Lipstick on the Rim: Body Positivity and The Modeling Industry with Iskra Lawrence

By Mollysims.com

In this week’s episode of Lipstick on the Rim, Molly Sims and Emese Gormley, chat with the beautiful Iskra Lawrence. She joins us for a meaningful conversation on self-love and the importance of body positivity. We discuss being kinder to ourselves and how to best support our children to feel good in their skin. If you’ve ever felt like you weren’t enough, this episode is for you. 

[Iskra & Molly] The truth about modeling

Iskra and Molly get real with their experience in the modeling industry around body positivity. Iskra: “I started in the industry at age 13 and it was a tough time. You know, you’re becoming a woman. You have no idea what that means. And you’re also being constantly told by the fashion industry that you are not enough.” Molly: “I had the same experience. People were like, you’re too fat. You’re too small. You’re too thin. Your hair is too dark. It’s too blonde. And then you finally feel like you’ve made it and they’re still like, no, it’s not good enough. You’re made to feel never confident.”

[Iskra] Changing the narrative: woman to woman

“The way that we speak to each other, especially as women, that’s where we have to break down that system. That is when we get into that negative self-talk. It might be that language and toxic diet culture that we’ve been subconsciously fed and now it really determines our whole view of when we see someone and they’ve lost weight and we initially congratulate them because isn’t weight loss always something to celebrate.”

[Iskra] Encouraging body positivity for mothers and daughters

Iskra breaks it down into one statement “I am enough.” She describes how having this statement reaffirmed in her life daily has helped her every day. “In any situation. I am enough. I deserve to eat. I am enough. I deserve to move today. I am enough. I deserve to get dressed, be in a loving relationship with a partner and at work I deserve the respect and treatment because I am enough. I’m worth that.”

When it comes to daughters Iskra says to, “encourage girls to be more than just pretty and cute. Urge adventure, courage, intelligence, creativity, there are so many descriptors.” She mentions how appearance-based compliments can come and go as young girls age, and that’s why it’s important to focus on compliments that can’t be taken away.

Photoshop & Facetune

“I didn’t know the impact Photoshop had on me for years. And I used to love it. Can I just Photoshop myself in real life? So imagine you do a photo shoot, and then they retouch the image. You’ve got the biggest thigh gap, smooth skin, your eyes are brighter, all of these different things. So you’re telling me if I look like this version of myself, then I’d be more successful, happier, more attractive. So now not only comparing myself to the rest of society, the rest of this unrealistic expectation that I see of celebs and magazines and models, I’m now comparing myself to this Photoshop version of myself, that I can never be in real life.”

[Iskra] Quarantining with a newborn

“There were days when I just was crying and I was like, I can’t. I have not had enough sleep. I’ve not eaten. So my milk supplies dropping, and this baby is crying and I don’t know what to do. Those feelings of being overwhelmed, just heightened because you are isolated because it feels like you can’t escape and it feels scary outside. I wanted to go to mom groups. I wanted to meet other women going through this. So I had to try and find a community online, which did really help.”

[Iskra] Haircare & Beauty Talk

Iskra describes how she is currently focusing solely on haircare. She has been experiencing postpartum hair loss and it has been a real challenge for her. Iskra: “I dove into learning about hair growth, like in a big way. I started making rice water at home.” She also mentions how she tried the viral TikTok heatless curls “So you do it with your bathrobe tie. You place it on top of your head and you wrap your hair around and tie it with like a silk scrunchie at the end and sleep in it. Then you wake up and you have beautiful curls. If you don’t believe me, just Google heatless curls.”

Listen to the full episode here: