I am not, nor have I ever cut myself.  When I said ‘cut’ I meant my battle scars - metaphorically.  

Sometimes, things are not meant to end.  That memory you have from years ago that still haunts you, or that person that you wish you could forget.  As terribly as you want to lose it all, you never will, and why should you?

These things, these people, are reminders of who you are and where you’ve been.  These are what make us the people we are.

All my scars, all my bruises, all my cuts, they make me.   

I have always experienced pressure about my body: I have always felt that I should look a certain way.  I was always the skinniest person in school (I had a great metabolism, but I ate a ton), and I was constantly picked on for it.  Then, I quit running, came to college, and gained a much needed pounds (I went from being 5’6 and 109 lbs to 5’6 and 124 lbs).  I still have body issues, and if I told you the lengths that I have gone to make myself feel better about my body, you wouldn’t believe me.  

When I came to college and I quit wearing Abercrombie, Hollister, and the rest of those teen brands, I started wearing Lilly Pulitzer, whose models always looked healthy.  Other brands made you feel fat for not being able to fit into their clothes (I could never wear Abercrombie bottoms because my butt was rounder than average), and Lilly clothes fit me well, were classy, and they represented a wholesome image.

Lilly Pulitzer has recently revealed their summer line, and when I went to the bathing suits, I saw this picture:

If this model is that skinny, we’ve got a problem. Oh, wait! Look at that picture a little closer.  See how there are no ridges in her stomach and it’s all one perfect shade above her bellybutton?  That’s called misuse of photoshop. They have obviously trimmed her waist up a bit, and made her stomach more than lean.  Look at her arms, how skinny and smooth (photoshopped) they are.  The model below actually doesn’t look plastic.

See this picture above us?  This is an example of a fit, healthy model whose picture was not overly photoshopped, and also Lilly.  She’s skinny, but not stick skinny, and you can see the ridges in her stomach, and her skin isn’t all one perfect shade: not overly ‘shopped.

The reason I’m complaining is because I know the popularity of this brand among teenagers and college students who are extremely influenced by their peers and pop culture, who are/is obviously telling them to be as skinny as humanly possible.  Before you go calling me ‘fat’ and telling me the only reason that I am posting this is because I am overweight, I am a size 4, even sometimes a 2, eat and exercise, but I don’t go overboard.  My body is not perfect.  Sometimes that’s hard to handle, but I know that things could be worse.   

I want Lilly Pulitzer, Inc. to retract the overly photoshopped pics and go back to showing real-looking models.  That’s what made Lilly what it was - classy.  When they resort to overly photoshopping their models into looking like sticks just to sell some more bikinis, that’s just trashy.  

I love the company and don’t remember a day in my life that I didn’t recognize those bold prints.  I will continue wearing the brand, but I think that they need to realize that this is not okay.  Please take some time to go to their site and look around.  Maybe you’ll see what I see, maybe you won’t.