It’s fair to say that the fashion world’s views on ‘plus-size’ models are pretty shocking.
Here in the real world ‘plus-size’ models are actually just, well, average-sized, and in an age where we are bombarded with touched up, photoshopped images of celebrities (which make us feel pretty shitty about our own appearances) it’s nice to see someone cut through the bullshit.
Someone like Iskra Lawrence for example. You might remember her from a couple of months back, when she was on a mission to promote positive body image.
Well, she’s now part of a new campaign with Aerie, which is totally unretouched, and the 25-year-old gets pretty emotional as she talks about how she is finally being seen as beautiful, just the way she is.
As she breaks into tears during the video, Iskra says: I wanted to be part of this campaign so much because I was told that I wasn’t good enough and I could never make it. And then Aerie told me that I was beautiful because I was me.
Iskra appears in a video and photos as part of the brand’s #AerieREAL campaign, which sees models and stars posing without any retouching. That means there’s nowhere to hide, but that’s how Iskra likes it.
She continues:
You don’t need to be retouched, ’cause the real you is beautiful. And I’m so happy to be part of AerieREAL and take this to another level this year. We’re gonna challenge everything, we’re gonna challenge the thoughts that you aren’t good enough, because you really are.
It seems Aerie feel the same way, and announced two years ago that they are done with retouching and airbrushing, deciding to focus on real, natural beauty.
Iskra adds:
I’ve been really privileged to work with Aerie. They’re doing something to empower women, to inspire women, to make us feel better about ourselves, rather than play on our insecurities to try to sell a certain lifestyle or product. You have so [many] more good things to give to the world than just your appearance.
This isn’t the first time she’s done this either. The model has posted unaltered pictures to her 1.1 million followers on Instagram and also runs a website called RunwayRiot, which features unretouched photos to help fellow women feel empowered by their own bodies.
It seems the mainstream are starting to finally take note of this serious issue. For example, with the release of Playboy’s new-look magazine they have promised they’re done with Photoshop alterations with all its models.
However, there’s still a lot of work to be done to fight this in the fashion industry and we are sure Iskra will play a big part in that.
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