Lessons in Self-Confidence From Plus-Size Models

Fatphobia is everywhere in the media, but we're not down with that. Having curves doesn’t mean you’re unhealthy and loving your body doesn’t mean you’re encouraging others to take up bad habits. These models are here to set the record straight on body confidence at any size.

Despite all the amazing advancements in our society (the iPhone, Google glasses, stem cell research), our perception of beauty has, annoyingly not evolved with the times! In fact, it’s dwindled down to one ideal - skinny.

The widening gap between the female body seen on the street and the one seen in magazines is alarming. According to the UK's Office of National Statistics, the average UK woman weighs 11 stone. However, the average weight of today’s fashion models is between 7 and 9 stone.

So there we have it - the proof is in the numbers. Curvy women ARE the norm and deserve to have positive representations in the media! Luckily, as plus-size models achieve more notoriety in fashion, they’ve showcased the many gorgeous shapes and sizes women come in (and psst - they're healthy women too! Crazy, riiiiight?).

In an industry that privileges a specific idea of what a woman should look like, these ladies have to remain confident. Here are a few life lessons we could all learn from these models. You listening, Joan?

Lesson #1: Your character is what people fall in love with, not your hip size.

Kate Dillon is a veteran of the modeling game and has been stomping runways for two decades now. However, behind the glamor of her early career as a 17-year-old model was an eating disorder that got so bad she had to take a break from the overly critical industry. During her hiatus, she learned to accept her healthy body, which was forty pounds heavier than her 120-pound days, and entered a new era of her modeling career.

Lesson #2: You have to be your biggest cheerleader

Tiffany Bank turned heads and stereotypes when she posed with Atlanta Falcons player, Ray Edwards, in a stunning editorial for Plus Model Magazine in October 2013, but she's got a lot more up her sleeve! Bank's models, acts, writes, and gives lectures on positive body image. She's absurdly gorgeous proof that women - no matter what their size - can accomplish their dreams.

Lesson #3: Healthy doesn't exclusively mean skinny

Toccara Jones didn't win her cycle of America's Next Top Model, but in the ten years since the third season ended, Toccara has been steadily working as an in-demand model. She received a FOURTEEN page spread in Vogue Italia in 2008, showed off her acting chops in 2011's Think Like a Man, and was the face for the "I Will Not Lose" plus-size line campaign under Rocawear.

Lesson #4: Don't surrender to disordered eating just to say you're a size 2

Barbara Brickner radiates elegance and confidence - qualities that won her the admiration of numerous plus-size designers and a lengthy career in fashion. She's modeled for Eddie Bauer, Nordstrom, and Mode magazine. In 2001, the Italian clothing company, Elena Mirò, chose Brickner to model solo for that year's calendar because the execs considered her a true representation of "twenty-first century womanhood."

Lesson #5: All women deserve recognition and praise

The upstate New York native, Marquita Pring, has been modeling with Ford Models since her early teens. She's shot several Levi campaigns, walked the runway for Jean-Paul Gaultier, and was featured in Italian Vogue.

Lesson #6: There is beauty in our differences

Whitney Thompson is a blonde bombshell and the first and only plus-sized winner of America's Next Top Model. She earned the coveted title back in 2008 at 20-years-old and hit the ground running. Thompson has donned the cover of Plus Model Magazine, was the most recognizable face for Forever 21's plus-size line, Faith 21, and shot a CoverGirl commercial with superstar Rihanna.