Former Miss SA finalist flaunts her curves to prove beauty has no size limit

05 February 2017 - 02:00 By YASANTHA NAIDOO
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Marciel Hopkins wears her love handles proudly as a reminder of what she went through to lose 14kg in four months to get a bikini body for Miss South Africa.

Hopkins, 23, a psychology student and one of the top 12 finalists in the 2015 Miss South Africa pageant, is now using her curvy figure to inspire young girls as part of a global body-positive campaign.

Hopkins of Paarl in the Western Cape is a sought-after international plus-size model working between Cape Town, Germany and London.

She said the pageant taught her more than how to smile, wave and walk confidently in stiletto heels and a bikini.

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When she decided to enter the pageant in March 2015 she was a size 12, and she knew that the pageant had certain body requirements.

"I had four months to be bikini-ready in August of the same year for the first regional round. I started training with a personal trainer, and made drastic lifestyle changes.

"I was drawn by the fact that the competition was a holistic challenge, because I like to push myself out of my comfort zone.

"It wasn't always easy, because it always felt like the main focus was on my body, and there were concerns around my weight. It felt like a distraction when there should have been more focus on my strengths, potential and leadership."

But she does not regret the decision to slim down to a size 8 for the pageant.

"It was an important learning curve, and it was a rewarding chapter in my book of life. I wouldn't change a thing if I could do it all over again."

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In the aftermath of the pageant, she decided to use the experience to inspire change around body image and address misperceptions on the issue.

"I knew I would not have been able to maintain the strict lifestyle I was leading during my whole Miss South Africa journey after the pageant ended. There was no more reason to be obsessed with 'healthy eating' [or] to train two to three hours a day. So I decided to go back to my normal lifestyle, and I went from a size 12 back to my original size 14."

These days, she is a body-positive warrior for young girls obsessing about dieting and who endure body shaming on social media. She has taken to posting weekly body-positive quotes on Instagram as part of her #beautybeyondsize campaign.

"I work on the relationship with my body on a daily basis. Some days are better than others, but we grow stronger every day.

"Bodies are beautiful, and should be celebrated by all women out there, no matter if you are naturally curvy or skinny."

 

 

Image consultant and former model Donna Kennedy-Meyer said: "In today's age, we are daily bombarded with social media images ... Individuals are driven to distraction in their pursuit of perfection. The irony is that filters and Photoshop create a distorted version of true reality."

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