Body positivity and body confidence are terms that today flood our social media feeds – with thanks to the likes of our babe Grace Victory – but it wasn’t always like this. The notion of loving yourself and your body up until recently was simply dismissed as vanity and narcissism, and as a result many have grown up loathing themselves.
What began as a small Kickstarter project has now transformed into a well-established body positive underwear brand. Neon Moon has grown a large following of supporters who appreciate the brands inclusion of all women in all shapes, sizes, personalities and more.
We had a chat with Neon Moon’s founder Hayat to see how it all began, why it all began and what the brand is doing in order to help those who struggle with the confidence to be themselves.
How did Neon Moon begin?
The idea for Neon Moon was born when I was shopping in Westfield London. I was in a lingerie store and overheard two young girls discussing a certain bra. They were holding it up taking a good look at its design, wondering if it was going to make their breasts look bigger. They couldn’t have been older than thirteen. I left the store with a strange sense of deja-vu. It had only been a few years since I had gone shopping for my first bra, or wondered how to make myself more ‘appealing’ through lingerie – whatever has been defined as ‘appealing’ by standards for women, defined by men. I thought to myself, there has to be a lingerie brand that empowers women and makes them feel good about themselves. I couldn’t name one. Instead of waiting for change, I created it instead.
I went to the Prince’s Trust with my idea and they loved it. They put me on their year-long Enterprise Programme and before the year was even over, I launched my idea on Kickstarter in March 2015. I couldn’t wait to get the message out there and see what other people thought, to find out how I could improve and finally start the fight for empowerment from within the lingerie industry. Support built up instantly and so quickly, Neon Moon got overfunded by over 150%. Thanks to the incredible support we have received, I was able to launch the body-positive lingerie range straight away, and to give women the lingerie brand they have been looking for – one where it is exactly women who make the designs, the advertising, the rules. Because we deserve better for women of all shapes and sizes.
What is the response you’ve had?
The response we have received has been very positive. We got great press in nation-wide and international publications and celebrity endorsement straight away, when we were still running our Kickstarter campaign. Since then, Neon Moon has gone viral a few times and we’ve been in the Daily Mail, The Huffington Post, Bustle, Teen Vogue. From the very beginning, it has been an absolute whirlwind for a startup and I couldn’t be more grateful.
I understand you work a lot with women who have had eating disorders/who still do – how do you work with them? How are you able to help?
Body-positivity is very important for us. One of our models, Essie, has struggled with an ED, and joined us for our Celebrate You campaign earlier this year. Our campaigns have always been about showcasing body-positivity and making our models feel comfortable, and Neon Moon will never change in that respect. We feel like Essie’s shoot and the way we told her story is an example of how we give a space for women to speak about themselves and even discover themselves without a fear of being judged or labeled.
Another thing that we value highly is our size guide. Our sizes are all named after compliments (Lovely, Gorgeous, Beautiful, Fabulous, Stunning). When it went live, Neon Moon customers emailed in to say they appreciated the kind reminder we included before the sizing, which gives them the option to email in if they did not want to measure themselves as we do have a trigger warning before our size guide, and a member of our team would help them decipher their right Neon Moon size. What’s important for us is that we remain as inclusive as we can and also very mindful of people’s personal experiences, especially to people who usually feel excluded or undermined.
How do you source your models? Who are they?
Our models are supporters and customers of Neon Moon and anyone can apply to be in our model database. Our models are of various sizes, races and sexualities and we want to be a platform of diversity. We’d love to have your readers apply to be a Neon Moon model too, if they wanted to! What’s important to us is showcasing people’s individuality and providing a platform for their voice, and we love sharing our models’ inspiring stories with our community.
What do you think is the reason behind so many people lacking in body confidence? Is it advertising?
The way I see it, a range of reasons contributes to that. Loving yourself has never been emphasised in society as much as it is today and still, there is a lack of support on how to achieve self-love. It is never regarded as a journey, people only speak about the destination, which can be discouraging. Of course, the so-called ‘standards of beauty’ are set through advertisement, the fashion industry, be it catwalks or magazines which promote models with a certain allure and of a certain shape and size.
Neon Moon aims to show women that it’s okay to be unique in your journey to body-positivity and every day is a new step to acceptance and love of every aspect of yourself!
How can people learn to become more body confident?
It’s a slow process – definitely a journey and not something that happens overnight. Don’t be hard on yourself because it takes time. Take each day as it comes and if you start to be kinder to yourself and body and start to treat yourself as you’d treat your best friend, then you’re on the right track. I really do believe it is intrinsic in us that we want to be kind to ourselves and love our bodies. The aim is to channel that each day and build on your self-love. Empowering yourself will help you achieve great things!
What is your own story with food and body confidence?
In a sense, I feel like I’ve been the subject of skinny privilege in today’s society, and therefore haven’t gone through the pressures that some have experienced. At the same time, that’s helped me to create a safe place for women to feel good, a place which is not influenced by society’s standards of ‘beauty’ or the male gaze.
This is not to say that I have not experienced other pressures and harmful stereotypes. As a Moroccan girl growing up in London, some kids in school saw me as different – because of my curly hair, or my large nose, or my body hair. And body-positivity is of course important when it comes to loving your body and every part of it. I want everyone who’s part of the Neon Moon community to practice self-love.