When I saw Marie-Claude Barrett posing in a bra, her stomach exposed and a smile on her lips, for an ad campaign for underwear (and self-esteem), several things struck me.
1) Here's a woman who isn't afraid to bare herself (in every sense of the word).
2) Here is a woman who moves things and mindsets forward.
3) Here's a woman who gives the middle finger to other people's judgments, and…
4) Here's a girl doing something I don't!
freed, granted
Of course, Andrea Gauthier's photo was taken as part of an advertising campaign for an underwear brand, titled “Freeing ourselves from our invisible labels” (Underwear Emma, by Emma Dunn). Surely this is a marketing move! But Emma chose not to do the campaign with celery-fed supermodels, but to show real women taking charge.
In addition to Marie-Claude Barrett, we see Lulu Hughes, Kim Richardson and Saskia Tuat (in a bra and suspender belt!).
It is remarkable how happy and fulfilled these women are. Dare I say “liberators”? They are freed and freed from criticism, just as they are freed from the weight of judgment (or judgment about weight).
That smile on their face! It's almost childish joy! It exudes newfound self-confidence. How nice to change what people say to I-Don't Care.
In an interview on QUB (radio and television) last week, Marie-Claude told me how humble she is in life. So it needed a good reason for it to appear like this! And it is true that this photo is going viral. Condemn the many labels we put on women, we are of no use. “You are too emotional”, “You are too ambitious”, “You are not feminine enough”, “You are too authoritarian”, “You are obsessive”, “You are too old”.
It is not for nothing that Ingrid Falaise wrote on the underwear Emma Instagram account: “Bravo bravo bravo! This is important and necessary. I salute Emma's initiative and the power of your message.
This self-confidence campaign also invites us to ask ourselves: “What is stopping me from being who I am?”
Why do we spend hundreds of dollars to cover up, blur, cover up our little imperfections, our white hair, our wrinkles, our rolls, our freckles, our scars, lark, etc.?
Not all of us have the opportunity to be photographed in a bra or suspender belt so that the whole planet sees us for who we are. But the next time someone says “you're also…” we can take it with a grain of salt. We are always “too much” for those who are “not enough”.
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