Welcome Karmen! Will you please tell me and my CurveInspire readers your name, troupe or city you work in, and facebook or web link?

Hello! I’m Karmen Sutra. I’m a proud prancer and dancer in The Bordeaux Project, Seattle’s Classic Choice for Cabaret. You can find us at www.bordeauxproject.com and starring at The Can Can in Pike’s Place Market, hosting private parties or bouncing around the local winery’s! You can find me personally at facebook.com/karmensutra.burlesque. I’m also the Volunteer Coordinator for BurlyCon, Seattle’s Educational Burlesque Convention!

How long have you been a burlesque performer?

I had my debut solo performance just over a year ago, but started taking classes about two years ago. It’s crazy to think it’s only been that short of an amount of time, considering how much I have accomplished and how many amazing people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and working with!

What got you into the world of burlesque?

Originally, my grandmother. She was a performer in the mid 1940′s going by Gaza Strip who opening for legends like Tempest Storm and Lili St. Cyr in the Bay Area. She introduced me to big band jazz and told me stories growing up. When I moved to Seattle I met Dickie Gazoonie, a friend who just so happened to host for the Tempting Tarts who dragged me up on stage for my birthday and got me my first taste of stage lights. Seattle is lucky enough to have Ms. Indigo Blue’s Academy of Burlesque, so I started with basic classes from Ruby Mimosa who I’m still trying to live up to today. Once I started, I never stopped and have been in shows and community events like mad!

How did having curves affect you growing up?

I have never been skinny. I’ve been a size 12 since probably freshmen year of high school. I come from a Sicilian heritage, who are naturally curvy anyway, but don’t know how to stop feeding you! While I got teased here and there, I never let it affect me to harshly. I had a great community growing up and high school was never hell for me. I’m very lucky! I have a strong confident family who raised me as such. In high school and college, I was the biggest debate nerd you’d meet. I could argue foreign policies and domestic politics for days, and sometimes you have to fake confidence until you can find your evidence to prove it. I still live by that!

How did you accept your curves?

I’ve idolized people like Christina Hendricks and Dirty Martini for years. They’re the ones who use their curves rather than just accept them. I never had to ‘accept’ my curves, I just had to learn how to use them to my advantage! If you would have asked if I would be stripping three years ago, I’d say “No, but if I could run around naked in public I would!” and now I found a way to! While there are days here and there where it’s easy to get down on yourself for not being a size 2, I remember that I’m so much happier going out to dinner and drinks with friends and confidence is more sexy than a size label.

How do your curves help you in your career?

It’s so nice to watch someone on stage or see pictures of someone who is confident. This has no affiliation with their size. But I personally feel like curves are sexy, they’re interesting, they photograph and move well. I capitalize on that. My measurements are 38″, 32″, 44″ which is pretty intense! I like to play off of them and I feel like some people try to hide them. Some acts I present my entire, unclothed ass through the curtain, first thing. This makes it less of a reveal, and more of a statement, and man do I have a statement!

I love the curvy girl body inspiration provided by these gorgeous girls with all the right curves! Curvy models like Denise Bidot and Cassie Melinda are thick, toned, and confident! And no, I’m not positive that all of these sexy bodies are photoshop-free, but they all look amazing and they are the perfect body inspiration for me right now!

I love this “Beauty comes in EVERY Size” body acceptance slogan across the beautiful photo of sexy and curvy plus size model Lexi Placourakis! You do not need to be a size zero to look hot in a bikini, thanks Lexi, we love your curvy girl confidence!

We love curvy girls! Curvspiration comes in the form of gorgeous plus size and curvy models that we think are amazing; Lexi Placourakis, May Kalber, Carolina Worsley, and Kellie Coleman!

Welcome Lucy! Please tell CurveInspire readers a little about your curvy self!

Hi Guys! My name is Lucy Tran, I’m from Monterey, California and I work in Human Resources…I’ve also Modeled for the Red Light Shoppe

How did having curves affect you growing up?

Growing up, I had three brothers and I’m also Vietnamese. Vietnamese girls are suppose to be petite, but that was never my case. My mom and brothers bullied me growing up about being overweight. It was always extremely hard for me to lose weight during that period of time, I just wasn’t motivated. After high school I finally grew into my body…it wasn’t til I met my boyfriend in 2009, when I finally started accepting the way I looked.

How did you accept your curves?

I grew up with a gay best friend, Colzie Tucker. He always encouraged me to be different, and that I didn’t have to look a certain way. When I met my boyfriend in 2009 is when I realized that even though I started to accept the way I looked…I knew I had to change. I started eating healthier (I still had a burger here and there) and I started to be more active. I was probably almost 250 pounds when I met him in 2009…this was the heaviest I have EVER been. For our second anniversary, I thought it would be nice to do some modeling pictures. I kept telling myself I would try to lose some weight before taking pictures…but speaking to the owner of The Red Light Shoppe, she encouraged me that all bodies come in different shapes and sizes…So I did it…I booked a shoot. The owner and photographer (Brandalyn and David Burton) made me feel so comfortable…and when I saw the final pictures I was AMAZED! I felt so good about myself! Its been about 2 years since I took those pictures and I have dropped about 80 pounds, but I am still glad I booked that photo shoot.

