How Korea’s first ‘body positive’ influencer, Park I-seul, is using Instagram and YouTube to share fashion tips
Park I-seul once aspired to be a model with a beautiful, “ideal” body.
She resorted to excessive dieting to achieve this dream, but this only led to eating disorders by her early twenties.
I learned about body positivity and plus-size models through Instagram, and took courage from a message to love yourself as you are
While combating eating disorders, Park went back to the start and thought about what had ruined her health, and realised that beauty is about more than body measurements.
At the time, the 25-year-old learned about “body positivity,” a worldwide social movement which calls on people to love and appreciate their bodies regardless of size.
“I learned about body positivity and plus-size models through Instagram, and took courage from a message to love yourself as you are,” Park said.
This change in thinking instilled in her a desire to become a model regardless of her figure.
“I viewed lots of posts on overseas Instagram accounts and learned that a variety of people regardless of their height, weight or physical disability are working as models,” she said. “So, I decided to become Korea’s first ‘natural-size’ model, and began modelling early last year.”
I decided to become Korea’s first ‘natural-size’ model
Park battled from the start, and numerous attempts to get runway jobs failed. Many owners of online shopping malls told her there was no need for a model of her size.
“I needed to prove the necessity for a ‘natural-size’ model and decided to use Instagram and YouTube,” she said. Park now runs her own YouTube channel with the nickname “Cheedo”, where she shares styling tips, and an Instagram account where she shares fashion-related videos.
To realise her dream of becoming a runway model, she planned her own fashion show “Outfits for Tomorrow” in November last year through her BAT MAN Contest project. It was the first fashion show in South Korea to allow models of all sizes to take part.
The BAT MAN Contest, sponsored by tobacco maker BAT Korea since May 2017, is designed to support young adults to achieve their dreams.
Park won the grand prize at the contest in recognition of her efforts to create a non-discriminatory environment for models of various sizes to pursue their dreams.
“I felt rewarded as I was able to show to the fashion industry that there is growing demand for models of various sizes,” she said.
Park plans to hold a second body positive fashion show next year, and says she will continue to lead the movement by openly discussing issues such as eating disorders.
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- Body positivity movement calls on people to love and appreciate their bodies regardless of size