By Emily Johnson
Hi Beautiful People!
My name is Emily Johnson and I have been involved in the EDM scene for the past 8 months. For the first few raves I attended, I felt self-conscious and believed that wearing anything revealing would cause me to instantly become judged based off of my body size. One day I was scrolling through my Instagram feed and I had immediately noticed Freedom Rave Wear. Freedom Rave Wear was the first company I ever purchased my first official rave outfit, which was for Ultra Music Festival Miami 2019.
My Backstory:
I have personally been bullied since I was 13 years old and never truly felt comfortable in my own body because of the constant reminder of being stereotyped as “fat,” “ugly,” and “not good enough.” My first perspective of women's rave clothes when I attended Zeds Dead’s day concert was that I had to be really skinny to rock any rave outfit. Until the next day, I was searching through Instagram and found a Freedom Rave Wear model, Kalerely, that was similar to myself, rocking the Acid Sky Collection. I had immediately clicked on the page and saw a diverse variety of women modeling their rave clothes and was stunned.
At that moment, I knew I wanted to become somewhat involved with their company. I signed up to become an ambassador and felt honored to become a part of their team. Once I joined, I met numerous ravers through their team and on Instagram. One of my new friends, Kourtney Laakso, mentioned her experience with the company, “Freedom Rave Wear was the first rave company I came across and their clothing made me feel like I could take on anything!”
We bonded through our experiences of wearing their clothes because it made us feel accepted. Even though we don’t look the exact same, we became sisters. I have also recently connected with Mia Alaire Ivey, who has modeled numerous FRW collections, and she had mentioned how “FRW had excepted [her] when [she] was 195 pound and is 30 pounds lighter and the company still loves [her] just the same. Their love with [her] was as strong for [her] then as it is now.” Throughout the differences between all of us, I can say we all felt accepted in love throughout the FRW community.
Not only the users of Freedom Rave Wears sent their love, but even the founders constantly commented showing their support for wearing their clothes. Every outfit from Freedom Rave Wear that I have worn and posted on my page or story the FRW commented something and made me feel good about expressing myself throughout the EDM community.
Personal experience at festivals: Throughout the 13 music festivals, I have previously attended, I always noticed numerous ravers rocking FRW outfits. Each girl looked different, but when I talked to some of the girls about how amazing they looked in their Freedom Rave Wear outfit; they would just smile. It was just an amazing feeling being able to see others happy, accepted, comfortable, and bonding through one company. Every interaction had taught me self-love and this blog can hopefully help others in the same position.
I hope the FRW community knows that we are all united as a family no matter who you are and know that everyone is beautiful in our own ways. I know through experience because their community has helped me feel more accepted with myself, physically and emotionally, at raves and personally.
P.L.U.R. and if you need guidance I am always here to listen!