Plus Size Influencer, Olivia Shows Toronto How To Be Sexy and Comfortable.
Olivia
Photo credit: @oliviasworld95/Instagram
‘Tis not only Shapely’s favorite time of the year but also our favorite time of the month to share Shapely’s latest Fatshionable style icon, Olivia. Known to many across, social media as @oliviasworld95. She is a plus size influencer, model and YouTuber, with a combined following of more than 626.4K. Olivia is inspiring plus size people in Toronto and beyond to be sexy and comfortable within their own skin. Check out this one-on-one interview with this plus size beauty.
What inspires your style?
I find myself striving to look stylish and sexy while being comfortable and daring all at the same time. For years of my life, I avoided wearing clothes that accentuated my mid-section because I was taught by others around me that stomach fat is unappealing and shameful. Now at 26 years old, I find myself wearing bodycon dresses and high-rise jeans with crop tops with no hesitation. I guess you could say, I am inspired to wear things that some would not dare to wear with my body shape and I truly feel empowered whenever I do so.
During the day you can find me in comfortable athleisure sets, whereas when I am going out in the evening I gravitate towards waist-cinching, deep v-neck dresses that show off my best features. I am all about the duality of looking sexy and feeling comfortable depending on the mood and vibe of the day or night. I also used to shy away from vibrant colors, vivid patterns and the oh-so “unflattering” horizontal stripes that wrongly plagued the plus size community. I have learned that bigger bodies deserve to feel confident in floral prints or neon yellow outfits just as smaller bodies do. Fashion has no rules in my book and I have stopped putting limitations on my wardrobe because of this realization. The notion of “fashion liberation” that involves breaking away from norms of what you should wear for your body shape, is what inspires my style.
“…I avoided wearing clothes that accentuated my mid-section because I was taught by others around me that stomach fat is unappealing and shameful.”
In this photo: Olivia shares an example of how she would slay the holiday season.
This month, Shapely is focused on how our readers can slay the holiday season. Do you have any tips for putting together a killer holiday look?
Holiday looks are all about making a statement and stealing the show. Fabrics and designs like velvet, sequins and glitter are your best friend when it comes to putting together a show-stopping holiday look. Expensive-looking accessories, voluminous hair and glowing makeup are also essential. If I was invited to a New Year’s Eve party, I would make sure to wear my silver drop earrings, a fabulous velvet dress and chunky block heels with ankle support to keep me upright as I dance the night away. I would also spend a great time curling and teasing my hair to make sure people know it is me when I arrive. A silver shimmer smokey eye with a gorgeous neutral lined glossy lip would be the cherry on-top of this look and pull everything together. The key to a killer holiday look is looking and feeling glamorous without breaking the bank or your ankles. Shout out to block heels!
Give us three principles that you live by that have added to your success? It can be a quote or your own values.
The first principle that has truly helped me become successful as a plus size influencer is learning that it is not my business to know what others think about me. The truth is, people will always find something to criticize or judge you about even if you are at your absolute best. It is humanly impossible to control how others may perceive you and form opinions about what they think they know about you. It can sometimes feel like one negative comment outweighs the 30 positive ones and this is because our fight or flight response is triggered when someone attacks us without knowing what we know about ourselves. The best way to deal with hate comments is not to deal with them at all. Let people think what they want to think about you and keep it moving.
The second principle that I live by is to “fake it till you make it” in that even if you do not feel confident, you have to pretend you do until it becomes your reality. It is often the case that we are our own worst critics and tend to self-sabotage our own happiness because of our insecurities. If you spend time giving yourself positive self-affirmation in moments of self-doubt and insecurity, you will eventually gain the level of confidence you aspired to achieve.
In this photo: Olivia unwinds with some reality TV.
The third principle that has seriously added to my success is to know when to detach myself from social media. It can be overwhelming to be scrolling on social media as a regular user and even more so as someone who makes a living off of it. I give myself breaks and focus my attention on other things in order to create that balance that makes me happy to be online instead of hating it. I love practicing self-care and spending time with loved ones whenever I need to escape from social media. I also set boundaries and treat my job as a traditional one with regular breaks, decent hours and no-work weekends. These boundaries have seriously helped me with my work-life balance and have improved my overall quality of life. I love my job and I am addicted to it, but I also love logging off, ordering take-out and watching the tea being spilled in ridiculous reality TV shows.
To learn more about Olivia feel free to follow her on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
If you would like to be featured as a Fatshionable style icon, please email Shapely at info@shapelyevents.com.
