We’re all familiar with some of the rules that govern the way we dress, from using belts or seams to make our waists accentuate our waists to wearing only one piece of statement jewelry at a time to not look too ‘overdone.’ And while some rules make sense not just in theory but also in practice, some rules are truly senseless.
On Wednesday, the star of TLC’s “My Big Fat Fabulous Life” Whitney Thore took to social media to express her frustration over a certain “rule” on how to wear crop tops presented in O Magazine. Thore posted a picture collage on Instagram that included a snap of the crop top rule, which explained that a woman could only wear a crop top “if and only if [they] have a flat stomach.” To contrast this so-called rule, Thore included pictures of herself in crop tops, proving that women don’t have to have washboard abs to pull off the look.
Thore’s collage was accompanied by a lengthy comment, in which she explained that women (and men) should “wear WHATEVER [they] are comfortable in,” no matter their size because “confidence has no size.” Thore, the founder of NoBodyShame.com, a “movement that recognizes body shame as a complex, multi-faceted issue that is best dealt with by first unapologetically loving yourself as you are,” urged her followers to post photos of themselves in their favorite crop tops using the hashtag ‘#IfAndOnlyIfIWantTo to combat the faux crop top rule, keeping true to her No Body Shame movement’s mission of loving ourselves unconditionally.
Thank you, Whitney, for not only teaching us that this rule is truly a load of ‘crop’, but also for teaching us that true beauty and self-confidence is a sizeless matter. You are most definitely living the inspired life!