

It took me until I was twenty one before I felt secure in doing away with the removal of my armpit hair. In school, sixth form, college, uni, I'd hear "I haven't shaved my armpits today, I'm so gross" and see my friends (lady ones) yank their arms down SUDDENLY because they realised they had the smallest, shortest amount of stubble. Drove me nuts, I tell ya, but I couldn't break away! Too nervous. I'm twenty-three in April, and I've not worn a sleeveless shirt in four years - since I started experimenting with shaving less. I will be this summer.

The thing about this memory, my story and this post is that seeing that woman in the summer in London gave me the impetus to take an eight year journey of courage that has made me happier, more enamoured of my own appearance, and massively importantly it's made me so, SO much less ANNOYED! I hated shaving my armpits, I hated the fiddliness of it and the requirement that I felt to do it.

Let's do some maths. Let's say doing both sides together takes one minute. Let's say that I 'had' to do it three times a week to keep 'decent', because my hair grows fast. Let's say I was going to live for seventy years, post-puberty. Three times one minute per week is three. Fifty-two times three is One hundred and fifty-six. Seventy times one hundred and fifty six is 10,920, according to google calculator. 10, 920 minutes is 25.3333333 hours, again according to google calculator. And for me? That means just over one day of purest, most concentrated rage, hate and resentment that I am so glad I rejected from my life.

I want to thank that woman. And you, because if you live in a way that makes you feel right, and follow your aesthetic truths, you're telling all the kids who see you that they can do it too - no matter how long it might take them.

Check out these and challenge that old rubbish!

As body image season is sweeping over the site it's got me thinking a lot about my body and my confidence. And you know what I've decided?

Image by me

When I was in school I was never the most confident in my appearance, I thought my ginger hair made me stand out, my skinny body meant I would never be deemed attractive by the good looking boys add into that finally my incredible awkward limbs and clumsiness and well you get the picture.

But now finally four years after school I'm finally happy about the way I look, my hair has been dyed several times but I still love my natural colour and whilst I have put weight on I love my figure. While I'm still as clumsy as ever, I don't care and it would never stop me from wearing the heels I love!

Of course there are a few areas I don't particularly love, my toes and my hip bones- weird I know but the hip bones stem from an ex friend with a bone fascination who revelled in telling me how scrawny they were- but I can live with these things, theyre not the be all and end all.

But my favourite things? That's easy, my top three are

• I love my eyes- they're so greeny-blue and stand out a lot
• I have the "legs of a greyhound"- I'm tall so my legs are so thin and long, my dad compares them to that of a greyhound
• my fingers are spindly- I never worry about my awkward limbs anymore, instead I love my long fingers

Image from Ache@tumblr