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Ashley Graham Launched a Size-Inclusive Wedding Dress Collection With Pronovias


Ashley Graham has been a constant champion for body inclusivity and diversity within the fashion industry, so it makes perfect sense that the supermodel has moved into designing clothes that reflect the many shapes and silhouettes she’s been advocating to see more of throughout her career. Last year she launched a bathing suit collection as part of an ongoing collaboration with Swimsuits for All, and this week she unveiled another impressive project: a line of wedding dresses to fit all sizes, in partnership with bridal line Pronovias.

The mission for Ashley Graham x Pronovias came from a personal place. In a press release, Graham explained how hard it was to find the right gown when she married her husband, Justin Ervin. “From shopping for the perfect wedding dress to the big reveal on your special day, women should feel confident and empowered throughout the entire process,” she said. “When I shopped for my wedding dress 10 years ago, I had difficulty finding a style in my size that fit well and made me feel special.”

The dresses range from size 0 to 34 and run from $1,000 to $3,500, and they’ll be available in early 2020 at both Pronovias boutiques and partners across the globe. The collection, which Graham called “classic, timeless, and fashionable” in an interview with The Knot, features modern, asymmetrical strapless cuts; elegant long-sleeve lace gowns; and even a white tuxedo suit. Check them out below.

Ashley Graham unveils 16 designs from her “Ashley Graham x Pronovias” collection of body-inclusive bridal gowns.

Ashley Graham x Pronovias

Ashley Graham unveils 16 designs from her Ashley Graham x Pronovias collection of bodyinclusive bridal gowns.

Ashley Graham unveils 16 designs from her “Ashley Graham x Pronovias” collection of body-inclusive bridal gowns.

Ashley Graham x Pronovias

Ashley Graham unveils 16 designs from her Ashley Graham x Pronovias collection of bodyinclusive bridal gowns.

Ashley Graham unveils 16 designs from her “Ashley Graham x Pronovias” collection of body-inclusive bridal gowns.

Ashley Graham x Pronovias

Ashley Graham unveils 16 designs from her Ashley Graham x Pronovias collection of bodyinclusive bridal gowns.

Ashley Graham unveils 16 designs from her “Ashley Graham x Pronovias” collection of body-inclusive bridal gowns.

Ashley Graham x Pronovias

Ashley Graham unveils 16 designs from her Ashley Graham x Pronovias collection of bodyinclusive bridal gowns.

Ashley Graham unveils 16 designs from her “Ashley Graham x Pronovias” collection of body-inclusive bridal gowns.

Ashley Graham x Pronovias

Ashley Graham unveils 16 designs from her Ashley Graham x Pronovias collection of bodyinclusive bridal gowns.

Ashley Graham unveils 16 designs from her “Ashley Graham x Pronovias” collection of body-inclusive bridal gowns.

Ashley Graham x Pronovias

Graham has had an eventful few months: In addition to partnering with Pronovias, she announced last summer she and Ervin are expecting their first child.



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Liberté Is the Size-Inclusive Lingerie Brand You've Been Waiting for


Amber Tolliver has modeled for lingerie brands for 17 years, working with companies like Jockey and Aerie on various underwear campaigns. (She appeared in the latter’s first-ever un-retouched #AerieReal ad back in 2014.) In the almost two decades she’s spent in the industry, she’s vacillated between being considered straight-size and curve. And that made a real difference, both as a consumer and as a model, in what lingerie she was able to wear.

“When I was a straight size model, I had tons of options in terms of lingerie brands that carried my size,” Tolliver says. “But as my body changed and my bust grew, the options grew to be almost nonexistent.”

She recalls one instance where she had booked a modeling gig with a store that carries multiple lingerie brands. She was curve at that time, and says she immediately noticed a difference between what she would be photographed in versus what the straight-sized models were going to wear. “I just remember walking up to one of the racks and [saying] wow, all of this lingerie is really beautiful—it’s colorful, it’s lacy, it’s feminine. And they said, ‘Yeah it really is, but that’s not your rack.'” Her rack, she tells Glamour, was pretty much exclusively “black, white, and nude panties and bras that came up to my clavicles. At that point, I was like, ‘This is it. I’m not going to be a bystander.'”

That experience drove her to launch her own intimates brand, where size doesn’t limit what product you have access to. And so, Liberté was born.

Courtesy of Brand

At Liberté, there aren’t any plain-old nude undies. Instead, the bras have playful mesh and lace accents, the undies have sophisticated panels, and all pieces come in several different colors. The collection feels mature, but not matronly; supportive, but not overly constructed. The price point is sweet, too, ranging from $45 to $130.

A woman models a black bra and panties from Libert's first collection
Courtesy of Brand

From launch, the direct-to-consumer brand has offered an expansive size range, with a special emphasis on products for larger busts. Bras start at 32C and go up to 38H, while panties are available in sizes small to 2X. Tolliver’s intention was this was to offer sizes that shoppers couldn’t typically find in stores: Too many brands, she says, promise to expand their sizing without following through, so “it was a part of the brand ethos to let women know that this is who we are out of the gate. You don’t have to wait; you can get your size.”

A woman models a white bra and panties from Liberte's first collection
Courtesy of Brand

“Aerie allowed me to recognize a very large opportunity in shifting the paradigm that exists within the lingerie market when they launched their Aerie Real campaign; that took off like wildfire,” she says. “Knowing that doing something different could also be successful […] opened the door for me to design and curate a collection that spoke more to myself versus a younger demographic.”

