Years later, in July 2008, I remember picking up the now-iconic Black issue of Vogue Italia at my local newsstand. She made me feel like my soft body and big boobs didn't need to be hidden in the tragic oversize peasant top I was likely wearing to obscure my curves.
#CURVY INSTAGRAM MODELS TV#
What I saw on my 16-inch box TV was a confident model with a capital M. When I think back to that day, I'm reminded that I had not seen anyone call themself a model that looked like her - or me - before that. It was a moment at the time because she was the first so-called "plus-size" contestant since the show's inception. Then season three introduced me and the rest of the world to Toccara Jones. I had enough self-awareness to know that (a) if I had to do any of the stuff that the girls on America's Next Top Model had to do for a gig, I absolutely would not last one day, and (b) I was never going to be skinny or tall enough to be a model, even if I desperately wanted to be. I naturally became obsessed with the show because I felt like I was getting fashion, excitement, and a little slice of what it really took to be a model all at once. When America's Next Top Model premiered, my family had just moved to the suburbs of Connecticut. I would regularly fantasize about going to the famous tents and sitting in the front row at a show.
Growing up, I relished researching Fashion Week shows to both see the incredible looks and learn anything and everything about the models that walked in them. We must all collectively move away from qualifying these newer faces as "plus size" and simply refer to them as models. It is almost as if by qualifying the term model with "plus," we are implying that the word itself means thin. The first step to truly having a more inclusive landscape in beauty and fashion is by not having to make this qualification. In order to keep pushing the needle forward, we must all collectively move away from qualifying these newer faces as "plus size" and simply refer to them as models. However, it's reason enough for us to celebrate what we are seeing: more diversity and inclusion in the modeling industry than ever before. There is, of course, infinite amounts of more work to be done. We're living in a time when people are (finally) holding brands and publications accountable and challenging what have long been considered the "classic" American standards of beauty, and I for one absolutely love to see it. And if you don't know who that is by now, well, you should fix that as soon as humanly possible.
The fact that Ashley Graham is now universally recognized as a household name speaks to such progress. The cultural definition of beauty has slowly started to evolve, and better late than never.
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