If you’ve been following our interviews with the gorgeous, curvy - and funny plus size model Erika Elfwencrona then take a look at the final 2 interviews in the series.
Erika gives us her thoughts on why you don’t have to be skinny to be beautiful - and shares her most embarassing modelling moment!
You may have heard about Gok Wan’s fabulous crusade to get body confidence lessons onto the National Curriculum in PSHE lessons. (That’s Personal, Social and Health Education.) Following an unsuccessful attempt to arrange a meeting with education secretary Ed Balls, his quest continued recently when he arrived at Downing Street with a petition containing 45,000 signatures in favour of his proposal.
Accompanied by his fabulous body confidence ambassador Shona, winner of Gok’s Miss Naked Beauty contest, Gok explained that it’s our responsibility to help look after the next generation:
“When I first started filming How to Look Good Naked I had no idea of the body hatred epidemic.”
“Over 70 per cent of teenagers have admitted they have little or no body confidence at all.”The average woman in this country is exposed to over 3,000 images of perfection every week, of air-brushing and re-touching and our teenagers are aspiring to look like these people.
“After five years filming the show I feel confident that a difference can be made. We need to teach the next generation that what we see in the media is not a fair representation of the real body.
I think it’s a brilliant idea. The media is affecting people younger and younger these days so it’s important to speak to young people in their ‘formative’ years to help them grow up happy and confident. Good luck Gok and Shona from everyone at Simply Yours!
Sources here and here.
Gok Wan gets studious!
Here are the latest interviews with Simply Yours’ gorgeous, curvy lingerie model Erika Elfwencrona:
In this one Erika chats about her entry into the modelling world as a skinny model and her struggles with it - then her journey into plus size modelling including advice for aspiring plus size models out there.
In this one Erika tells us what her favourite bra is and chats about plus size lingerie and her love of the Gok Wan shapewear range.
In case you missed it (I did) here’s the latest interview with Gok Wan.
Choice quotes:
“if I wear women’s make up, I end up looking like a ladyboy”
“My weekend is for shopping. In fact, my life is for shopping”
“I can sink eight or nine pints of lager. I can drink my friends under the counter.”
Gotta love Gok!
Gok Wan talks fame and fashion with the Irish Independents’s Bairbre Power:
Scroll through the images that accompany the article to see more of the Gok Wan lingerie range.
Remember, if you live in Ireland you can buy the Gok Wan shapewear range from SimplyBe.ie
In the UK you can get it from SimplyYours.co.uk and Simply Be.co.uk
Recognise this gorgeous creature?
She’s the stunning Swedish plus size model Erika Elfwencrona - one of the top models for Simply Yours lingerie.
We thought it was time we got to know her a little better. You hear a lot about Crystal Renn but not so many other successful plus size models - but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. So let’s hear it for our Erika!
We caught up with the blonde bombshell when she was over for a fitting and captured it all on video to share with you. Here are the first in the series of interviews - more to follow!
In the first, Erika tells us a bit more about herself:
And in this one she talks about being plus size and how she stays looking and feeling so gorgeous:
One lucky winner at the Simply Yours Above Average Underwear Party received a makeover in the Gok Wan shapewear range.
Here’s Wendy on Gok Wan and the whole experience - and the evidence that his shapewear can take you down a dress size! (Guest appearance by the back of my head.)
So you’ve seen the official video from the Simply Yours Above Average Underwear Party starring Gok Wan. You’ve seen the gorgeous Goktails, goodie bags and winner Wendy with bangers sufficiently boosted in the Gok Wan shapewear.
But what’s that I hear you cry? You want more Gok Wan footage?
No problem.
The video footage from the Simply Yours bra fitting event at Manchester’s prestigious Cloud 23 venue is now ready to view!
Take a look! It’s the next best thing to being there. 
Next post - behind the scenes with Gok Wan!
As promised…
Do you think as a society we are becoming more accepting of different female body shapes?
I think the move is starting. I think the revolution has started but we still have a long way to go. I think with the programmes like ‘How to Look Good Naked’ and with campaigns like Dove and Special K, seeing real bodies is now an everyday thing and I think our mindset has shifted but we have got a long way to go.
Do you feel like you have helped make a difference?
I hope so. I get told every day about 700 times I have made a difference and I do hope so. I do believe in what we do. I think the ethos is great and I wouldn’t say I was an activist but I definitely am all about empowerment.
So do you think we will ever see a complete turnaround from the magazines where every inch of a woman’s body is scrutinised and criticised?
I hope so. In my lifetime I think it will happen - I have worked hard enough at it! I think people are now willing to support the cause. It was very, very new a few years ago. Now it isn’t, now it’s very ordinary. People talk it about now and I think if we can make a difference at the younger ages now, at the schools, I think we will see a knock on effect in maybe 20 years time.
I have come across a wave of bad press recently towards larger sized celebrities. When Beth Ditto first came on the scene everything was very positive about her but there now seem to be some people are saying that she is a bad role model for people and that we shouldn’t be praising or idolising celebrities that are a bit bigger.
I don’t er, er what f***ing s*** basically! OK all I can say is look at her peers. Compare Amy Winehouse, who I absolutely love, to Beth Ditto. Because Beth is bigger it doesn’t make her a worse role model. It’s just a ridiculous notion. At the end of the day, young people aspire to be people because of a million different reasons not just because of what they look like. If anything Beth Ditto is inspiring kids because she can turn round and say I am a big girl I may be overweight but she is clearly healthier than most of us and fitter because she gets on stage and f***ing dances a lot! I am seeing her tonight actually. She does of all that, but you know she is also out there of being proud of who she is as well. You know the cover of Love Magazine was absolutely phenomenal, and she pushes the fact that she is a real person with a real body and with an exceptional talent and she realises she doesn’t have to fit into the role to be recognised for her craft. I think she’s brilliant.
I think what they are suggesting is that bigger celebs are actually encouraging people to become bigger.
But you know what, the biggest criticism I get is that I encourage big women to eat more which is complete s***. If I was walking around with a big bowl of dunkin’ doughnuts I could understand that. I am telling people to look in the mirror, and it does, it really makes me angry.
It’s a small-minded mentality. People still don’t understand the concept that people might like themselves. You should like yourself for yourself not because a man’s magazine or because a man out there, you know, some big fat overweight guy in a big office wearing a horrible cheap grey suit is turning round and telling women what they should look like. I mean it is ridiculous. Women should feel, at this day and age, 2009, that they should be equal at work, equal in the home place and also equal when it comes to body issues as well and they shouldn’t have to be forced in a certain way.
Well said Gok!