PSA: Beauty standards are out and diversity is in! Tess Holliday coined it best with her “Eff Your Beauty Standards” movement. The body activist has made it her mission to shine a spotlight on the need to accept curvy and diverse body types, as well as giving us some serious body confidence envy! It’s unbelievable that it’s taken this long for the fashion world to accept all body types and to think that this is a thing that had to be accepted. As humans, we’re inherently all different. We come in different shapes and sizes, so how is it that only one of those sizes manages to repeatedly get represented? Well, no more. Diversity is here to stay. The time is finally here. The time where every body type is being recognized, represented, and revered.
Why Now?
That’s the million dollar question for the billion dollar industry. Why has it taken this long for curvy body shapes to be represented HOW is it possible that such a huge demographic has been left on the backburner? While it’s hard to answer for the past or excuse the exclusion, we can at least understand and appreciate that it’s here now. The truth is, that it was all in our hands all along.
Brands failed to feel the need to represent curvy body types because curvy body types didn’t demand recognition. Well, brands will respond to what’s asked of them. The sad truth is that for years curvy women just sat back and watched trendy skinny models. They’ve thought to themselves that they need to work hard to achieve that body type. Well, finally women decided to say NO!
The Plus Size Crusade
We’ve decided to take control of our bodies and of the industry and demand acceptance. Every body type is beautiful and who are fashion brands to tell us otherwise? Brands such as Target and Forever 21 were at the forefront by releasing their own plus size ranges dating back to 2009. Looking around the world of online shopping today, it’s extremely rare to come across a website without a plus size clothing section. The call was made and curvy models are here to answer.
The curvy models business has been booming over the past few years. Models that were lucky to book one gig a year now have countless gigs a week. The demand for plus size clothing has put a demand on curvy women to be represented by these models. Women want to see diversity in action, they want to see stretch marks and cellulites featured to know what the dress would look like with their stretch marks and cellulite.
Curvy models offer that dream. They come in varying shapes and sizes that are likely to be similar to many average women. This allows them to shoot the clothing on their bodies and allow us to see one piece of clothing on different body types. How can we be expected to make a purchase when only seeing it on a model whose body we WISH we had? It’s time for us to be allowed to love our own bodies and see what clothes would look like on them!
The Time is Now
That’s really all it comes down to. We deserve to see ourselves reflected in the clothes we’re looking to buy. What good is it to see a piece of garment draping over a million identical flawless bodies? We WANT flaws. We want to see imperfections being embraced and being owned, so we can own ours. What a time to be alive? A time where we can flip the pages of a magazine and see countless different bodies, every one more beautiful than the last. Diversity is here, and it’s here to stay.
