This year’s International Women’s Day theme is Each for Equal, centered around the idea of evenness in experience for all women, regardless of the body they live in.
Five years ago we started in fashion, at the forefront of ensuring that women have access to the clothes they want to wear. We did this because foundational to who we are is the belief that style is self-expression — clothes should make you feel something. Great style has been our means of supporting the meaningful moments in each of your lives.
This IWD shares common threads with our journey, and has given us the opportunity to think more deeply about how we can further support our community. We believe that it’s time to move beyond championing for fashion equality to savoring and celebrating the plus size experience.
We believe that it’s time to move beyond championing for fashion equality to savoring and celebrating the plus size experience.
As we’ve been on our journey, the cultural zeitgeist has shifted. Clothing lines have expanded their sizing, movies and television are featuring plus size women more prominently, and the world has finally woken up to Lizzo as the tour de force that we’ve always known her to be. It’s been thrilling to be a part of it.
While we are excited to see more representation of our community in fashion, advertising, and entertainment, we know that in the realities of our day-to-day lives, there is still work to do. We are still treated differently in a world where weight bias permeates nearly every facet of our society. Plus size women are not a monolith — we have unique points of view and experiences. We deserve to be heard and celebrated, not reluctantly tagged on as a means for checking the inclusivity box.
We have the power to create the world we want to live in; to tell our own stories and shape the narratives around us. In doing so, we have the power to not only change how the world views plus size women, but how every woman views herself.
Dia is committed to a bigger and better future for the plus size community, and our next order lies in elevating the voices of women who inspire us and further this vision. This year, we’ll be drawing on and highlighting the incredible gifts and accomplishments born out of this community be it style, art, literature, or music and creating a powerful culture that makes space for others to do the same.
You have already helped us kick off this journey. Every style leap, every social like, and every story shared has both solidified and propelled our culture forward.
When we are all finally able to view each other as equally powerful and equally worthy, there is nothing that can’t be done. Now is the time to go big or go home. Are you with us?
Nadia Boujarwah
Co-Founder & CEO
P.S. — I’d like to hear from you! In which cultural spaces, beyond fashion and style, would you like to see plus size women celebrated? Please send me a note, long or short, with your thoughts at nadiab@dia.com.
