Ashley Graham, 30, is one of the women I obsess over on Instagram. For those of you who don’t know Ashley Graham, I am offended. Graham is a plus-size model appearing on Vogue, Sports Illustrated, Glamour, and Elle. Graham has also appeared on many late night talk shows and has recently appeared on America’s Next Top Model as a guest. Graham has also served as a backstage host for the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants since 2016. She has spoken at high schools about body image and body acceptance and has even given a TED Talk advocating for self-acceptance with regards to body image. Not only that, but she is a proponent of the Healthy at Every Size movement, a published writer, and designs clothing (mainly plus-sized) in collaborations with brands in her free time! So far she has come out with swimsuit lines and lingerie lines. Graham is absolutely beautiful and spreads a beautiful message with her followers.
Graham has recently released photos of a swimsuit line she designed with the brand Swimsuits for All. This is her second collaboration with the brand with a line of all different types of women’s swimsuits. This year, Graham forced her mother, 53-year-old Linda Graham, to be in the photo shoot for the campaign with her. Linda decided to go through with it because she’s not like other moms, she is a cool mom.
“What I want is for women my mother’s age to feel empowered and to know they, too, can look just as hot in a one piece, two piece, or string bikini.” Graham went on for Vogue, stating, “I believe that beauty is beyond age, race, or size, and it’s not a trend-at every stage of your life, you can feel beautiful.”
Linda then told Vogue that this is the first time she has ever worn a string bikini. She loved the bathing suit, but still felt uncomfortable being an older woman in such bathing suit. Linda stated having her daughter there was comforting, and “it’s funny how the table have turned.” Graham also stated that before August of 2017, it has been 30 years since she has put on a two piece bikini. What was stopping her? (obviously she felt she was too old, but she has a better body than me I think.)
Photo from Ashley Graham’s Instagram
My first reaction to seeing these photos of Graham posing with her mother was, “wow, is Ashley’s mom a model too? Did she model at some point?” Turns out she did not! That amazed me. Linda is so beautiful and has such a great smile. I learned that this was her first photo shoot, then saw a video Graham posted to Instagram teaching her mother how to pose. So cute!
Photo from Glamour Magazine
Not only is it ADORABLE that Graham and her mother did a photo shoot together, but she helped empower her mother, too. This mother/daughter duo are such #MotherDaughterGoals I am so jealous. I love my mama, don’t get me wrong, but I know if I went up to my mom and asked her to do a bikini photo shoot, she definitely will laugh at me and say, “no”.
Photo from Fashionista