Model posts about the reality of shopping for a bikini as a curvy woman

Model Sonny Turner recently used her popular Instagram account to address an issue she feels many plus-size women deal with when shopping for swimwear.

In the post titled ‘THE REALITY OF SHOPPING AS A THICK/PLUS SIZE WOMAN’, the 19-year-old body positive activist muses about the problems she feels designers make when creating swimwear for plus-size women, and the truth that there are just not enough properly fitting styles out there.

“Changing rooms can be scary,” she began her post, which features Turner posing in the ill-fitting swimsuit. “I am wearing the largest size from one of the most popular high street stores,” she wrote, noting the size was 12-14 and referring to a popular shopping destination in London. “High street store bikinis do not cater for women of my body type. Majority of online stores don’t either.”

“No one gets it, so for any upcoming designers I got some [sic] tips for you,” she added, before listing a number of detailed tips for designers.

Some of her notes on proper-fitting swimwear include: “Big breasts need underwire for support for a youthful lift. We need cup sizes that correlate to bra sizes, and they need to go past DD. We need cups that actually cover more than our nipple. We need cups that bring our boobs together, so there’s not a massive gap in-between them.”

Swimwear with, “straps that aren’t so tight it’s as though as our neck is about to snap off,” “bikini bottoms that don’t give us wedgies,” “string bikinis that don’t expose our vagina lips,” and options that, “fit over our hips without dragging the neck of the costume down,” were also listed among her wishes.

Turner feels that the plus-size swimwear options currently available are extremely limited. “Believe it not not, some of us actually want a thong bikini. The whole selection doesn’t have to be highwaisted,” she wrote.

However, she admits to Yahoo Beauty that she hasn’t tried out too many brands, but that’s only because many of the plus-size options out there are prohibitively expensive. She did mention one brand of which she likes both look and price. “I got to try Curvy Kate, and their bikinis are great because sizes correlate to bra sizes and they’re supportive!”

Turner also feels that the models currently showing off plus-size swimwear for brands aren’t a realistic representation of the demographic.

“We’re gonna need you to stop using models with fake boobs that aren’t a real depiction of what the bra would look like on our real droopy ones,” she writes in her post, directly addressing swimwear designers. “It’s not fair that we can’t wear cute swimwear just because we are built differently. We deserve to walk into a store and pay £10 for a nice bikini without breaking the bank and our body confidence.”

“Bottom line is: MAKE CLOTHES FOR ALL SIZE & BODIES,” she defiantly ended the message, which received over 12,000 likes and hundreds of comments. She was initially inspired to post the pic after seeing a similar post from plus-size blogger Aliss Bonython, who also lamented the plus-size swimwear offerings.

“What inspired me the most was honestly the size of her breasts and how she wears whatever she wants so confidently,” Turner says about Bonython’s post. “I have big boobs too and I often hide them but to see a woman embrace them is amazing.”

Turner was extremely moved by how many people connected with the message behind her post.

“I was so shocked that so many women face this problem,” she says. “What was highlighted to me is that you don’t need to be plus-size to face the bikini issue. You can be slim and still feel scared in the changing room!”

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