14 DAY TRIAL // Tess Holliday was turned down by so many modeling agencies where she’d applied to be signed as a plus-size girl that, by January, when she finally landed a contract, she’d pretty much given up hope. However, she was set on making it on her own, launching the #effyourbeautystandards on social media and modeling there.
It was not as much work as she would have gotten through an agency, but it was work nonetheless. And the response she was getting was amazing. Then, in January, she became the heaviest plus-size girl to be signed by an agency.
Tess Holliday is a US size 22 and she just landed the much-coveted cover of People magazine. She represents a new type of “supermodel.”
Body-positive activist gets international platform
Attached to this article is the photo of Tess on the cover of the celebrity publication, which announces her as the newest editor to join the team, but also as the hottest face in fashion right now. Tess, you see, is hailed as a role model not just because she’s a size 22 and modeling, but because she’s making it her mission to bring down all preconceived notions of beauty.
Beauty, she says in her first op-ed for the mag, isn’t about only one size or only one body type. Beauty exists in every woman and it is directly dependent on her confidence in just being herself.
In other words, Tess wants women of the world to know that they’re beautiful whether they’re stick-thin or as heavy as she is, as long as they’re healthy and happy with themselves. And as the saying goes, if you’ve got it, flaunt it, girl!
“There is no one way to be a woman, or to be beautiful. We all deserve a place,” she writes. “While modeling is my career and my family is vitally important to me, I have this passion inside of me to help other women feel confident and comfortable in their bodies, regardless of their size or what society tells them is beautiful. It’s like a calling.”
She’s happy she landed the modeling gig because it brought her attention she wouldn’t even dream of getting otherwise, attention she plans to use to send this empowering message across.
A controversial message
Tess is making a very powerful stance against standardized notions of beauty, which usually equate skinny and tall. What she’s doing takes courage, because, being unlike most models working in the industry, she’s exposing herself to criticism, she’s putting herself out there for people to tear her to shreds on the Internet.
She’s also a gorgeous woman, so her message that beauty isn’t dependent on size is valid.
At the same time, at a US 22 dress size, she is severely overweight. Tess insists that she’s healthy and that she actually keeps pretty active, while also being mindful of what she eats.
This, however, doesn’t change the fact that she’s overweight, and it looks as if the message she’s sending is that women who are in a similar situation should just “accept” and “embrace their curves” and not even try to lose the extra weight.
In other words, as many supporters as she has online, she has just as many critics, all of whom are saying she’s glorifying obesity. Very thin models are not ok, but neither are grossly overweight ones.
What do you think? Sound off in the comments.
