There is nothing better than having someone there for you when you struggle through something, especially when that person went through the same thing as you. Celeste Escotet is that someone, and her brand Cero Excusas is that something for young women who struggle with body image.
Today’s society is constantly striving for perfection, and in this race many women fall victim to body image problems, which lead to disorders like anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating. We all complain about our bodies, but for some women their problem with body image is something much more real. Cero Excusas focuses on these young women. The whole concept behind the brand is to help women love themselves and their body.
“Cero Excusas is not just a fashion trend that comes and goes,” said founder Celeste Escotet. “It is a permanent message that I want to transmit with the help of motivational messages that people, especially today’s youth, can commit to having an engaging, healthy happy life forever.”
Escotet’s brand creates trendy fitness clothing with inspirational messages like “Sweat, Smile, Repeat” and “Impossible is not in my dictionary,” to encourage fitness and empower young women in their daily lives.
“My main idea was to create tops and accessories with motivating messages that motivate the person wearing them and at the same time the people around them,” said Escotet.
Cero Excusas, which means “no excuses” in Spanish, is not just a clothing brand, Escotet said, it is a lifestyle. The brand’s website is not only dedicated to selling clothing, but the website also serves as a blog where Escotet posts supportive and motivational posts to help young women everyday. Through her blog, she shares her story in hopes of helping women who are experiencing what she once went through.
But aside from helping other women through their struggles, Cero Excusas helped Escotet overcome her own. She battled with Anorexia and binge eating for three years. Her struggle with her disorders lead her to leave the University of Miami and return to her home in Venezuela to recover. Once she recovered, she returned to UM and had the idea of publicly sharing her story. This was the birth of Cero Excusas.
It all started with Instagram posts, which soon gathered a large following. People began to identify themselves with her and her story.
“For the first time I felt that I was not alone,” Escotet said, “Cero Excusas did not start as a brand, it started as a message. I wanted to create a community for all of those people who suffered or suffer from eating disorder and social pressures.” Her main idea for the brand was to bring these messages she was trying to convey into something wearable, something a young woman could put on and feel empowered.
“My main goal was to share my story to break the stereotypes that commercial aesthetics seek to impose on the woman figure today,” she said.
She also strives to show young women that happiness is not associated with how your body looks, but rather how you feel about your body. And that accepting your body and how you look is the first step to living a happy and healthy life.
words_kamila knaudt. photos_courtesy of celeste escotet