He āhua tō ia tangata: Why Āhua Was Created
He āhua tō ia tangata - Every body has its shape
This right here speaks to me in more ways than one.
Over my 40-odd years my weight has fluctuated. Like many women, I bought loads of shapewear. To me, shapewear was about trying to hide my imperfections, make me look skinnier and smooth out all my bumps and rolls.
But over the last couple of years, I decided to just be me — to love my body, bumps, rolls and all.
My mindset, and probably that of many women, was that I needed to be a certain weight, look a certain way and take my body to extremes through eating, dieting and the gym. Every time I did that, I piled all the weight back on and more.
Shapewear for me became about trying to suck myself in and look a little less “fat” in the most uncomfortable, hoha and expensive shapewear ever.
Then one day I thought… why can’t shapewear just be comfortable? Why can’t it hold me slightly without the pain and discomfort? Why can’t there be something that simply makes me feel held, comfortable, sexy and confident without all the other stuff?
That right there was the beginning of Āhua.
I wanted to change the way we thought about shapewear. I wanted women to know we could still be plus size māmā, still have hips, thighs, rolls and curves, and still feel beautiful without extreme pressure to be skinny or ashamed of our bodies.
Āhua was never created for one type of body.
It is for every shape, every size and every wāhine wanting to feel comfortable, supported and confident in what they wear.
I have women who wear Āhua who society would call “fit” or “skinny”, and even they still want that little bit of comfort, smoothing or support sometimes too.
Because confidence does not belong to one body type.
I had to let go of the mindset of:
“I’m a size 18, but I want to look like a size 12.”
That was the first real step in creating Āhua.
Society can make us feel like we are less, because our bodies don’t look a certain way. Because we have more hips, more thighs or more stomach than what society says we should.
Well I’m here to tell you now — the answer is no.
Creating a shapewear brand probably sounds contradictory in some ways. If we shouldn’t care what the world thinks, then why shapewear?
But for me, it was never about hiding who we are.
It was about comfort. Confidence. Feeling held in the places we sometimes want support, without feeling restricted or ashamed.
Āhua became a way to express how I wanted to feel in my own skin. I wanted something that still showed my curves and bumps, but also made me feel supported without hiding too much of me.
I wanted women to feel like they could wear shapewear without the embarrassing stigma attached to it.
I wanted a bodysuit that felt comfortable to sit in, walk in and live in. A high-waisted short or brief for those days we just want a little smoothing under our clothes. Something that felt like a second skin under anything we wore.
This, e te whānau, is why Āhua was created.
For women to feel comfortable, sexy and confident in whatever they choose to wear — while still having the option to feel held or “snatched” whenever they want to, not because they feel they have to.
Āhua is not just for special occasions or events where you want to look your best.
Āhua is for everyday life.
Dinners. Birthdays. Weddings. Watching the kids play sport. Grocery shopping. Laying on the couch. Work. Life.
Āhua is for all of it.
What I ultimately want for Āhua is to be a brand people trust, connect with and feel proud to wear.
A brand built from lived experiences, created for real wāhine, real bodies and real life here in beautiful Aotearoa — thoughtfully sourced and designed with comfort, confidence and everyday wear in mind.
Ka nui te aroha
Rickie-Lee
Āhua Shapewear