your beauty
あなたの美しさ
こんにちは、ナズです。
Hi, my name is Nazu.
いきなりですが、あなたにとって美しい女性とはどんな人ですか？痩せている人？顔が整っている人？それともお洒落な人？ここからは「美しいとは何なのか」を体験したこと、それを経て得たものをシェアします。
What kind of women do you think are beautiful? Woman with skinny body? Woman with beautiful face? Or women who is fashionable? I'd like to talk about what I experienced and felt about "what is beauty?"
私は昔、自分のビジュアルに自信が持てなくて、コンプレックスだらけでした。そのせいで、他人からどう思われているかが気になってコミュニケーションも下手くそで人見知りにもなった…可愛くなりたくて、沢山雑誌を読んだりダイエットに励んだり努力もしてみたけど、それでも自分が好きになれなかった。
I didn't have confidence on how I look before. I had a lot of insecurities. I wasn't good at communication and became shy because I cared what people think about me or how I look too much. I just wanted to be cute, so I read so many magazines on how to get skinny and did made an effort, but I couldn't love myself.
そんなタイミングの18歳で、ニュージーランドにワーホリに行った時、そこで私の感性が大きく動いたんです。ニュージーランドの女の子達って、みんな大きなお尻でも小さな胸でも太い脚でも隠さないで、むしろ目立つようなファッションで楽しそうにしているんです！その光景がその国では当たり前で、衝撃を受けたのを覚えてる。
During those times, I had a chance to visit to New Zealand for working holiday. And that changed me A LOT. In New Zealand, every girl wear whatever they like, even they seemed to have bigger butts, smaller boobs and thicker thighs. They don't hide them. Instead, they just embrace them. And that looked so much fun to be free. It wasn't the usual view that I see in Japan, so I was shocked.
そんな日々にも慣れてきた頃のお話。体型が目立つけど、どうしても着たい洋服があって思い切って初めて着た日に、友達が「いつもと違うじゃんいいじゃん！」って褒めてくれたんです。その瞬間にいいんだ！色々気にしなくって！って思えて、着たかった洋服を着るようにしてみた。そしたら毎日ウキウキしちゃって、楽しくって誰かに会って見せたくなって、どんどん友達が増えたんです。それに伴って、自分のことも徐々に好きになっていく事ができて、今では自分が大好き！笑
When I was getting used to my life in New Zealand, I decided to wear clothes that make my body line clear, which I have been avoiding to wear, and my friend told me "Wow, you look different! Look so good!" And in the moment, I thought "Oh... This is good! I don't have to care much!" so I started wearing more clothes that I wasn't confidence enough to wear but wanted to wear. And that made me happier day by day. And I felt I wanna show more people and made me excited to see new people. And I gained more friends from it. And that made me love myself and happy with myself day by day and now, I love myself! haha
イギリス人のお友達が私に言いました。「なぜ日本人はモデルの様になることにこだわるんだ？彼らは良いルックスをキープして世の中の広告になる事が仕事なんだ。君たちは他に仕事を沢山抱えているんだから、それを頑張ればいいんだよ、そうすると内面から美しくなるんだ。僕たちはその美しさを必ず認めるはずだから。」
My friend from England told me "Why Japanese people care about being like a model (being skinny)? That's their job to be skinny and be on ads. People who care about their body should work for themselves. Do their best for what they do. And they'll become beautiful from inside. And we'll see the beauty for sure."
よくある体験談かもしれないけど、結局”美しい”の基準なんか全員見事に違うわけで、自分が美しいかどうかを勝手に他人に評価されて、批判されたって、あなたが思う美しい基準はあなたにしかない。だから私は何を言われても気にしない様にしてる。自分が美しいって信じているから。
I know everyone says this, but everyone has a different standard of "beauty" and it kinda sucks to be rated and criticized about my own beauty by others. Your beauty standard is only in you. I started thinking like that so I became to care less about what people says about me. Because I believe that I'm beautiful.
私は自分を受け入れて好きになる為には、沢山の友達と出かけて新しい人、インスピレーションを受けるような芸術、国によって価値観の違う面白い考えをした文化と出会うことが決め手でした。もし忘れたいような苦しい経験をして、あぁ時間が無駄だった…なんて思ってもその経験が実は表情に組み込まれて、感情に幅が生まれあなたの財産になってると思うんです。だから、苦しい経験もいっぱいしていいんだと思う。
For me, accepting and loving myself came from meeting new people, getting inspired, seeing different cultures and gaining new perspectives. Everyone has some sad or hard memories they wanna forget, thinking like "Oh that was such a waste of time" but even those memories, emotions and feelings are part of you. Learning from it. Becoming part of you. So I think it's okay to have some struggling, sad, and hard times.
綺麗な人なんて山程いるけど、そこで彼女達に勝る部分に胸張って居ればそれを理解していいねって思ってくれる人は沢山いるはずです。私は感情や気持ちの引き出しが多くて、奥深い表情をする人に魅力を感じるんです。顔や体型は『普通』なのに、なぜかすごく可愛いらしい人っていますよね。
There are many perfectly beautiful people in the world, but you also have beautiful part in you. And some people will realize the beauty in you and adore you. I have many emotions and feelings so I get attracted by people who have unique and deep expressions, you know even their body or face is "normal" but they're so beautiful and pretty.
そういう人間的な魅力は、みんな絶対あるからゆっくり見つけて、時には教えてもらって、自分らしい美人になれたら素敵です。
Those kind of attractiveness is in everyone. Take your time and find your beauty, maybe your best friend or partner can tell you, too. And it's amazing if you could be your dream of "beautiful."
ゲストライターNazuと彼女の友人のRikakoと二人で立ち上げた下着ブランド『Apathy』が公開・オーダー開始されました。ぜひチェックして見てね！
Our guest writer, Nazu founded a lingerie brand - Apathy with her friend, Rikako. They just opened their website so please go check!
”コンプレックスは魅力であり、一人一人の歴史ある体型に美しくないなんて無い” アパシーは[自分を愛す為の下着]作りを目標に活動しています。
"Insecurities are attractive, there's no body without its own beauty."
Apathy, our goal is to make lingeries that make you love yourself.
Store - https://apathylingerie.stores.jp/
Images by Norico
Models - ＠natsuora / ＠ukanevergetupearly / ＠hinarimurakami
English Translated by Hikari
English Edited by Lisa