Like Rihanna before her, Lizzo has dipped her toes into making fashion more inclusive.
Today, the rapper and singer unveiled her newest venture: not an album—still waiting!—but a shapewear brand called Yitty, which she described on Instagram as a dream “five years in the making.”
“Shapewear you can wear. Underwear, Overwear, Anywhere. For Every Damn Body. 6X to Xs. Are you ready for the YITTY LIBERATION,” she posted.
Lizzo has been a beacon of self-love and body positivity ever since she came on the scene, with songs like “Juice” about loving yourself, owning your own skin, and tearing down fatphobia. Yitty, named after her childhood nickname, seems like it’s going to carry that same message of radical self-love.
“This is a love letter to my big grrrls, and a welcome letter to Every Body. This is *not* an invitation to change who you are… this is an opportunity to BE who you are on your terms. I don’t know about y’all— but I’m sick of people telling me how I’m supposed to look and feel about my body. I’m tired of discomfort being synonymous with sexy. If it’s uncomfortable TAKE IT OFF. And if it makes you feel good PUT IT ON. Yitty isn’t just shapewear, it’s your chance to reclaim your body and redefine your beauty standard. I love y’all,” she wrote on Instagram.
While Yitty isn’t officially out yet—its website says that it’s opening on April 12—you can get a sneak peek of the looks from Lizzo herself. She posted an hour-long live of her Yitty closet on Instagram a few hours after the reveal.
She also used the live stream to reply to questions about the brand, like her role in the company (she’s CEO) and sustainability (“Sustainability is something we prioritize.”). Replying to a message saying, “I wish I could be as confident as you,” Lizzo said, “No, no, no! This is what I’m talking about. That’s why I started Yitty, because never have I ever, more so than music, been able to create something tangible that people can physically take home and use to make you feel better and more confident. I implore you to try. I promise you, confidence starts from within. Put this on and tell yourself you look good and I promise you, you will feel good.”
You might be thinking: Isn’t shapewear inherently fatphobic? Isn’t it meant to hide your fat? She addressed that in an interview with New York Times, which said, “She isn’t trying to change other people’s bodies. She’s trying to change the essence of shapewear itself.”
She’s not just making shapewear—she’s making revolutionary innerwear meant to change the industry.
“She wanted shapewear that announced itself with pride—and felt like a hug. The kind of shapewear that if you sat down and your shirt rode up or your pants pulled down, you’d be happy to show off. The kind of shapewear you could wear with nothing on top. She didn’t even want to call it ‘shapewear.’ She wanted to call it ‘bodywear,’ but no one knew what that meant,” the article reads.
“I’m selling that (body normativity) more than I’m selling thongs, more than I’m selling bodysuits or I’m selling shapewear,” Lizzo said in the interview. “I’m selling a mentality that ‘I can do what I want with my body, wear what I want and feel good while doing it.’ That whatever body you are showing off, it’s not, ‘Oh, how brave.’ No. No more of that. Nothing to see here but a body, just like your body.”
I’m here for it. Personally, I’m eyeing the cute blue number she wore in her live.
Photo courtesy of Lizzo
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