When are as phenomenal as Linda Peavy, you just want to share that with the world, so that other women understand their beauty, and find their confidence! During our Linda Peavy interview we were introduced to just how fabulous she is. We couldn’t wait to share her story with you!
A seasoned fashion expert, Linda Peavy embodies all things curvy, confident and boss beauty. She relates to women who aren’t as knowledgeable of their own body and what compliments them. In her mission to share her secrets, she created a blog. That turned out to be the start of her latest book, The Cultural Curves: Guide to Style Mature Curvy Women, Vol. 1. The book helps women understand their body types, which colors compliments them the most and redefine what confidence means to them.
Linda was always a little extra curvy, even as a young girl. She would walk into stores where clothes just didn’t compliment who she was and didn’t sit right on her body. Until she started embracing her body for what it was… a PEAR.
For her, she never had to build her confidence because from when she was little, her parents embedded confidence in her, which allowed her to be free and to love herself exactly the way she was. But she has recognized that there are many women who did not have that privilege of being loved into their confidence. So for that reason, she has taken the opportunity to teach women, mostly focusing on women that are 50 years or older. She shares with them that they have to ability to still feel and look good. She candidly shares that there are many women who come to her asking how she finds clothes that comfortably match her figure, now it is no longer a secret because she is sharing a guide with the world on how to be CURVY & CONFIDENT.
The Cultural Curves: Guide to Style Mature Curvy Women, Vol. 1 has devoted the pages to bring confidence and validation to many women. She offers affirmations towards the back of the book and also has questions that the reader can answer to define how you view yourself and what your style is. Linda Peavy, isn’t just an entrepreneur, author sharing her latest work but she is a seasoned curvy woman who understands the lack of resources for bigger girls. She has dedicated her time to help those like her and this is only the beginning.
Check out the full Linda Peavy interview below.
Parlé: Tell us what this book represents for you?
Linda Peavy: The Cultural Curves: Guide to Style Mature Women is a lot of things. It is about really providing this road map for more mature women who have curves to know how they can finally buy clothes that fit their bodies because that’s the complaint I hear all the time. I teach them how to determine their body shape because it makes all the difference in the world. Are you a pear, an apple, a banana? Or are you an hourglass? I also, get the complaint as to where they can find clothes. Most of the time the clothes that we see in the retail stores are made for a fit model and not necessarily made for all different body shapes. So I give tools on where you can go to find these things, but also which colors suit you best.
Have you ever been told, “Girl that’s your color?” Well, I use the color wheel where I find the best colors for your complexion. In the book, I talk about fashion because as a curvy mature woman, we are not trying to look as though we are 19 years old. We want to wear classy and sophisticated clothes, to show up and show up well. I want to be the one to teach other mature women how to find clothes that will help them show up well. But it is not all about the fashion, I talk about anti-aging resources as well. I just turned 61, so I talk about what type of resources will keep your skin looking great and what brand of makeup will bring out the youth in you as well. Often times, especially for women that have some melanin, we don’t want to look ashy we want to find the right colors for our complexion, for our skin and all clothes that compliment our curviness. Even though there has been this huge explosion in the plus size community we are still not being represented. The women that are over 50 we still are not showing up in the ads or in the stores where the clothes that are being provided for curvy women are just not being made for mature women. So I decided to create this book that will answer a lot of these questions so that women can show up as the best version of themselves.
Parlé: Why do you choose to make your primary focus women who are over 50?
Linda Peavy: Women who are over 50, a lot of us are going through different identities. Some are divorced so we are no longer known as the wife, a lot of us have kids that are now out of the house so we are considered the parent. We may not be working anymore so we are no longer known as whatever job title. We have had a lot of changes in our life so we get to a point of wanting to reinvent who we feel. A lot of the women that I talk to want to show up but they don’t know how. I always say when you look good, you feel good about yourself. This is about more than just fashion and makeup and anti-aging resources, it is really about how can you put clothing together that is going to compliment your body no matter what size it is that makes you present your best self to the world. I have these wonderful affirmations in the back of the book because we need inspiration as well, society is still very much youth obsessed & often times when you’re 50 you’re told to go sit in a corner. I am here to say we are vivacious, we want to look beautiful, we want to show up & we have something to say. I am an advocate for this community. I share where we can find these clothes as well. I have over 300 stores that cover everything from wearing a shoe that is larger than a size 10 like me or if you have wide calves and are unable to find boots in the store. The guide in the back of the book will help you find what you need so you’re not pulling your hair out because you’re unable to find clothes that make you feel good.
I’ve been chubby since the second grade, when I grew up there weren’t many clothes for little chubby girls. Now I am here to say, yes there is a way forward there is a way you can find clothes that fit you and make you look good. Your clothes do not have to look like a potato sack but this book is also a no “MooMoo” zone. We want everybody to show up and look good and I am here to say that you can do that after 50. Especially if you need special occasion wear and you aren’t sure where to find those clothes. We have stores that will give you options to those places whether you’re going to a ball, the red carpet or you may just need it for a wedding, we got you. One of my most popular sections is where do you get the best pair of jeans. I have the answer to that as well. This book is truly a love letter to curvy mature women, it is mostly geared towards more mature women because we are not going to be wearing tops that come right underneath our boobs or our belly.
Parlé: As women, our bodies tend to fluctuate in a matter of months to over the course of our years. Does your book speak on the fluctuation that we may experience?
