Curvy Kate’s Star in a Bra competition is now open for the public vote, having squeezed together it’s top 30 real curvy girls from throughout the UK and Ireland from the hundreds of girls who took part by submitting their entries on Facebook.
Congratulations to the 30 gorgeous contestants who now need your votes before the 4th April to earn a place in the final 10. The girls have a common goal – changing the way curvy women and portrayed (or ignored) in fashion and the media and a tangible will to alter how women perceive themselves. On the face of it Star in a Bra is alot of fun, but for many of the contestants it’s also a step on their voyage of self-discovery – this is a long blog because I got so much great feedback but persevere and I promise you’ll enjoy it!
Lizzie Haines was first to let me know what she thought of making the top 30:
“I’d like to represent the curvy girl by being honest and open about who I am and how I look. Plus it would be a whole lot of fun at the same time!”
Irish bombshell Michelle McMahon likes the way she is – and why wouldn’t she?
“I should win as i would be a good representative for Curvy Kate. I’m happy with my figure and never dieted and I think this promotes to young girls that we don’t all need to look like supermodels!!!”
Curvy-Katie Ottaway embraced the competition’s ideals:
“I think any competition that promotes the “natural†woman is a wonderful thing. So many women, myself included have body hang ups and confidence issues or have done in the past. I to have a competition that encourages ladies with curves to be more confident and stand up and be noticed deserves recognition. I just really wanted to be a part of that!”
Proud and Curvy trio
It’s also been a hoot for many of the girls involved. A certain threesome of curvy Facebook-bosom-buddies Sophia Jenner, Astrid Lopez and Georgina Horne had met online and found each other very supportive – such was their body confidence that they though they would spread the word to other curvy UK women by takking part in Star in a Bra together.
Shapely Sophia commented:
“We became friends a few weeks before the competition through a Proud and Curvy group that celebrates women of all different curvy sizes.”
Bubbly Georgina (aka Hornyhorne) added:
“We were all quite active on the page for a while before the final 30 were announced and I added them and we messaged and chatted and found similarities in views and shapes! I have ‘met’ more ladies since but I guess us 3 bonded initially!”
Saucy Spaniard Astrid explained why it’s important to share experiences:
“There’s too many people (women particularly) that hate their bodies because of the portrayal of women in media and the idea that people will judge you by the way you look, so they live in fear of not looking the right or accepted way. We are happy, confident women that don’t pay any attention to those concerns and want to make other women feel that way too. I for one feel so much the better for having met them 
”
Real women – real curves
For sassy Charmelle Forrester it’s also been a voyage of body-confidence discovery. She wanted to enter last year, but had a few hang-ups that made her feel insecure:
“After having a child I went up to a size 18 and have managed to lose that weight and get down to a size 10/12 which I am comfortable with and I think I look great, so to win this competition would just be the icing on the cake.Most women are not size 0 and have curvy bodies which are not perfect like myself, and I would love to inspire other women to love there curves and feel good in the skin there in.”
Don’t forget it’s all about real women, who you’d like to see modelling your new bra and representing D-plus curves. This was not lost on foxy rock chick Eva Davies – as you’ll see below Eva is wearing a plain black bra not a frilly lace bra. Why, because she’s a hard working plumber by trade (cue wolf whistles and winking):
“Most of the pretty bras are plunge bras but as a plumber I cant wear these really – the last thing you want is to unleash the girls when you bend over in front of someone 
and working with loads of guys they can be a unneeded distraction!”
Steely Sheffield knockout Paris O’Connell commented:
“I think real women should vote for me to win Star in a Bra 2011 because I want to be the one who is able to show women everywhere that they should love their bodies no matter what shape they are.”
It’s a knockers-out!
Quirky Kelly on Star in a Bra:
“I entered Star In A Bra because I thought…well why not?! I’d often admired the models in the brochures of Bravissimo, Curvy Kate’s and Simply Yours websites, and I thought ‘They’re no smaller than me, I’d like to have a go at that!’”
Hayley “Hotstuff” Cambridge has overcome any embarrassment and embraced her curves – much to the joy of the opposite sex:
“The public should vote for me because I am a down-to-earth, curvy girl who represents all of those girls out there who have big boobs on a smaller body and who only get attention directed at their chests!”
Last but (obviously) not least stunning online buddy and Star in a Bra veteran Emily Jones certainly makes an impression as a latecomer to the top 30:
“I would just say how all the girls who enter it seem really lovely on the page saying to each other how good everyone looks and cheering each other on and to keep voting!! Vote for me!”
Hot competition
Competition must be tough, not only did beautiful Liz Divall not make it through the gorgeous and Victoria Amao didn’t make it into the top 30 but she commented:
Well I wanted to enter the competition mainly because it was aiming at natural curvy women! I got turned down for modeling jobs in the past cause of my body size, which knocked down my confidence a lot at one point! So when Nadine Kennedy (top 3 StarInBra 2009) told me about the contest, i was very excited… I think all the ladies in the top 30 are gorgeous and lovely, so its hard to pick a favourite, Georgine its very popular and likeable cause of her outgoing personality, she seems very confident, with nice hourglass figure.
Vote for your top 3 now on www.starinabra.com and join us, the girls and Curvy Kate in the discussion on Twitter #starinabra and Curvy Kate’s Facebook page. Bra Selector has resigned itself to Star in a Bra takeover and we’ll be running some more fun minin interviews with our lovely new friends over the coming days leading up to the final voting day.
*Disclaimers etc… All for a good time – use the comments or contact me on Facebook for amends.
(who I never really rated until the past year or so), Debenhams, marksurl and I must admit, although I’m not a fan, I LOVED Katie Price’s range she did for Asda a few years back.
Bra talk