It’s numbers Body Image series from Yahoo Life delves into the journeys of influential and inspiring characters as they explore what body confidence, body neutrality, and self-love mean to them.
Candice Huffine signed her first modeling contract in 2000, as a size 6 curve model. The category for plus-size models wasn’t aware of her when she was 16-years-old, yet she’s gone on to make waves with plus-size representation in the industry. High fashion and commercial arenas.
Over the course of two decades, Hoven has become an industry leader by appearing on the cover of a magazine Italian Vogue magazine in 2011 In 2015, she became the first plus-size model to be photographed for Pirelli calendar. These opportunities have changed her life, but also for the people who have been able to see themselves in it – often, for the first time ever.
“I’d like to know if the straight-size model takes that much responsibility on herself when she goes to work one day. Because it’s such a great job,” Hoven, 38, tells Yahoo Life.
It was not easy to achieve scale comprehensiveness when Hoven first entered the industry. In fact, it was the 2000s – when it first began to find success – that is often credited as “a turning point for diversity in fashion”, according to Vogue magazine. her work in Lane Bryant’s 2015 “I’m No Angel” campaign. Along with Ashley Graham and Paloma Elsesser, they were seen as opponents of the high idealism that was still most popular at the time. It was the exposure of these archetypes that made body diversity such a plausible idea.
“I know there are a lot of other curve models out there who feel the same way,” says Hoven, referring to the responsibility she faces. “We recognize the importance of image, and we realize that our image can be greater than ourselves if we want it to be. We realize that if we are honest and vulnerable and free and vocal, that goes beyond just an image of us in our lives” that can actually have a really positive snowball effect on our An inner confidence in someone, in their spirit – but also on a larger level of implementing change in the way a brand or designer creates their next collection.”
Hoven started seeing this kind of positive change around 2014. “I’ve watched new companies form and designers expand their sizes into new ranges. There are all these options now for a variety of curvy women,” she said. The telegraph that year. “There are probably 10 to 15 (plus-size) girls running editorials in high fashion magazines right now. It’s not just a one-time occurrence anymore. It’s almost the new normal.”
Despite an upward trend that has been going on for several years, the fashion industry has since undergone a remarkable negative shift when it comes to size inclusiveness.
“We’re running out of steam and pulling back a little bit,” Hoven says of the state of fashion in 2023. “Can’t you say that aesthetically and visually?”
according to Reports on size diversity – or not – it ran throughout the fall-winter 2023 season, and it shows. Of the 9,137 looks across 219 shows in New York, London, Milan and Paris, only 0.6% of the looks were plus size (US 14+) and 3.8% were medium (US 6-12). This means that 95.6% of the Looks presented for AW23 in US size 0-4,” reported Vogue Business.
“I feel like once the runways made it clear that skinny is the trend now or bodies are going to be a trend in seasons to come, like everything changed overnight,” Hoven says. “It was even hard to keep up.”
She credits diet culture and exclusive clothing trends with the change Not the only one.
“Skinnies are back, jeans are low-cut, things are a little tighter, we’re wearing crops, we’re going more nude. … and then it’s like curves have been completely left out of the conversation,” she says. “But I really didn’t expect that.”
One of the reasons for Hoven’s surprise is the continued effort she put into providing plus-size activewear and apparel in her work with 11 Honoré and the creation of the activewear brand day won. She says this is part of her responsibility as a public figure in a plus-size body. “We can’t really express ourselves the way we want because we don’t have the power to achieve the things we want, because someone doesn’t make them for us,” she says. But she knows from experience that “anything is possible.”
She also knows that size inclusiveness is not a trend, but rather the reality of the world we live in. She is determined to continue to act it out by showing up, despite the hype – both external and internal – that she should not. .
“My body is in a different place than I’m used to at this point in time. I’m probably a size or two bigger than I used to be now. So I move differently.” “In my skin lately,” Hoven explains, noting that sizing was in the back of her mind while preparing for her recent partnership with lingerie brand Luvlette. “I knew I didn’t feel or look the way I normally do in my underwear. But at the same time I knew someone in the house looked just like you and you would feel so empowered seeing this picture.”
In Hoven’s own experience, it was “disappointing” to feel that there were fewer such images in the world right now. But, she says, “it’s not the end of the road.” “We keep moving forward. We’ve worked hard for many years, so we all have to keep moving forward.”