This February, London Fashion Week saw a march led by plus-size activists and models who protested the lack of representation on runways. Plus-size icons like Megan Crabbe, Sonny Turner, Callie Thorpe and Coco Brown took to the streets in lingerie and swimsuits, carrying signs with statements like, “Curves shouldn’t mean compromise.”
In the middle of the runway representation debate, putting curvy, plus-size women in shows seems like the best way to prove you are an ally to the body-positive movement. But high fashion has yet to look at women of sizes 12 and up as having equal footing on the runway. While plus-size model representation was at an all-time high this past season—54 plus-size women walked the runways—that number still only represents .73 percent of all castings.
Despite all this, the plus-size narrative is quickly changing. And what happens on the runways isn’t the start of this revolution — the body-positive movement started on the other side of magazines and screens, with real women. Here, three of those real women show us how the narrative on body size is moving in the right direction via their Instagram accounts.
[ Next: Finally! 34 Plus-Size Fashion Sites That Don’t Suck]
3 Instagram accounts that show how the plus-size narrative is changing
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Nadia Aboulhosn
The American fashion blogger, designer and body positive advocate is taking the world of fast fashion by storm. Her capsule collection for women sizes 12 to 24 was featured at New York Fashion Week back in 2015. Her Instagram page features her own fashion line, By Nadia Aboulhosn, and her daily looks and travels.
Image: @nadiaaboulhosn
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Nadia Aboulhosn: Cellulite Is Normal
"Refuse to edit my cellulite. It’s totally normal. Don’t be ashamed to get in a swimsuit this summer because of it," she wrote alongside one of her pictures.
Image: @nadiaaboulhosn
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Iskra Lawrence
Iskra Lawrence is not just one of the most stunning British models, she's also a plus-size icon. She has a following of 4.2 million on Instagram, where she gets very real and unfiltered with her fans. Last year, she appeared in the documentary "Straight/Curve: Redefining Body Image" by Jenny McQuaile and also made the Maxim Hot 100 list.
Image: @iskra
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Iskra Lawrence Runs Her Own Instagram
Iskra Lawrence also has impeccable style and is regularly featured in street style roundups. She revealed recently that she runs her own social media as she wants her fans to connect with her real self. "It’s OK [to] not be OK, or to not know how to love yourself or feel confident. Especially online where you’ll see models like me running around looking 100 percent happy and confident when it’s not always real, or it’s our job or maybe you don’t know the full story of how many years it took to find that confidence," she wrote on Instagram recently.
Image: @iskra
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Megan Crabbe
Activist and author Megan Crabbe took to the streets of London with her friends to protest the lack of plus-size representation at London Fashion Week. But her Instagram page is not just about her activism; it's also provides a strong dose of self-love. From diet takedowns to memes, the page is a funny, real-take on body positivity.
Image: @bodyposipanda
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Megan Crabbe on Self-Love
"We do not need anymore weight-loss fairy tales where the sad fat girl transforms into an entirely new person and lives her wildest fantasies. We do not need to give girls anymore of an idea that their summers should be spent shrinking themselves for the big reveal when they go back to school," she wrote in one of her posts.
Image: @bodyposipanda