How have your curves helped/hindered you?

Even though my body has significantly changed going from 250 pounds to 170 pounds, I still get embarrassed when people mention how great I look and how “skinny” ai am now…I never use to get these many compliments. I recently got casted into a musical at the Paper Wing Theatre in Monterey California. The person in charge of costumes told me that I would have to wear a leotard and tights, since I had a short role of an Aerobics instructor. Just thinking of how tight the costume would be, and how it would cling to the wrong places, and wearing this in front of an audience?! I cringed. I went to the director and told her I wasn’t comfortable wearing it…but she told me to try it on…its just a costume. I tried it on, and I wasn’t happy. I couldn’t stop thinking about it all day.

I drove one of my cast mates, Taylor Landess, home that night and I told him how uncomfortable it made me feel to wear something so tight, I was almost to the point of tears. He told me he saw a play called “Real women have Curves” where the women of different shapes, stripped down to their underwear and bra in front of the audience for a scene. He said at the end of the play, he actually thanked the actresses, because that was a brave thing for them to do. Taylor is super thin and he told me that sometimes he feels uncomfortable with the way he looked too…so he understood how I felt. It was that moment when I realized, if those women can be on stage in their bra and underwear, I can rock a leotard! The next day, I threw on the leotard and I felt more confident than the night before…I came to conclusion that no one cared if it was too tight or if it clinged to the wrong places. Since then I have worn the leotard multiple times since the show opened…and I have to thank my friend Taylor for giving me such a great pep talk. I know this may sound like a small issue…but overcoming the leotard was a big step for me! I can now say, I am comfortable with my body…and it all started with a tiny leotard. =P

So yeah, if you have time, just kind of like… LOVE YOUR BODY! … Today! Easier said than done, I know but… try!

Oh, and Thinspiration can SUCK IT! Love you curvy girls, voluptuous thighs and all!!!

Curvy Girls Rock, and these girls are no exception! The curvy Beyonce, Kelly Brook, Kelly Obsourne, and my other beautiful featured plus size models all have amazing bodies without looking starved! I may be a bit biased, but looking at scrawny Victoria’s Secret models with twig like legs do not motivate me to hit the gym; Sexy, toned, curvy girls like these ones DO!

If you hate celebrity weight and body gossip, please disregard this post – but if you love it, yay! Snooki’s weight loss is apparent, she looks so tiny, and is apparently living off of lettuce, egg whites, booze, and laxatives. Yum!

LeAnne Rimes no longer looks scary skinny, and says she never restricted her eating or had an eating disorder of any kind during her skinniest time. Some girls apparently stop eating when they’re stressed and that’s all it was for her. Wow, where does one come across that trait??? I’m sold!

Once super skinny Hilary Duff, now a mom to 1 year old boy Luca, was spotted at Coachella this week looking cute and curvy.

Oh, and one of our favorite curvy plus size models is no longer sporting her sexy curves! Plus model Crystal Renn’s weight loss has left her looking very slim, and has lost her sexy curves that CurveInspire.com readers loved so much! She claims she did not try to lose any weight and it just happened. Again, how do I get this to happen to me accidentally?? I guess I like food too much, oh well! Love my curves!

To me, these curvy girls exude major body confidence. Even in little lingerie or a teeny bikini, these curvy plus size models don’t look and act anything like what society thinks plus size girls should be like. Unhappy, shy, and reserved, just because your not a size 2? No thank you! It isn’t always easy to flaunt what you’ve got wearing close to nothing, especially in a size zero world. That’s why I love the curvspiration of these gorgeous, curvy models! I’ve been one to hide behind my towel while I’m walking around at the pool, but I’m beginning to think that’s pretty ridiculous when I see so many beautiful curvy girls like these ones! <3 Curvy Confidence Love!

Today’s Curvspiration comes courtesy of sexy, curvy plus size models and curvaceous celebs like Christina Aguilera, showing off her weight loss, and pregnant Kim Kardashian’s baby weight gain. Holy jugs, batman! I can only dream the same will happen to moi in a few years time! These girls are all gorgeous, curvy, and confident, other than the claims that Kim Kardashian has been lying about her weight and claiming she’s eating only veggies and gluten free! Yes, it’s no one’s business what her weight is, but if she could just admit she’s curvy, has gained weight since getting pregnant (who cares? Everyone does so why lie about it??) and accept her body, perhaps it would be easier for curvy girls everywhere to embrace their bodies!