During New York Fashion Week 2015, a plus-sized model, fashion activist and fashion designer, Ashley Graham, unveiled her new lingerie line.
The key words here are “New York Fashion Week” and “plus-sized model”. I’m really not much of an expert on high fashion and couture, but I have attended a handful of Toronto Fashion Shows and I’ve never seen anything like this here. New York’s Fashion Shows are 10x grander than the ones here (I’ve been told), so the fact that a plus sized model modeled her own designs at New York Fashion Week leaves me with hope left in my heart for the world of high fashion, and the world of body positivity.
The body positivity movement has been sweeping social media over the past few years, featuring women and men alike saying encouraging statements about their own bodies, and about the bodies of others. This is the change our appearance-centered society needs.
Women of all shapes and sizes have been waiting for the day that body shaming will end, and although that day isn’t projected to be coming soon, it’s on its way-and women like Ashley Graham are the pioneers for the body positivity movement sweeping the nation.
She believes in the importance of saying kind words to yourself. Ashley Graham once said during an interview, “I think if you’re telling yourself you’re fat, if you’re telling yourself you’re ugly, if you’re telling yourself you don’t like what you see in the mirror, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.” Her own positive words should resonate with people everywhere. Speaking kindly to yourself ends in thoughts of self-love, instead of thoughts of self-hate that previous fashion society has indirectly and directly promoted.
The empowerment movement that Ashley Graham has pioneered with her lingerie line isn’t the beginning of any body positivity movement, but it’s certainly a high point in the push for a more humanistic fashion industry. Unfortunately, the battle can’t end quite yet. There will always be people that advocate for a narrower appeal to women, and there will always be people that won’t tolerate body diversity.
The key factor to remember is that Ashley Graham must have had thousands of people that doubted her dreams and her aspirations, but she didn’t allow these negative forces to stop her in promoting what she believes to be morally right. And this reminds us of an important concept we usually forget. We have so much power within ourselves to back up something we believe in. Support from others is important, and it’s assumed that Ashley Graham most likely had more supporters than people that didn’t agree with her goals, but in the end she’s the one that made it happen. She, a plus-sized woman, modeled her own lingerie line during New York Fashion Week.
This is just one amazing memory that I’m sure Ashley Graham will touch on in her memoir A New Model - What Confidence, Beauty, and Power Really Look Like. This collection of insightful, provocative essays illustrated with a dozen photos, Ashley shares her perspective on how ideas around body image are evolving—and how we still have work to do; the fun—and stress—of a career in the fashion world; her life before modeling; and her path to accepting her size without limiting her dreams—defying rigid industry standards and naysayers who told her it couldn’t be done. As she talks about her successes and setbacks, Ashley offers support for every woman coming to terms with who she is, bolster her self-confidence, and motivates her to be her strongest, healthiest, and most beautiful self.
A New Model - What Confidence, Beauty, and Power Really Look Like will be available May 2017 in book stores across Canada.
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