Fashion positive influencers inspire confidence in people of all sizes

When Isobel Greenfield and Ellie Buckles reconnected after their school days, little did they know they’d be inspiring and instilling confidence in thousands of people.

Their Instagram account, called Straight To The Curve, showcases the same or similar outfits on their size 22/24 and 10/12 bodies, highlighting that looking good is not equated to your dress size.

Ultimately, what they want to do is in their bio: ‘showing that fashion is for everyBODY’.

Their approach to the body positivity movement is refreshing and rooted in finding joy through style.

Speaking to Metro.co.uk, the pair, both 23 and from Warrington, say they’ve been friends for nearly a decade and both share a love of the fashion industry.

They set up the account with the hope promoting the message that you can wear whatever you want, no matter your shape or size – they’re both tired of the notion that certain styles only suit certain bodies.

‘It’s a different kind of body positivity,’ Ellie says, ‘it’s not constantly pushing the generic [message].’

‘A lot of people will do pictures of stretch marks, ours has a complete different look on it – it’s more about fashion and [the idea] you can wear what you want,’ Isobel adds.

While they feel those kinds of body positivity accounts are needed, the constant normalising of things we view as flaws (such as stretch masks) isn’t what they’re about.

Rather, it’s simply about having fun with fashion and making that accessible to everyone.

‘It’s a different spin on it,’ says Isobel on their approach to body positivity, admitting that sometime she feels a pressure to always be talking about things at a deeper level on her personal social media account.

‘Why should we have to talk about that all the time as women?’, they both agree on.

Fashion is contentious enough as it is, given that no two high street stores measure up the same on their sizing and even within one store it can be hard to find a consistent size that works.

When the pair select clothes for their page, they both browse through sites together. Isobel, knowing plus-size ranges are limited, will start in those sections knowing that most clothing in standard sizing won’t run large enough.

‘Once you let go of being worried about being a certain number or whatever, then literally I have so many clothes from a size 18 to a 26. It doesn’t bother me at all – I’ll buy a 36 if I have to,’ she explains.

Their personal senses of style aren’t identical, but they always aim to find similar if not the same clothing for shoots.

Over on Instagram the reaction to their content has been ‘really positive’ and they’ve had feedback from fans saying they’ve ‘inspired’ them to wear something they otherwise might have avoided.

On TikTok the feedback has varied at times, with some trolls commenting who they think the outfit looks better on – though they are quick to shut these comments down.

For Isobel, who has struggled with binge eating, her personal journey with body positivity unfolded over a number of years.

She says: ‘I never used to get any full body photos – from the age of 18 to 21 there’s nothing. Then I went travelling with two friends two years ago and they started taking outfit photos with me.’

That was the beginning of things changing for her.

‘Me being plus size, when I was 18 I’d go out with all the girls and they’d all have mini dress and I’d just always wear a midi dress to cover my legs or something with long sleeves.

‘As a plus-size girl when you’ve got a lot of slim friends, you do feel like you’ve got to wear different things to them,’ she says, adding that she wants the account to show people you can wear the same things as your friends and you don’t have to dress differently due to your size.

Ellie in the past experienced a ‘diet culture rampage’, in which she ‘never went out and ate meals’.

Since running the account they’ve found themselves to be a positive influence on each other, no longer worrying about their weight.

As for the future, the duo plan to be more open about themselves in their content, but ultimately it’s all about the fashion.

Straight The The Curve is all about showcasing clothes as they are – it’s up to the viewer to take what they need from it, in the form of body positivism or inspiration.

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