For the longest time, I've felt ashamed to admit that I was a naturally skinny or small-boned Asian woman. Thinking about it now, it was because I was afraid that I would make other women feel uncomfortable or not beautiful.

 

Being thin has not always been easy for me. Since I was young, I was teased for being tall and skinny. In Primary School I was called ‘giraffe’ and ‘Asian Monkey’ none of which helped me gain a positive body image.

 

Until I got to high school and then university, when all the girls became super body conscious, I became even more anxious about my size. As a means of overcompensating, I would almost act like I was offended when people called me thin. During this time, I openly put myself down in front of others, so I did not appear to be ‘promoting my thinness’.

 

After these experiences I can say that body shaming does exist for thin girls. Even after having my children and when my body slimmed down quickly and remained relatively unchanged, people asked me what my secret was and whether I just starved myself. I sometimes felt I had to say that I had done something to remain thin just so they would feel better. But more and more, I started to feel inauthentic when all I wanted was to just be me, a naturally thin person with my own ‘thin’ problems.
The reason I’m telling you this is for all of you out there who are feeling the same. And what I hope (idealistically) is that as supportive women we stop shaming and we just allow everyone to feel comfortable being who they are naturally! After all, isn’t natural always best?

 

I began Dear Eve Lingerie because lingerie has always been something personal that makes me feel confident, feminine, and beautiful. However, being thin and not very busty, I found it hard to find lingerie in Australia designed for women like me with a 10A bra size. And when I did find a bra that I loved and that fitted it seemed to be the only bra in an entire shop that I could buy. Everything else seemed designed for other women with completely different figures.

 

As a naturally thin woman the issues are there, like is there enough bra padding? Do these thick straps look bulky on me? This bra is uncomfortable and riding up and this band seems too thick...and the list goes on.

 

All along I wished for a store in Australia that I could go to where all the beautiful lingerie designs inside suited me and came in my size! That seemed like absolute heaven to me!

 

That is why my Dear Eve Lingerie mission was to acknowledge that women come in all shapes and because I don’t believe that one brand can cater for all women of all sizes. As a lingerie business owner, I wanted to provide brilliant and beautiful lingerie dedicated to smaller women to make them feel like each shopping experience with us is created just for them. With Dear Eve Lingerie, women who had my body shape and challenges will finally be looked after. Of course, while there are many other lingerie brands which cater for smaller busted women, after years of research I know, there are very few with a large variety of designs/colours to choose from.

 

My vision and dream is to help smaller women not feel ashamed and own their shape.  Being able to stock my beautiful lingerie in traditional bra stores would allow all lingerie lovers especially smaller women to have access to smaller designs with a variety of choices.

 

While Dear Eve Lingerie focuses on smaller women and their bodies, I do acknowledge that women of all sizes face their own unique hurdles. However, I do believe it's important to stand up for your own body shape and to speak openly about any issues so that other women do not feel alone. After all, there is always a community to support and women will always love and accept each other, no matter how different we are.