Curvespiration and shorthusiasm

There's a great deal to be said for deriving pleasure from your own unique beauty, but that is often an understanding that comes with maturity. When you're young and impressionable and the women society tells you are beautiful are NOTHING like you, or like Rita Hayworth are so far removed from their original look that you would never know, it can be hard to feel like you have a place at the table.

I'm not a fan of the music of Jennifer Lopez, but just about every time I see a picture of her I am massively grateful for the amount of image PR she has provided for petite, shapely, athletic, Latina ladies. When I was young it seemed like NO ONE in the media or in my neighborhood looked like the woman I expected to become, but Boricua (the native word for the people of Puerto Rico and the most dominant element of my genetics) is now SO much more broadly recognized as beautiful, thanks to the wider media exposure to women like J-Lo. 

I feel that in no small way her popularity gave me the ability to quiet at least a couple of the self conscious worries of my youth. But even now it's hard to feel connected to fashion when I'm looking for items to suit a small curvy tanned frame and the world is showing me everything on tall willowy alabaster women.

Internet fashion world to the rescue!

I have begun digging through the internet in earnest and have found some great petite bloggers. This listing of 7 Phenomenal Petite Fashion Bloggers from allwomenstalk has been so beyond helpful - even to the point of confirming that Wendy of Wendy'sLookbook, (which I already followed) is also petite! I feel like she proportions her clothing so well it's actually hard to tell.

At 5'5" even J-Lo is somewhat "tall" as an aspirational figure for me and was certainly not the first Latina women on the scene, but I really feel like she broke things open for the wider appreciation of a certain sassy, hippy, golden hued, button nosed, brown eyed look; and I can sort of relax a bit about whether I could possibly pull off a style when I see her rocking it.

image of J-Lo at the AMAs via http://gofugyourself.com*

Look at those hips! Seriously, I just can't hate on my curves when I see a picture like that.

I may not have a veritable army of personal trainers, makeup artists, and stylists at my beck and call to keep me looking my best, but I DO have approachable sources of inspiration. Very VERY thankfully I also have a brain, a tiny frame, a yoga mat, and a good pair of running shoes, so I think I have a fair shot when I actually put in the effort.

It's easy to get caught up in the differences between ourselves and the darlings of media but it's important to look at similarities too. I personally happen to be five foot two inches tall - so I thought it would be cool to give props also to some other gorgeous fellow five foot two Latina celebs who utterly rock their looks like:

Shakira
Eva Longoria
Christina Aguilara
Salma Hayak
and Gloria Estefan.

These ladies have helped to wake up the world to a wider definition of beauty!


*If you've got a bit of time to spare, the recurring parody depiction of Jennifer Lopez on the Go Fug Yourself celebrity fashion blog is seriously one of my favorite things on the entire internet.