Models often face discrimination in the world of fashion, especially when it comes to their body sizes.
Last year, British model, 25 year old Charli Howard was fired because she was “too big..” She called out her modeling agency on Facebook with the message, “Here’s a big F*** YOU to my (now ex) model agency, for saying that at 5’8″ tall and a UK size 6-8 (naturally), I’m ‘too big’ and ‘out of shape’ to work in the fashion industry.”
When Howard joined a new agency, Muse Management, she met Clémentine Desseaux, a French plus-size model and body-positive blogger and they shared their experiences. Soon after meeting, they decided to do something about the lack of diversity and body shaming in modeling.
In September, Howard and Desseaux launched the All Woman Project. The mission: “The All Woman Project illuminates the idea that all women are more similar than we’re made out to think,” states their website. “We all have physical flaws and imperfections, and that does not make us more or less beautiful. Rather than retouching or shying away from them, we should embrace them.”
The campaign featured 8 models of all shapes, sizes, and ethnicities posing together with the #IAmAllWoman hashtag across each photo. The most important part? None of the photos are retouched.
“We hope it teaches models that you don’t need to succumb to industry or agency pressures; that you can model at your nature size, and look great doing so,” she added.
The campaign is ongoing and calls upon strong women to participate by sharing their version of being all woman. They can do this on social media by using the hashtag #iamallwoman and tagging @allwomanproject.
“We want to keep doing this until we feel all women and girls see a version of themselves within the media,” Howard explained.
Similarly, in May, well known celebrity, Khloe Kardashian used social media to ask millions of followers to help cast the campaign for her upcoming denim brand she called “The GA Project.”
The brand originated from a conversation between Kardashian and Emma Grede, the CEO for ITB, an entertainment marketing, talent and partnerships agency about what it means to be a woman today.
“We believe everybody deserves to be shown off. Fashion should be made to fit women, not the other way around. Body ideals really have shifted in the last few years,”Grede stated on the website.
The brand launched on October 18th and celebrates a diverse group of women in all shapes and sizes.
The campaign stars a mix of artists, bloggers, and non-models including Jordyn Woods, Gabi Gregg, Nadia Aboulhosn, Minahil Ayazm, and Malika and Khadijah Haqq
The body revolution is here,” the website promises. “A new definition of sexy.”
Let’s hope that the body revolution is here to stay.
