As much as we criticize fashion magazines, now and then a small victory for body-love comes along. The February 2010 Harper’s Bazaar has jumped on the Precious-loving bandwagon by adorning breakout star Gabourney “Gabby” Sidibe in a red Tommy Hilfiger dress, with sparkly Harry Winston strands. I, for one, must give kudos to the magazine for giving this diva a moment of deserved glamour. Yes, we could argue that the cost of the clothes are prohibitive (suggesting that money is required to buy beauty), but hey. She’s a bona fide movie star, and they could have ignored her altogether.
Still, I reserve my gushing for the Precious star herself. What I love more than a large, confident woman swathed in red is Sidibe’s candid talk about her body image. She walked into this photo shoot already knowing she was beautiful, and standing for that. I’m quite sure if the stylist had handed her a muumuu, she would have refused it. The couture and ice were lovely extras, but in her mind, she’s entitled to the best, being the goddess that she is. Yes! Why don’t we all take that on for 2010, sisters – whether you’re fat, thin or anything in between? Beauty is your birthright. Claim it!
Some notable quotables from Sidibe:
“One day I decided that I was beautiful, and so I carried out my life as if I was a beautiful girl.”
“It doesn’t make any sense to kill yourself, because who are you trying to be beautiful for? It’s a mind game, not a body game.”
“I wear colors that I really like, I wear makeup that makes me feel pretty, and it really helps.”
Rock on, sister! We body outlaws of the world truly have a precious new spokeswoman.
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I watched the BAFTA awards pre-show interviews and at one point the interviewer spoke with 3 actors who were up for awards. Sibide was one of the three. The camera focused intently on the beautiful, thin, blond actress – hanging on her every word; the camera focused intently on the handsome Caucasian actor – hanging on his every word. When it was time for Sibide to speak, I did hear her every word but I only saw her face for a couple of seconds. The rest of the time the camera followed the male actor while he shook hands with fans ignoring Sibide all together. That was so obvious it was painful.
Fortunately, as you say, she is a goddess who was probably having too much fun to worry about it. I love her!