For decades, slender white women have dominated the modelling industry, their bodies sold as the “default” for female beauty.
Women Fitness brings you on how 5 plus-size model featured on Women Fitness set out to change the way females think about their body.
Mahalia Handley:
Named as one of AAFW’s Change Makers, Mahalia Handley was featured on Vogue Italia and Selfridges. In her interview with Women Fitness she begins by saying “I was told that I would never really succeed in modelling and would be lucky if I were to book a job or two in my lifetime because of my look.” Talking about her motivation and inspiration behind being body confident, she puts in “My motivation came from a very personal experience. When I was growing up there was never anyone who looked like me in commercial or high fashion. No curvy girls and no girls with diversity. It used to make me really sad and I had a lot of negative feelings towards body positivity and to my own self worth of view of beauty. Each year with every growing birthday the more passionate I became about showing representation of this exact matter. I’ve always been a fighter, so it made sense to me that if I couldn’t see the diversity being represented then I had to become it, not just for myself but for other girls growing up and not seeing diversification or self
Her message to one & all “Body Positivity comes from within first and foremost. I am here to help you find that as are all others who are body positive ambassadors. We are here to show you how great you are and we want you to find that light and love inside yourself, embrace it, nurture it and then share it with others who may be battling. Take care of your body, eat well, exercise and work every damn day on your mental stability- tell yourself how great you are and live it!” As indicated by fashionjournal.com.au, Mahalia Handley fell into modelling in a different way. She is the first plus-size, BIPOC, first-generation Australian to talk on a panel at fashion week. It was always her dream to be a model, but unlike other young girls, this was a dream born out of anger.
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