expand it to all areas of women’s lives?”is how she puts it.
Signing with Revlon is just one example. In 2018, Graham
signed on as an ambassador for the beauty juggernaut,
joining the ranks of Emma Stone, Olivia Wilde and Halle
Berry. “For Revlon to be the first cosmetics brand of our
generation to sign a curvy model and say, ‘Lipstick doesn’t
have a size’ — that has impact,” Graham says.
We do seem to be in a watershed moment for size diversity,
with a slow yet palpable change evident on the runway each
season. 11 Honoré, the world’s first luxury e-tailer to cater
specifically for size 10 and up, launched in 2017, while the
runways at New York fashion week have seen a slew of varied
body types in the past few seasons. But Graham is quick to
assert that fashion still has a long way to go. “My stylist,
Jordan Foster, and I will usually reach out to designers to ask
if they want to dress me and I have been told, ‘No,’ or, ‘We
don’t have time,’ or, ‘We don’t have the money,’” she laments.
“There is still a huge lack of designers who are willing to learn
how to dress a curvy body or who are creating clothes curvy
women have access to. For example, today I’m wearing a
turtleneck Wolford bodysuit, high-waisted Nike track pants
and Fear of God sneakers. This kind of look is available for
girls who are my size, max. You go up one or two sizes and
the options just aren’t there. There’s a huge lack in the quality,
high-end feel of clothing for curvy girls.” As for the brands
she does love for red carpet moments, Christian Siriano is a
favourite, as are a few Australian brands. She wore Maticevski
to the Daily Front Row Fashion Media Awards in September,
and Alex Perry to a Revlon launch in December.
Does it ever get exhausting, continually butting heads with
fashion’s size problem? As with everything, Graham takes it in
her stride. “When you’re the first of your kind to break a
barrier or shatter a glass ceiling, you just have to keep working
hard because the blood, sweat and tears that go into everything
are worth it,” she says. “I didn’t have a whole lot of role models
who looked like me when I was growing up. If there is now
a whole generation of girls who feel like,Oh my god, I have
cellulite,or,Oh my god, I have back fat,or,Nobody is going to
like me because I’m not having sex with them— they’ll know
they’re not alone.” And with that, Ashley Graham proves she’s
a new kind of supermodel: one for the everywoman.104 HARPERSBAZAAR.COM.AU April 2019