Ralph Lauren Hires First Plus-Size Model, the Gorgeous Robyn Lawley

On at least three occasions, Ralph Lauren was criticized for endorsing the stick-thin stereotype in fashion. At least once, it fired a model who was not a size 0 telling her she was “fat.” It’s now turning the leaf.

Ralph Lauren has just hired its first plus-size model ever, to front a major campaign. Her name is Robyn Lawley, she’s a size 12 and she’s positively gorgeous.

Robyn was on Good Morning America the other day to talk about her new gig but also about the change that’s slowly affecting the fashion industry, as the video below will confirm. 

For instance, she’s already been featured on the cover of Vogue and Elle, both publications that once would have never put a curvier model on the cover.

On GMA, Robyn explains that she too first tried to make it a regular model. In almost no time, though, it became clear to her that she could not keep up and that she would have to go out of her way to try and maintain a slender figure.

“I felt a huge amount of pressure to diet. It was such a battle for me to do that because I’m so big boned, and I’m tall, and I’m broad, and I really struggled to maintain that size,” Robyn explains.

Eventually, she was made to understand that she would not have a career in fashion if she did not do something drastic about her weight. That something drastic was developing an eating disorder, which she tried to do.

“I gave up trying to be a model, and I moved to France and fell in love with food all over again and came back much bigger than I was,” she says.

“And I saw plus-sized models doing well, and I saw editorial, and I decided that I wanted that. I wanted to be in magazines, and I approached a plus-sized agency and Australia, and they took me on board,” Robyn explains.

She doesn’t want to say how much she weighs, but she does point out that she’s a size 12, basically the average size of an American woman.

Robyn also believes the industry is changing to embrace all types of figures now, including that of the regular Jane, as represented by herself.

“I hope so. There are so many plus-sized models in New York doing so well at the moment, and it’s only going to get better. I think there will be more understanding and less discrimination within,” she says.

Check out the video.