Ashley Graham

Ashley Graham has been a model for sixteen years and has struggled with how the fashion industry deals with the size difference of models. In 2003 she was signed on to Ford Models, and last year in 2016 she became the first plus size model to be on the cover of a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue. In 2010 Lane Bryant came out with an ad titled, Not what Mom Would Wear, which was rather controversial; it consisted of shots of Ashley in different lingerie, preparing for a date. Television stations such as NBC, CBS and ABC, banned this commercial from the air due to its inappropriate themes. But they continued to air Victoria’s Secret ads. Lane Bryant and Ashley Graham had to deal the publicity, both bad and good, that this ad brought them and
have continue to do so because of the hypocrisy of the media. In May 2015 Graham gave a TEDx talk titled, Plus-size?
More Like My Size. In it, she discusses the problems she faced in her early years of modeling and the problems she still faces today. She strives to convince women to look in the mirror and tell themselves they are beautiful and to, “work together to redefine the global vision of beauty, and it starts with becoming your own role model.” In addition to the TEDx Talk, Ashley Graham started a hash tag, ‘Beauty Beyond Size’ to celebrate body image and diversity. Women on Instagram adopted the hashtag, instilling this idea of confidence in many women. With over 100,000 posts, this hashtag shows the idea that Ashley Graham has been promoting makes women view their bodies and themselves in a more positive light. In the January issue of British Vogue, Ashley discussed how, “…being myself – with all of my curves and imperfections – is seen as ground-breaking. In a word fueled by filters and the pursuit of perfection, it seems like keeping it real has become avant-garde.” She relayed how surprised she was at finding that the world wasn’t ready for ‘real women’ to be portraying fashion and becoming role models for younger women and girls. She says in her article from
LennyLetter.com,
“Body shaming isn’t just telling the big girl to cover up. It’s trying to shame me for working out. It’s giving “skinny” a negative connotation. It’s wanting me to be plus size or assuming I’m pregnant because of some belly bulge. What type of example are we setting for young girls and their self-esteem if grown adults are on Instagram calling other women “cowards” for losing weight, or “ugly” for being overweight.” Ashley Graham is committed to inspiring women to embrace their bodies and what makes them beautiful on the inside. Because of the industry she is in she is very familiar with the different levels of hate and backlash that comes with her job. Very active on social media, she has had to deal with comments on her weight, not being thin enough or portraying an unhealthy image for young women. Many people think that she is promoting obesity when in reality she is simply trying to diversify the media and showing the world that you can be a size 18, healthy and happy. Ashley Graham is one of many inspiring women who are trying to start a body and beauty revolution in our world today. She has come far in the past five years and has drastically changed the face of body image on the runway and in magazines. Through her lingerie and swimsuit line and in all of the different photo shoots she has done, including ones with Calvin Klein, Levi Jeans, Vogue, and so many other brands and fashion icons, she is revolutionizing the way the world and media looks at the larger sized woman.