by Liz Worth

Fat - it’s impossible for many of us not to obsess over.
 
Everywhere we look – on TV, in magazines, at store mannequins – we see images of so-called perfection.    

The models seem flawless. Their pants fit them without a trace of fat hanging out over the top. Their skirts are short because there’s nothing they need to hide. Their shirts are snug over flat stomachs.

The list of things we like to find wrong with ourselves feels endless: stretch marks, runny makeup, bad hair, pimples (not only on your face, but in places you didn’t even know they could pop up). What makes it worse is that the girls in the pictures we see everyday seem to be able to float through life as if they’ve never had a day where they didn’t feel pretty.

Of course, it’s all fake and we know it. We know that runway models are freaks of nature. We know that the photos of models in magazines have been touched up in Photoshop.

Still, it’s hard to look at ourselves positively when everything around us seems to say that how we look is all wrong.

Are you ready to buck the trend of fake models and fake idols? The following two creative gals I interviewed for this article have found ways to live the lives they want while rebelling against what their industries told them was the “norm”.

For Kingi Carpenter, owner of Toronto’s Peach Berserk (www.peachberserk.com), growing up reading teen magazines only made her self-conscious. So, when she started creating her own colorful, funky clothing line out of off-beat, silk-screened prints, she wanted to make clothing that would fit all different body types. 
 
“It really hurt me when I was 14 reading Seventeen and realizing I didn’t have that body,” she says. “I was so stressed out that I didn’t look like those girls. I went insane sometimes. It was as though any little bit of fat on your body was seen as a bad thing. That’s crazy!”

Carpenter makes everything from hoodies to prom dresses and she even does custom work for the same price as buying off the rack. This way, she says, customers can still look and feel great in something made specifically for them.

Carpenter says the fashion industry is guilty of creating the insecurity she felt as a teenager and knows that it isn’t any easier for teens today. This is exactly the reason why she uses a range of models, many of them her employees and customers.

“I try to have a range of looks in terms of ages, ethnicity and sizes,” she says. “I don’t use skinny models. I was sick of them when I was that age.”

While Carpenter is busy working on how people look, Kimberlee Jensen Stedl is busy working on how people feel.

Kimberlee Jensen Stedl, founder of Punk Rock Yoga (www.punkrockyoga.com), set out not only to create a fun workout, but also a place where teens could build confidence. Stedl invited an all-ages crowd for a yoga lesson in a nightclub where the lights were low and the atmosphere was fun.      

“(Yoga) really helps bring a sense of self,” Stedl says. “It forces (people) to focus internally. When you’re a teenager, your life is constant comparison (Do I have enough friends? Am I wearing the right shoes today?). There’s a very unhealthy side to all of that if you’re constantly judging yourself externally. It’s really hard to not beat yourself up when you do not measure up. What yoga does is allow people to focus internally, even just for a little bit, and they can say, ‘Okay, I still have me underneath even though I’m trying to fit in.’”

The aim of Punk Rock Yoga is to be inclusive. The classes are laid-back because, in the dark, it’s harder for people to look around and see what people are doing. Even though there’s no need to be self-conscious, Stedl says students can often be nervous in the beginning. Confidence builds as the lessons go on. 

Stedl says, “People say they’re not flexible. Well, you will be. Rome wasn’t built in a day. If your head never touches your foot, who cares? It doesn’t make you a bad person. Yoga isn’t just about the physical poses; it’s about the lifestyle. You’re the one who has to live with yourself.”

Liz Worth is a writer living and working in Toronto.