♥ baby got back.

breakfast at tiffany's image found here.

sjp + chris noth from vogue.

it all started the day i was born.

the doctor held me up and the first thing my father saw

was my broad baby back.

he clasped his hands in joy

"alright, we got a little quarterback," he said.

then the doctor turned me around

and {tada!}

–all of his hopes of a mini football player were dashed–

i was a girl!

needless to say,

i have always had reservations about my back.

it is not bony or delicate like audrey hepburn or sjp's.

it is built for hard labor or gymnastics.

but you know what?

it can also be beautiful.

with the unpredictability and uncertainty of everything 

from gas prices, to job security, to the weather, these days,

the one thing people can still control is the way that their bodies look.

so as fitness style flourishes and magazines print their latest issues

 dedicated solely to "the body,"

designers like zac posen, donna karan and john galliano

are celebrating the body (back and all!) and

sending gorgeous cutaway dresses +backless gowns down the runway.

oscar de la renta image here.

in plum sykes' article, "the flip side" 

from the latest issue of vogue, 

she claims that the dresses are so breathtaking 

this season, that she would 

"honestly walk into a room backward wearing one."

she also goes on to state,

"wearing a backless dress is demanding, it requires the right back–

neither too fleshy nor too bony, since it is skin that one doesn't see on a daily basis,

extra vigilance is required to ensure it is worth baring.

 'the look of the skin on your back depends on the total health of your body'

 says dermatologist, lisa airan, m.d."

so, from now on,

 embrace the things that make you different–

the quirks that set you apart from everyone else.

whether it is a broad back, a gap tooth, a birth mark, fuller lips, etc. 

celebrate them and love them

and as ralph waldo emerson says, 

"make the most of yourself,

 for that is all there is of you."