Pearish
This piece was given to me by a classmate after I sent out a request for clothing items with typographical messages. I was curious about what might result from altering pieces I hadn’t selected myself, what stories might be born from these shirts? This shirt was the first, and one of the only, I received from that request and had the word Paris printed across the chest. For a long time I didn’t know what to do with this piece, but as it was donated to me for the purposes of this project, I wanted to make sure I did use it. The story that resulted from this shirt was possibly the most important for me to tell because it required that I attempt to embody the self love and vulnerability I had been researching and promoting as essential.
My body type is what is known as a “pear shape”. I am short, with a long torso, and wide hips and thighs. Growing up it was difficult to find pants that fit all parts of me. The waist was too big, the thighs too tight, or the hem too long, because clothing wasn’t designed to fit pear shapes. Boys in school would remark on my body, primarily my butt, and as someone who was a painfully shy introvert, I hated that this was a part of my body I couldn’t hide.
It took a long time to embrace the pear-ness of my body. Recognizing it as strong and healthy and decorating it with not what is in style but what suits it. So this piece was inspired by my own difficulties with body image. From the initial typography of Paris I added an “e” carroted between the “p” and “a”, and an “h” was added to the end. Finally I embroidered a tiny pear beneath the word. My hope is that through declaring the acceptance of my shape, perhaps the other pears, the apples, the triangles, the hour-glasses, and the squares can find the beauty in their own.
This piece was given to me by a classmate after I sent out a request for clothing items with typographical messages. I was curious about what might result from altering pieces I hadn’t selected myself, what stories might be born from these shirts? This shirt was the first, and one of the only, I received from that request and had the word Paris printed across the chest. For a long time I didn’t know what to do with this piece, but as it was donated to me for the purposes of this project, I wanted to make sure I did use it. The story that resulted from this shirt was possibly the most important for me to tell because it required that I attempt to embody the self love and vulnerability I had been researching and promoting as essential.
My body type is what is known as a “pear shape”. I am short, with a long torso, and wide hips and thighs. Growing up it was difficult to find pants that fit all parts of me. The waist was too big, the thighs too tight, or the hem too long, because clothing wasn’t designed to fit pear shapes. Boys in school would remark on my body, primarily my butt, and as someone who was a painfully shy introvert, I hated that this was a part of my body I couldn’t hide.
It took a long time to embrace the pear-ness of my body. Recognizing it as strong and healthy and decorating it with not what is in style but what suits it. So this piece was inspired by my own difficulties with body image. From the initial typography of Paris I added an “e” carroted between the “p” and “a”, and an “h” was added to the end. Finally I embroidered a tiny pear beneath the word. My hope is that through declaring the acceptance of my shape, perhaps the other pears, the apples, the triangles, the hour-glasses, and the squares can find the beauty in their own.