Want a bikini body?
"Put a bikini on your body."
It's that simple, according to this video from Tess Holliday, who in January became the first size-22 model to sign with a major modeling agency.
Holliday is partnering with Simply Be, a UK clothing brand that sells extended sizes, to promote the #SimplyBekini movement, which as Tess puts it, encourages women "to love themselves and their wobbly bits." She says:
“There is no such thing as a perfect body and the hardest barrier for women to overcome is themselves. And no wonder, considering the skinny body ideals that are portrayed widely across the media today.”
Holliday—who told The Guardian she doesn't mind being called "fat" ("I am fat, so it's kind of silly to get mad about it")—recognizes the inherent irony in being an advocate for women loving their bodies while working in an industry that judges women by how they look. But the way she sees it, "isn't it better to have a voice within the industry that's speaking against all that stuff, instead of nobody doing anything at all?"
Maybe someday our standards of beauty will expand so much that we won't make the plus-size model we're all celebrating stand behind a sign while the camera cuts off most of her body. Until that day...