Stripped Bare Fashion

Tag: boobs

  • AmaElla

    AmaElla

    Beautiful organic cotton pyjama set… dreamy floaty!

    First and foremost, AmaElla lingerie is beautiful.

    A quick look at their Instagram or website will show you an artful combination of strong and delicate colours and patterns. Deep navy velvet trim on crisp white linen sits alongside delicate florals in lilac and blue and the softest blush pink… and (spoiler alert) there’s red to come. Sounds like I have inside information? I do, but more about that later.

    Luckily, the enticing look of AmaElla’s nightwear and underwear is matched by how it feels. You’re going to want to put it on. I’d describe it as the perfect balance between thickness and softness to feel lovely against the skin without compromising on support.

    Each piece is designed to make a female body look and feel its best. Careful consideration has been given to front opening bras and knickers with a tie on the side. Everything is flexible and comfortable – no underwires or spiky catches anywhere.

    And guess what else… AmaElla have asked me to work with them!

    It was such a privilege to take part in a recent shoot for their upcoming product launches and meet some of the people behind the brand, including brand co-founder Lara Miller. Lara has clearly been passionate about the environment for some time. She described how her knowledge of the massive polluting effects of conventional cotton production combined with an eye-opening experience volunteering in Madagascan marine conservation gave rise to the idea of creating organic cotton lingerie.

    Super soft and comfy and made from organic cotton

    Environmental sustainability

    AmaElla’s commitment to sustainability is multi-faceted. Their lingerie is made using GOTS certified organic cotton and prints are created using GOTS certified printing. You can read an explanation of both here.

    Also of major environmental impact is the lifespan of each product. It’s shocking to know that according to a report in the Mail Online, most garments are worn as few as seven times each before being sent to landfill or donated to a charity store in the unlikely hope that someone else will treasure our trash.

    You’ll be pleased to know then that AmaElla’s garments are created with a view to durability and longevity. From sourcing the best quality fabrics to the skillful design and fitting process and meticulous construction AmaElla promise their goodies are as good as new even after 50 washes!

    Who made AmaElla’s lingerie? These people… these actual, real, hardworking, skilfull people

    Social responsibility

    To date, AmaElla have partnered with garment manufacturers in the UK and Portugal, to support the development of valuable skills in safe, properly paid careers. Both partners have a focus on providing opportunities and training to young women.

    Body positivity

    So, how can I help a brand which seems to have everything so thoroughly sorted? As well as spreading the word here, I’ll be featuring in their social media as well as sharing my favourite pieces and images from the shoot via Instagram. Yes! As well as all their other admirable qualities, AmaElla are totally body and age positive, choosing to promote their brand using a diverse range of models and aiming to make us all feel great about ourselves. To say I’m nervous about seeing my 46-year-old, post-six-baby-body on screen is an understatement! But I love the brand and all it stands for so much that I’m doing it anyway.

    The bottom line

    AmaElla: sensuous, organic lingerie… thoughtfully designed… well made… with maximum positive social impact and environmental sustainability right at the heart of every lovely piece.

    Shop AmaElla here

    See AmaElla on Instagram here

  • Back to Page 3 boobs, so what?

    Back to Page 3 boobs, so what?

    It was a good thing that The Sun removed topless women from its page 3. Boobs aren’t news and they don’t belong in a so-called “family newspaper” for ogling purposes. The idea is as ridiculously out-of-date as pinching a good looking stranger on the bottom while winking and saying, “hey foxy lady”. No. You just don’t do it. It’s lecherous and quease-inducing and anyone who attempts to defend it will just end up embarrassing themselves. It seemed, for a happy couple of days, that David Dinsmore and Rupert Murdoch had finally pooled their social-insight to figure this out.

    Yes, on Tuesday we had the much celebrated news that The Sun’s page 3 will now be a nipple free zone. But not actually boob free. No, those will still be there but from now on they will have a flimsy bra on to match the flimsy panties. And Page 3 Girls will still be there for no purpose other than to ogle.

    I felt like someone over at The Sun had been kinda clever in that smug, self-congratulatory way that some people have to navigate situations which has them seeming to do “the right thing”. Sexy gals in bras and knickers instead of sexy gals just in knickers… a step in the right direction? Or a tactical move designed to take the wind out of the sails of the eternally positive and robust No More Page 3 (NMP3) campaigners?

    Personally, I didn’t see how adding a bra to the situation had achieved what all the  campaigners – myself included – were hoping for. I can’t speak for others, but I don’t think I’m alone in saying I don’t mind nipples. In fact I don’t mind nudity of any body part in principal. What I mind is the objectification of women in a way that creeps into public spaces and family environments, in a way that normalises misogyny.

    Misogyny isn’t ok. We want to normalise environments in which young people aren’t inappropriately sexualised: young women should be able to sit on a train without having the bloke next to them ogling Page 3. We want to normalise the recognition and celebration of women based on their achievements, and not judge them on their tittie phwoar-factor.

    Yes, easy access to pornography is likely to shape the sexual identity of the upcoming generation. That’s hard to stop. But the end of mainstream soft-porn, presented as part of the regular news, is long overdue.

    Some clueless fool commented on the NMP3 Facebook page that “all (us) feminists want to get (our) boobs out to breastfeed whenever and wherever (we) want but can’t stand seeing boobs on Page 3. It pretty much summed up the whole missing-the-point that seems to go on around this issue. It’s not breasts/nipples that bother us – not at all!! – it’s being constantly sexualised, constantly evaluated and commented on for the way we look, and the way that translates into inequality in almost every environment. In a world where that didn’t happen, half naked women would not be featured in mainstream media purely for titillation (I know!) and no one would imagine a woman nursing her baby was a desperate ploy for sexual attention from a third party.

    So today we hear that page 3 is back in it’s original nudie format. So what? The bra-and-pants combo was no less objectifying than the bra-off-tits-out look.

    I wholeheartedly applaud everyone involved in the No More Page 3 campaign. You guys are my heroes and the heroes of countless other individuals and esteemed organisations like Girlguiding UK, Mumsnet, The British Youth Council, Unison union and Breast Cancer UK to name just a few. You are powerful, proactive people who have inspired a new generation of feminists and generated a magnificent amount of interest and energy around this important conversation.

    No one is saying that about Dinsmore or Murdoch. No, they are still a pair of dinosaurs who are failing to evolve, probably imagining themselves somehow champions in some pitiful battle to prove that soft porn does indeed belong in the mainstream news. It’s simply not a battle they can win.

    —

    Originally published on diamondsanddaisychains.com