Linda Peavy: Absolutely! Listen I probably have about 4 or 5 different sizes in my closet right now. Because different manufactures cut fabric differently, that’s why I teach you in the book how to create a wardrobe capsule. Its okay to have different sizes in your closet as long as they all fit. Like you said, our weight does fluctuate we can be a size 10 in April and in May a 14. It doesn’t matter if you’re a size 10 or a size 14 either way you deserve to look great. I provide resources to help navigate through the transitions of your body, honestly it isn’t just about curvy women at this point because I hear from women who are size 6s & 8s who deal with the same issue.
I remember this one lady came up to me and as always I was dressed from head to toe but she said “I just can’t believe how great you look in your clothes!” She was distressed. She explained that she didn’t know what to do with her body she just had a baby and she couldn’t find any clothes that would fit. Jasmine, this lady had to be a size 6 but what people don’t understand is that a size 6 at the age of 50 isn’t the same size 6 at age 19. Your body changes as you mature, a lot of people who are accustomed to wearing one thing when they were young they can’t fit it anymore when they are older. That’s why it is always good to buy clothes that truly fit your body type. Which is why it is one of the first sections of the book, measuring yourself to find out what is your body shape. For example, I am a pear meaning I carry most of my weight in my hips so a dress is going to look different on me than an apple shape woman who carries more shape throughout her waist. Clothes are going to look different it’s just all about your body shape and how they fit. It’s not about what is on sale or finding the cheapest thing you can get. It goes back to how do you want to show up in the world and often times women don’t even know where to start. So this book is a starting point and it takes them all the way through the basics to special occasions but also the weekend. Which is also a no scrub zone, no scrubs on the weekend.
Parlé: When we are younger our style can differ but as we get older the style that we once thought was ours no longer makes us feel good. How do we determine our style?
Linda Peavy: In the book, I have some questions that I will ask you for instance, “are you more comfortable in dresses or are you more comfortable in pants?” “If you had a chance would you dress casually every single day or would you just throw on something that’s a little more jazzy.”, “Are you drawn to colors or do you like things a little more monotone.”, these questions will help determine your particular style. Women can have different styles, I’m a “girly girl” if you see me go to the mailbox, I am going to have on some makeup, my face is going to be done but that’s just me. It’s not everyone. Some people are more comfortable in jeans and no makeup and that’s okay. You can look great in jeans. It is all about putting together the outfit no matter where you are going, whether it’s to the ball or the ballpark, you can still look great.
Parlé: How long have you been a styling expert?
Linda Peavy: Its been 4 years now but I’ve been a curvy girl since I was in the second grade. I have lived in this body my entire life, I don’t know what it is like to live in a regular sized body. Over the course of the last few years when I started Cultural Curves, which all started with a blog, I had received so many compliments, Linda I love your hair and your makeup. As I started to travel internationally, I made the decision that if I was going to be the only big black woman these people saw I was going to represent. Typically what they see of us is what they see on television so I made the effort to show up and I made the decision then that I was going to represent the plus size community. But I would always get compliments of my hair, makeup and clothes from all size women and I decided to utilize that to make other women feel good about themselves. I know people aren’t as blessed as I was. I grew up in a household that consisted of a mother and father with also 7 siblings and at no time did they tell me that I couldn’t be what I wanted to be and at no time did they ridicule me about my size. So I grew up thinking I am not going to let this weight stop me from doing anything that I want to do but I have recognized that is not everyone’s story. It’s not even most women stories so I wanted to create this platform to teach them how to do their hair and makeup but also to teach them how to love themselves. I want every woman to be able to look in the mirror and appreciate what they see. This isn’t about glorifying obesity, its about loving what you see. Yes there might be moments where you want to change what you see but let’s start from a place of love. Don’t change your body because you hate your body but change your body because you love your body. I want to give advice and share affirmations to women so that they can look in the mirror and love what they see. We all have dimples, rolls and cellulite, I know women who wear 2s and 4s who have dimples this fixation doesn’t just apply to the big girls. We’ve been bombarded with the magazine covers, social media to think because we don’t have a flawless body that something is wrong with us when really everything we see is fake. We are trying to live up to something that doesn’t exist. We are so use to saying that we don’t want our man seeing our rolls and that man is probably looking for some butter to put on those rolls.
Parlé: What else would you want women to take away from your book?
Linda Peavy: That they are enough. That they can be on a journey to better health, that they can look great and still be enough. Life doesn’t stop after 50, they can still show up and feel good about themselves. I just want women who are curvy and over 50 to just feel good about themselves and we know clothes can do that, we know makeup can do that. Even if you don’t wear any makeup, use your moisturizer and just feel good about yourself when you show up every single day. Being able to feel good about yourself can lead to having a remarkable effect on how you are received. I just want them to know that they can look great at any age. That their style worries are over, it doesn’t have to be a difficult journey you just have to know where to go.
Parlé: With this being a Vol.1 can we assume that there will be more of your insight in the future?
Linda Peavy: YES! At some point, I do want to talk about your petite & tall women. That is also a real issue when looking for clothes that fit you. Then I want to be specific about the types of clothing like coats, where do you find great fitting coats. So a lot of the information that I wasn’t able to share in this book, I do want to include it in my next. I will always include the affirmations at the end of each book as well because I want to continue uplifting women.
Linda Peavy’s The Cultural Curves: Guide to Style Mature Women, Vol. 1 can be found on Amazon. We hope that this series along with the future series help women to find the confidence they need to trust that they are beautiful no matter how they view themselves. Linda is for the girls and we love that! Get your copy today!
Image Credits: Linda Peavy
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