Two women model black lace bras and panties from Liberte's first collection
Courtesy of Brand

Liberté is French for “freedom,” and it’s a word that has special significance to the brand’s founder. “I go to Paris twice a year for this trade show, and I have an unbelievable love of the language, [as well as of] my Haitian roots,” Tolliver explains. “Just coming up with the French word, liberté, made sense to me,” she continues, given the brand’s goal to offer shoppers a specific type of personal freedom: “The freedom to love who you are as you are.”

Down the line, Liberté hopes to expand into other intimates-adjacent categories, like sleepwear and swim—all of which would be size-inclusive, like its core lingerie. That way, “if your body changes you don’t need to change your brand,” says Tolliver. That’s pretty freeing, too.





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Jeffrey Campbell and Curve Model La’shaunae Steward Are Releasing Size-Inclusive Shoes


Footwear brand Jeffrey Campbell is addressing a blind spot in its own inventory: shoes designed to fit all bodies.

On Tuesday, the brand announced it was teaming up with curve model La’shaunae Steward to launch a capsule collection of size-inclusive shoes. In an Instagram post about the collaboration, Jeffrey Campbell promised five styles “made to fit your every curve.”

“When we say our shoes are made for everybody we truly mean everyBODY,” the brand captioned an image of Steward from a Girlboss editorial, in which she’s wearing one of the shoes from the collaboration. “Stay tuned. ?”

In an interview with Refinery29, Steward explained that the seed was planted when she and her friend Sanam Sindh, Jeffrey Campbell’s creative director, were discussing the lack of boots on the market for plus-size customers. “I was telling her how a lot of the boots don’t fit thicker legs, and as my friend—who knows how the fashion world doesn’t celebrate fat brown women enough—she saw this as an opportunity for me, an underappreciated curve model,” she said.

The model pointed out that even when brands do attempt to be size-inclusive, they don’t make an effort to create fashionable or attractive products. “So many brands never care about their fat customers,” she told Refinery29. “Most plus-size stores have the ugliest clothes and wide-fitting shoes.”

This capsule marks a huge step forward for size-inclusive shopping, according to Steward—especially considering the reach of an affordable, trend-driven footwear brand such as Jeffrey Campbell. “I grew up never being able to afford the things I like and for [a brand I’ve] loved since a young teenager to believe in me and to acknowledge me is amazing,” Steward said.

Steward is also a body positivity activist who hopes to break barriers in the fashion industry, according to Refinery29—and this collaboration is just the beginning. “[I want to see] girls who actually look like me in high-fashion and walking the runways,” she told Refinery29. “Representation is so important. So many models are glamazons who are 5’7″ or taller. They have small waists and perfect thighs. [For plus-size models, they’re] a size 16 at the biggest. And these are the women ‘representing’ all fat women. I’m 5’3″ and bigger, [and I] also deserve the spotlight!”

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Candice Huffine Just Launched a Size-Inclusive Activewear Line


Model Candice Huffine is all about staying active. Check her Instagram for proof— it’s filled with motivational captions and candid post-race photos. So when Huffine announced the launch of her new activewear collection, DAY/WON, we weren’t completely surprised. But we were excited—because the line promises to be the most size-inclusive activewear brand on the market.

Available online today, all twelve pieces in the first DAY/WON collection come in sizes 0-32. With prices ranging from $19 for a bandana to $89 for compression leggings, it’s also more affordable than some of the workout lines we’re used to seeing.

While designing the collection, Huffine said she was thinking about real bodies look and feel while they’re in motion—a consideration she hadn’t seen in other brands. “One consistency I have seen [in activewear] is inconsistency. I was settling for sizes that were not right for my body, and I know I am not alone in that feeling,” she tells Glamour.

Among her biggest fit complaints? Low-riding pants, clingy tops, and designs that didn’t pass the streetwear test— in other words, that couldn’t go from barre class to brunch. “Activewear has to feel effortless and drama free,” she explains. “Training for races is hard enough without having to worry about the potential of your clothing failing you.”

Creating a size-inclusive collection was also essential to Huffine, who’s an advocate for body-positivity within the fashion industry. “I’ve been extremely vocal in my career about the necessity of one range for all sizes, in fashion, in fitness, in retail,” she continues. “There was no way I could ever create something that didn’t stand true to that message.”

This commitment to fitting every woman has an added bonus: the entire collection is made from sustainable materials, and is all produced on demand. That’s what lets DAY/WON offer so many sizes. “The sustainable aspect is how we are able to be so size inclusive,” Huffine says, “The two absolutely go hand in hand.”

To make sure she really loved the pieces, Huffine took one item for the ultimate test drive back in April—she ran her first Boston Marathon in the leggings. (Casual.) The pair, with “you got this” written on the side, held up quite nicely over the notoriously tough 26.2 mile race. “I could not have imagined anything else getting me to that finish line,” she says. “The compression kept my legs feeling fresh, me looking cool, and the other runners feeling inspired by the message.” She’s also worn the collection “running, spinning, international flights, [and] brunching,” she says.

Huffine wasn’t the only wear-tester, though: she had multiple fit trials to make sure everything worked for everyone. “There is no standard equation for sizing and grading as there is not just one standard kind of body,” Huffine explains, “so you fit and adjust and sample and fit again.” And getting that perfect fit gives the kind of confidence Huffine wants to bring to other women: “DAY/WON was designed to empower you to feel like the best possible version of yourself.”

“I hope DAY/WON influences and encourages activewear and beyond in fashion to commit to incorporating size inclusion,” she says. “This collection shows that it is possible to offer one full range for every body—and it feels really, really good.”

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Nordstrom Is Testing Out a New Store Concept, and It Could Be Huge for Size Inclusivity

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