In September, the world received a taste of what is now a phenomenon within the fashion industry. A two-page spread—selected out of 832 pages—was featured in the September issue of Vogue and it consisted of gorgeous photos of a group of plus-sized women. At this point, with just their silhouettes revealed, it was not clear what the feature was about. But the fashion industry and the world were about to get a big surprise.
Lane Bryant, a retail clothing store predominately geared towards plus-sized women, is the company behind the #PlusisEqual campaign. Essentially, this movement is meant to bring forth the fact that there is more than one type of body. Also, there is more than one type of woman. Along with ethnic diversity, acceptance of body diversity seems to be gradually improving.
The campaign stated that 67 percent of women in the U.S. range from size 14 to size 34. This indicates that more than half of the women in America do not actually look like the thin models we are accustomed to seeing in the media. The majority of the women in this country have body types that are underrepresented in television, movies, magazines, and more. According to plusisequal.com, 65 percent of women who wear sizes 14 thru 34 feel that the fashion industry ignores their needs. The #PlusIsEqual models are here to change that. Some of the models for #PlusIsEqual include Candice Huffline, Ashley Graham, and Precious Victoria Lee.
#PlusIsEqual is actually Lane Bryant’s second campaign centered around larger women. Last spring, the movement #ImNoAngel was introduced on billboards and television screens. The purpose of #ImNoAngel was also to promote body diversity amongst women. The hashtag implies that you do not have to resemble a Victoria Secret model to be considered sexy and attractive to the world. Model Ashley Graham was also featured in this campaign. Ashley Graham might be considered one the most vocal women of the plus-sized model community. She, along with other models, is teaching society that larger women matter just as much as smaller women.
The #PlusIsEqual and #ImNoAngel movements have been widely received by many people in the world including fashion blogger, Nadia Aboulhosn. Aboulhosn, a plus-sized model from Florida, is a passionate advocate for full-figured women around the world.
When we compare the models in the fashion industry from the eighties to those of today, it’s clear to see that society’s idea of beauty has evolved quite a bit. As time goes on, we are learning to include different body types, skin colors, hair textures, and more into our definition of beauty. Of course there are still some setbacks in the fashion world, but if the industry keeps on the right path we may very well see some positive improvements. This campaign has the potential to start a long-overdue trend of seeing more than one body type in the media