Tess Holliday pulls the wire from her strapless bra and passes it
across the bread basket to her husband. "It's bigger than my head," the
latter says as he holds it to his face and peers through, comparing the
size of Holliday's left breast to that of his own head after the three
of us order lunch in a downtown New York restaurant. International
plus-size model Holliday is famous her enviable assets, but as I cradle
the abandoned crescent her relief serves as a reminder that beauty — and
perky tits — is pain.
Strapless bras are not Holliday's only
adversary. As a size 22, the star has battled for her place in the
fashion industry from the outset. Ironically there are likely more women
that identify with Holliday than the likes of Bella Hadid, with an estimated
70 percent of women in the United States wearing plus-size garments
(size 14 and up). Tess Holliday has subsequently become the voice of
these women‚ her unrelenting campaign for inclusion and body positivity
losing her a few lucrative jobs. Holliday herself is filter-less —
she'll often make a hard-and-fast statement about fashion that Nick will
then diplomatically translate, delicately smoothing her words. But
Holliday embraces her rough-edges wholeheartedly, more often than not
assuming a Diet Prada-esque
role in the industry, primarily by calling out brands and models who
profit from her community while refusing to embrace it. Many are
politely shocked when they hear the title of her new autobiography, The Not So Subtle Art of Being a Fat Girl, Holliday reveals as she reaches for the basket of mini baguettes ("I'm going to be that
person who grabs the bread first"). But she's long-since become
accustomed to labels the "fat" and "plus-size," and hopes to remove the
venom from these descriptors.
"If someone googles 'model'
they're going to see Bella Hadid, or Gigi. If they google 'plus-size
model' they're going to see me." Holliday explains. "I think it's
incredibly frustrating that all these women capitalize off a
marginalized group and when they become famous they are too good for
it."
"One of them was just in a Lane Bryant campaign," she continues, perhaps referencing supermodel Lane Bryant's primary face, Ashley Graham, who famously denounced
the term 'plus-size.' "How can you build your career from taking money
from plus-size women and then turn around and say the term's not good
enough for you? I don't want to be called 'curvy sexy-licious,' that's
ridiculous. It's insulting! We can't even be who we are. I get the whole
'not being into labels,' but it's for a plus-size woman being like "I'm
plus-size, she's plus-size, I'm fat, she's fat." It's not a hate-term,
it's how I describe my body."
Her commitment to empowering women
led her husband, the Australian photographer Nick Holliday, now sitting
between us at the table, to reach out to her on Tumblr to compliment her
work. The photographer flew out 10 months later to finally meet Tess
Munster IRL. If you recognize the name "Munster," you likely remember,
or in Tess's case revere, the hit 1960s sitcom The Munsters.
Born Ryann Hoven, Holliday was inspired to change her surname to that of
the fictional family after her tumultuous upbringing in Mississippi.
Considering her early life genuinely resembles fiction — Holliday's
mother was left disabled after being shot in the head by her fiancé,
after which time the two lived with Holliday's grandparents — it makes
sense that the model might have wished to escape reality.
"It's frustrating, but maybe it's just saving me money so that I can retire." Holliday says. "If Gucci made my size, we would be living in a shack down by the river for the rest of our lives."
"But dressed wonderfully," Nick chimes in.
"But dressed wonderfully," she agrees.
Order Tess Holliday's book The Not So Subtle Art of Being a Fat Girl here.
All images courtesy of Tess Holliday
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