This year has led to a massive growth in the body positivity movement. Every week, there seems to be new additions to the movement, encouraging people to stop the cycle of body shaming. The most recent campaign is called the All Woman Project, which was created by British model Charli Howard and body positive model and blogger Clémentine Desseaux who were tired of the laack of diversity in models featured in advertisements, magazines, and fashion shows.
For Howard, it started when she was told that, as a size 6 model, she was “too big” to find modeling work. Like so many other women, she and Desseaux have called advertisers and magazines for their lack of proper body representation, yet nothing ever seemed to come of it. Because of that, the two women teamed up to do something about it themselves—creating the All Woman Project, a campaign meant to promote body positive thinking and representation.
The All Woman Project is a photo series that features a group of beautiful and diverse models. Notable participants in the photo series include plus-size models Iskra Lawrence, Denise Bidot and Barbie Ferreira as well as Elliot Sailors, a popular androgynous model. Other famous faces are model and activist Shivani Persad and Victoria Brito.
Howard and Desseaux are using the All Woman Project to send a powerful message of empowerment; they want all young girls and women to feel good about themselves and to feel represented in the media, regardless of their size, shape, age, or race. In an interview about the campaign, Desseaux explained that they wanted to give young girls a body positive representation, something she and many women did not have when they were younger. She, Howard, and all the campaign’s participants want women everywhere to know that their imperfections are nothing to be ashamed of—that they should be loved and accepted, just like any part of your body.
The body positive message that Howard and Desseaux are spreading is one that needs to be heard. There needs to be more diversity in the world of fashion, whether it is what we see in fashion magazines or on the runway, there needs to be a better representation of all body types. No girl, no women should be made to be ashamed of their body. They should not be told by anyone that they need to conform to society’s ridiculous beauty standards. Just like the entire campaign stresses, it needs to be said that every woman is beautiful and unique and should be proud of the bodies that they have.
Times are changing, and it is time that the fashion world begins to recognize it and give all women the representation they deserve. Let your voice be heard by joining the movement; tell the world #iamallwoman and that things need to change. Tell the fashion world, and society, that they need to accept you and all women as you are—with no unrealistic expectations, no photoshop, none of that. Just beautiful, unique, unedited you.
See also:
The Body Positivity Movements: Mermaid Thighs & #ThighsForJeaux
