14 DAY TRIAL // Regular catwalk models are usually a (US) size 0 through 4, while anything up to a size 16 falls into the plus-size category. Tess Holliday, a model and blogger, became the largest plus-size model to be signed to an agency in January, which makes her a “rarity” in the fashion industry. She is a size 22.
Even before she signed with MiLk, Tess was very famous online, both for her modeling work to date and her campaigns to raise awareness on the need for the fashion industry to be more representative of real women, and thus more diverse.
She aims to continue working on that now that she’s just shot her first spread as a bona fide model, she tells the Daily Mail. Step one: challenge preconceived notions of female beauty.
There is “no one way to be a woman or beautiful”
You can see one of the shots from Tess’ first campaign with MiLk attached to this article, with the rest available at the link above. Though she’s famous for her colorful, retro-inspired style, in this spread, the focus is on Tess’ natural beauty, mostly through black and white shots that are toned down so as to allow the eye to take her in as she is.
That’s the whole idea of the spread, she says. She wants the world to know that even a woman of her size can be beautiful, and more importantly, that she has every right to be in the pages of a magazine as a stick-thin model.
Being a size 22 doesn’t make her less of a woman, just like it doesn’t make her less beautiful or confident.
“I want to challenge society’s perception of ‘beauty’ and what’s acceptable in our industry and the world,” Tess says. “There is no one way to be a woman, or to be beautiful. We all deserve a place.”
MiLk agrees with her: they are more than thrilled by the amount of attention they’ve been getting since they hired her and they believe she is poised for great things as a model because she’s a gorgeous woman who does an amazing job as a model.
Glorifying obesity
It goes without saying that Tess is a beautiful woman, as it’s plain from the new set of photos, as retouched as they might be. And they are.
Still, that doesn’t change the fact that, at a US size 22, she is way above the average size and well into the category of obese. Tess insists that she’s healthy and happy with her body, and whether she’s obese or not is no one’s business but her own. She also claims to stay pretty active, thus trying to disprove the idea that obese people can’t be healthy.
She may be all these things, but that doesn’t change the fact that proposing her as a new ideal of beauty is tantamount to saying obesity can be beautiful and glamourous, thus sending the message to all other obese women that losing weight isn’t a priority.
All they need to do is “embrace their curves” and be happy with their lot, and maybe they can even achieve success through it, like Tess. The worst part is that they will be doing so to the detriment of their health.