So yesterday I shared the very exciting news that I was selected as a top Baltimore fashion blogger in the April issue of Baltimore Style Magazine. In January of this year, I was contacted by the writer, Kay Wicker, who I had met at the Fashion Police event I attended in January. She told me she thought I would be a good fit for the style issue to be released in April. I was beyond grateful to be selected, and I have been eagerly waiting for weeks to read the article. I talked about it forever to anyone who would listen, especially since this was my first major print piece! (If you want to check out the article, it's located here.)

And I'll tell you: mostly, it was accurate, albeit abbreviated. I do blog at odd hours, I don't have wifi at home, I definitely think fashion blogging can be unrealistic, and I happen to believe that we should discuss more realistic things in our posts because it's our real life. I will stand behind those words 100%.

But there is one thing in there that I absolutely CANNOT let go unaddressed, and I will NOT stand behind.

The first question in the interview asked me how I got started out as a blogger. It began innocently enough with me talking about how I saw bloggers on Instagram (true), how I wanted to post a blog with more affordable options (true), and then, then...

The words "who maybe wasn't thin" are attributed as something I said about other bloggers.

I have long prided myself on this blog being a place where people of all body types, races, ages, and life experiences can come and read about affordable fashion that will still keep them looking chic. It is also a place where I have discussed body image COUNTLESS times. I have been extremely frank about my own struggles with my body image, how I think body image is affected by social media (a post that is literally less than a month old), and feeling confident no matter your size. A whole theme of this blog and part of my bio on every single social media platform I run is about body confidence. For heaven's sake, I  was bullied as a kid and into my adolescence for my height, my weight, and other things I had absolutely no control over. 

And yet, thin-shaming words allegedly came out of my mouth in an interview where one of my "keyword tags" for my blog is, once again, BODY CONFIDENCE.

I would never, ever, EVER in my life shame someone for the size of their body. EVER. I cannot put that in caps enough times. EVER. I believe that every woman should be proud of her body. I believe that every body type should be blogged about. I believe that women deserve to feel confident about themselves, and they SHOULD feel confident about themselves. It is disgusting to me that words like that would be attributed to me, to my blog, and to my brand. They are gross, they are abhorrent, and I want you to know that I love you, my reader, exactly the way you are. I don't want you or anyone to ever feel ashamed to post photos of yourself on Instagram or any other social media channel because of something I absolutely did not say in an interview.

I think I know where this comes from. I have no doubt that I told the reporter that I was looking to see someone who looked like me as a fashion blogger, and that I hadn't seen it, and I thought it would be good to have someone who looked like me fashion blogging. I understand that the space was limited for each interview. Never in my LIFE, however, did I think those words would be construed as me saying that I should blog so there'd be someone out there who "maybe wasn't thin."

I have been upset all day thinking about this. I feel ashamed that something I said could be even close to construed that way. I'm not that kind of blogger, and I'm not that kind of person.

I am so sorry if you read those words and felt I was shaming you. I would never do that. I sincerely hope that in the future, my words and my message for you come through LOUD and CLEAR: Love you. Love your body. Love that body exactly how it is, and do not let anyone tell you otherwise.

I certainly know I wasn't the only one who was misquoted--my friend Jenn of Comme Coco was wildly misquoted in ways that were completely wrong and portrayed her and her five years of work as a content creator in ways that don't show who she is at all. If you want to check out her dissection of her interview (and I think you should), it's here.

If you have questions or you want to chat about this with me, feel free to leave me a comment or email me directly (legallycharming.style@gmail.com). Let's let this start a conversation, and change a negative moment into a positive one.

xoxo

Carisa