Seeing Life Beyond Anorexia: Brittany

We traveled to London’s Southbank Centre to conduct What’s Underneath interviews as an open call in a public setting. We weren’t sure what to expect, but eager participants stepped up to share their stories as an audience accumulated. Watch six women strip down and open up in our first ever Open Call.

At the time this was filmed, Brittany was an inpatient undergoing treatment for anorexia. While on leave for the weekend from the hospital, she serendipitously stumbled into the Fashion Undressed festival, having never seen a What’s Underneath interview before, and bravely stepped up for an unexpected healing experience on her journey toward recovery. Her story is a testament to the atrocity of the fashion industry’s destructive grip on our self worth and well being. An undeniably beautiful and creative force, Brittany lost her entire sense of self to a world of images and messages so intimidating that she thought, ‘If you don’t try and look nice, you can’t really fail at it.’ By age 10, she was preoccupied with her body, and by the time she was in university, extreme dieting was an all-consuming obsession, and she was depressed to the point of barely wanting to live past the next half an hour. Brittany’s awareness of the traps of her illness, is palpable and enlightening. Despite struggling with guilt over the strain her illness put on her parents, she is reclaiming her dreams and ambitions, and learning to love her body for its indelible link to her family.

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StyleLikeU is led by mother-daughter duo Elisa Goodkind and Lily Mandelbaum, who are bound by the desire to uncover what’s underneath personal style. Through candid, docu-style interviews with empowered individuals, StyleLikeU is building a world where getting dressed each morning is an act of self-love.

WATCH NEXT: The What’s Underneath Project: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_jxFaykzU8CSjCdSJamAv6Yh_S48prrm

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Produced by Elisa, Lily, and Mona
Edited by Jenny Catherall