I want to offer plus-size women the opportunity to wear fun colors and to avoid the pitfalls of only wearing black because many curvy girls think it is the only color that is slimming.
Most of the brands that have used me don't say I'm "plus-size" - and there are other plus-size girls doing really well. But there is still a gap in "normal size" girls being represented. There are so many size 8 girls in shape; they look hot, but there is a lack of diversity for them. At the moment there's an extreme on both size sides. But it's changing, and that can only be seen as positive.
I love women - all types, all colors, petite, plus size. But in particular, I was raised by black women, and I feel like there is just something beautiful about black women.
I try to avoid wearing black because sometimes it's the easy option. But I'm young, so it's nice to be able to play with color and not just wear black all the time. I can save that for when I'm older.
I'm so grateful that I model at a time where 'plus-size' models are being championed, but they're still called 'plus-size' which is actually quite a stigma in itself. It's just healthy, curvy women.
Black is the most slimming of all Colors. It is the most flattering. You can wear black at any Time. You can wear it at any age. You can wear it for almost any occasion. I could write a book about black.
I don't understand why it's not okay to be plus-size. I don't know why people hate that phrase. Many models have built their careers as plus-size women and then suddenly don't want to be called that anymore. But you're still cashing checks from plus-size designers.
Red, electric blue - the only color I don't wear is green, which I still don't wear. I wear certain color greens, but I have such yellow skin so I always like to wear bold colors.
At the end of the day, it just means 'curvy.' That's why I think the word 'plus-size' in the industry is very different from people's mind view of what 'plus-size' really should mean.
I think the hardest thing is to design for plus-size women. I enjoyed designing for straight-size because there's no limits. They can basically wear anything, and that's where I was able to have creative freedom with it.
Straight sized boards are models size 0-6. Plus size boards are models starting at a 10. If a size 8 girl was 5' 11 and curvy, she'd be on the plus sized board, because there's nothing in between.
I don't think there's anything wrong with the word 'curvy' or 'plus-size' because there are women who identify as that, and I'm not offended by it whatsoever because I don't feel like being bigger is anything wrong.
I think the labels 'Plus Size' and 'Curvy' should be banned. You don't say 'White model' or Skinny model.' Why should 'Plus Size' models have a label.
I felt the term 'plus size' was inaccurate and kept all these beautiful, stunning women with the widest spectrum of body types I've ever seen - mind you, curvy agencies start at a size 6 and go up to a size 18 - from being seen and resonated with.
But when I fell in love with black, it contained all color. It wasn’t a negation of color. It was an acceptance. Because black encompasses all colors. Black is the most aristocratic color of all.... You can be quiet and it contains the whole thing.
When I started, there was only one other girl that I could name that was even close to my shade. I didn't understand why there weren't more black plus-size models with darker skin tones. It feels like the final frontier of beauty is to be black, to be plus, to have natural hair.
Curvy models are becoming more and more vocal about the isolating nature of the term 'plus-size.' We are calling ourselves what we want to be called - women, with shapes that are our own.