Curvy model Oyama Botha's 5 style tips

Oyama is wearing a jumpsuit by Ruff Tung. Picture by Fabrice Kegninkeu

Plus-size model and a blogger for the Yammie Hearts and Curves blog Oyama Botha is passionate about self love and living life to the fullest. In her blog she writes about radical self love and the amazing things are can achieve when you are able to radically love yourself in the body you have. As a fully figured woman, she understands the struggle of finding the perfectly fitting pieces of clothing. She shares with us her style guide.

5 tips for dressing for your body

1. Body type awareness is a thing:

Knowing what your body type is allows you to easily look for clothing items that will best suit your body type. My body, for example is an hour glass figure, which implies my top and bottom are proportionately heavy. Therefore, when I shop for clothing items, I know I will not look for items that will not be flattering to an hour glass body type. For example, tulle/tutu skirts, for me, are usually very unflattering, while they always look great on pear shaped body types, who are heavy either on top or on the bottom parts of their bodies.

2. Comfortable clothing is bomb:

There is nothing more painful than watching someone being very uncomfortable in the clothes that they are wearing. The right fit and cut is always essential, not only will comfortable clothing stop people from starring and feeling sorry for you, but it will make a huge difference in your self-confidence because when something fits right, you automatically feel good and it will definitely show.

3. Recreating and challenging trends is necessary:

Following trends is encouraged, however, most of the times people are not mindful that trends not only come and go, but not every trend is suitable for all body types. For example, with an hour glass body type; wearing bold stripes as a trend is totally acceptable, but in order to ensure the stripes look flattering on my body, I normally go for vertical stripes, as they blend in nicely with my body type.

4. Undergarment matters, a lot:

Wearing the right undergarments can do so much for your self-confidence, comfortability and change the entire look to an outfit. For example, wearing an embroidered bra on a tight cotton t-shirt, is not a great idea, as the bra can show through the t-shirt, in a not so flattering way. Also, always be mindful of how a simple thing like the colour of the bra you wear can make a drastic change to your outfit.

5.Confidence, Confidence, Confidence!

My confidence is my driving force for every outfit I wear. I have found that there would be days where I would wear the exact same outfit again and not feel as good as I did the first time. I would not like how it sits and it would be because I wasn’t feeling so confident wearing it the second time around. When you’re confident with your clothes, you automatically feel good and your outfit will totally vibe with you.