THIS WEEKS FEATURED BEAUTY: ASHLEY GRAHAM

Photo from Lane Bryant

Ashely Graham: model, designer, and body activist. Ashley has to be the most popular plus size model of all time. Why? She broke the internet and the fashion world in early 2016 when she became the first plus size model to be featured on the cover and in a spread of Sports Illustrated magazine. We all know the magazine right? The front cover of this infamous magazine has always featured slim models with curves in only “the right places”. Or as I like to call it “society’s (white males) female body standard”. However, finally the cover belonged to gorgeous and curvaceous Ashley Graham who has curves in every place. Not just in the places the worlds says women has to have them. However, most importantly her cover was representing the unrepresented and body shamed in the modeling industry.

Ashley’s year got even bigger when her TED talk, about loving your body, went viral. Recently she even debuted her lingerie line at New York Fashion Week. The Huffington Post of the UK interviewed Ashley about her exciting year and she stated, “I think that I’ve been brainwashed for the last 15 years into calling myself plus size. You’ll still hear me say it, especially when referring to things in the fashion industry. I understand where it’s needed and not needed, but I still stand firm on believing that labels don’t need to be involved with anything. Especially when you’re describing a woman”.