Overcoming Body Dysmorphia as a Fashion Designer

Overcoming Body Dysmorphia as a Fashion Designer

by Bria La Rue

For over 10 years, I’ve worked in fashion—sewing, styling, designing, and dreaming. But the biggest challenge I’ve ever faced wasn’t a difficult pattern or a tight deadline.

It was my relationship with my body.

As someone who has battled with weight gain, weight loss, stretch marks, and self-love, I know firsthand how hard it can be to show up as a designer in an industry that’s often harsh about appearance. But what I’ve learned, after years of working on myself inside and out, is that fashion doesn’t belong to one body type—and neither does creativity.

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🌿 This Body is Earned

Whether I gained weight from late-night ice cream or lost it through months of discipline and green smoothies, this body is mine. I earned it. And I’ve learned to honor it through the very thing that makes me feel most alive: designing clothes.

If you’re a designer struggling with body dysmorphia, let me remind you:

🧵 You are perfectly flawed.

🧵 God made you intentionally.

🧵 You do not need to “fix” yourself to be worthy of creating beauty.

🧵 You deserve to feel confident in your skin—and your sketchbook.

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✂️ Style Starts on the Inside

When I first started creating clothes for myself, I would hesitate. I’d think:

“Can I really wear this?”

“Will this look right on my size?”

But then I picked up my measuring tape and realized: I can design for THIS body—and for any body.

Whether you’re 120 pounds, 180, or 250+, style is about intention, not perfection. It’s not about fitting in—it’s about expressing the soul of the designer. What are you trying to say through your clothes? What story are you telling?

Design from that place.

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💡 Tips to Overcome Body Dysmorphia as a Designer:

1. Create for Yourself Now, Not “Later”

Don’t wait until you’ve lost 10, 20, or 50 pounds to start designing. Start today. Design for the body you’re in. Let your clothes witness your evolution.

2. Make Clothes That Celebrate You

Use your measurements—not society’s—to create pieces that flatter, empower, and uplift. There is no wrong body type—only designs that haven’t yet embraced your shape.

3. Accept That Confidence is Built

Confidence doesn’t show up after a transformation—it grows in the middle of it. Give yourself grace and space to bloom through your creative process.

4. Turn Insecurities into Innovation

Got stretch marks? Loose skin? Design with layering. Play with ruching, draping, oversized silhouettes, body-sculpting seams—these are opportunities to invent something new.

5. Remember Who You’re Serving

You’re not just creating for yourself. You’re creating for the women like you—the ones waiting to be seen, understood, and beautifully dressed.

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💛 Final Word:

The truth is, fashion is not just about the clothes. It’s about the courage to be seen.

To every designer battling body image: your body is not the problem.

The real issue is the idea that you have to be “perfect” to be powerful.

You don’t. You already are.

So design now—for who you are today. And let your work reflect the woman you’re becoming. She is worth it.

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✨ P.S. Stay tuned for my upcoming Ultimate Fashion Designer Planner + Guide—where I’ll teach you how to sew, style, pattern-draft, and creatively direct shoots, with you in mind. Many of the garments I’m currently selling are directly from the book. Some pre-orders will come with a free sewing machine—because I believe in equipping women to build their dreams.

🛍️ Shop my handmade garments http://www.brialarue.com

Let’s create with confidence.

Let’s walk in our purpose.

Together.

With love and light,

Bria La Rue