A few years ago, I read a headline that surprised me more than it probably should have: “You Might Actually Start Seeing Models With Curves.”
15-year-old me saw a glimmer of hope in a dark period of self-doubt and body negativity. I thought, “girls who look like me will be idolized and praised for the way they look.” They weren’t in that moment; but they would be. What I didn’t understand then and still don’t understand now is why society can’t seem to grab onto the fact that representation in the media matters, especially for developing young girls.
Could an industry that had spent decades ignoring plus-size people have actually cast plus-size models on runways and magazines?
In 2015, the idea seemed like heaven at best; at worst, it felt illogical and unlikely. Plus-size models existed, even in the ‘90s, like Emme, JordanTesfay, and Amy Lemons; icons that paved the way for curvy models today. Mostly, they were cast in campaigns far less than their thinly-framed model counterparts, and almost never walked the runway.
When we see magazine covers, we see very thin models, showing their tiny frame, flat stomachs, and toned legs. While this is a perfectly acceptable lifestyle (as long as they are happy and healthy), it is an unrealistic expectation society places on women. We would never see a woman with muscles, thick thighs, and a soft tummy. Fortunately, however, fashion brands, designers, and publications have begun casting plus-size models (it’s about time!).
Iconic women in today’s inclusive, body-positive fashion industry include Ashley Graham, who made her debut in Vogue Italia in a series of unretouched photos and broke barriers as the first plus model to appear in Sports Illustrated, a characteristically “thin ideal, skinny is best” magazine and Iskra Lawrence, a global Role Model for Aerie, a National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) brand ambassador, and creator of the NEDA Inspires Award. Graham and Lawrence are open about her journey to self-acceptance and calls for a “fashion forward industry that must serve plus women”. They’re only hurting themselves”, after all, 67% of American women are a size 14 or above.
While Graham and Lawrence are the faces of the modern movement, many great, brave women preceded her. Here, we see the first plus-size models that paved the way for the growing inclusive nature of today’s industry. Amy Lemons is an American plus-size fashion model and model advocate. She started in the fashion industry as a straight-size model, and landed the cover of Vogue Italia at age 14 and appeared on the covers of Vogue, Bazaar, Elle and Marie Claire. She also held campaigns for Abercrombie and Fitch, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, and Louis Vuitton. After attending college at UCLA, Amy came back to the modeling industry as a plus-size model and began speaking out about the industry’s “zero-sized standard” and called for healthy self-esteem for young women. She has recently been involved in advocating for ethical standards in the industry through the organization Model Alliance, a modeling “union” she co-founded.
Emme is acknowledged as the first plus-size model to achieve widespread recognition in the United States. She was named one of People magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People” twice in the 1990s. She was also Glamour magazine’s “Woman of the Year” (1997). She was also the first plus-size model with a look-alike doll. Emme became a spokes model for Revlon in 1998, and became the first plus-size spokeswoman under contract for a cosmetics company.
Jordan Tesfay began her career after winning a MODE Magazine model search competition in 1999. She was also the first plus-model since Emme, and the first black plus-size model to appear in a nation-wide advertising campaign for CoverGirl cosmetics.
These are just a few of the amazing women that have made strides in vying for accurate representation in the fashion industry and tearing down society’s thin standard of beauty. The three iconic models outline the beginning of big-girl barrier breaking, and Lawrence and Graham continue to speak out for the normalization of size 6+ and their jounrey to self-love. They remind us that beauty is not just the content of your caloric intake, but real beauty lies within the content of your ability to see beauty in all things.