Ashley Graham’s Shopping Strategy: ‘I Get 3 of the Same Dress, Try Them On, and Send Back 2′

Ashley Graham and Joe Zee at their Acceptance Revolution: Fashion’s New Body panel at South by Southwest. (Photo: Getty Images)

If there was ever a woman to talk about the fashion industry’s recent acceptance revolution, it’s Ashley Graham. She’s a ground-breaking, self-proclaimed body activist who has turned the style set’s world upside down. At 28, Graham is the first and only full-figured model to snag a spot on Sports Illustrated’s cover. “They took a risk by putting me on there, and it was so powerful and so necessary,” she says. Not only that, but she has also created a collaboration of dresses ranging from sizes 4 to 24 with Dressbarn, has a sexy lingerie line for women of all sizes, and, most importantly, works tirelessly to promote women’s self-love, health, and confidence.

At South by Southwest, she sat down with Yahoo Style’s own Joe Zee to talk about it all — and more! From the reason she wants the word “plus-size” banned and her thoughts on Kim K.’s nude selfie to how Gigi Hadid is a fashion inspiration and why Graham’s fashion designs are far from perfect, the model bares all. (Well, not literally.)

1. Should the word “plus-size” be banned? “I’m not a fan of it because it’s bringing a divide among girls,” says Graham. She thinks the word is “totally outdated” and calls herself “curvy, sexalicious” instead. Graham, though, does have a group of friends who use and like the word, as it gives them a sense of community, camaraderie, and belonging.

2. Why she’s a self-proclaimed body activist: “I just want women to understand that they should not conform to society’s beauty standards. You should be able to look in the mirror and understand that that is what beauty is.” Graham explains that there have been little steps in the fashion and beauty worlds, but she hopes to take all of the disparate successes and turn them into a larger discussion.

3. Graham doesn’t think designers, who have historically shied away from offering extended sizes, should be afraid to tap into the plus-size industry. “So many people are afraid to go into the bigger sizes because it’s going to make them look bad, or cost them more money, or it’s going to devalue what they’ve been working for,” she says. “But I think they’d get a lot more women applauding them and saying thank you.” She’s particularly grateful to Christian Siriano, who designed a line with Lane Bryant.

4. Instead of begging designers to take action, Graham took it upon herself to create. She designed a collection of dresses with Dressbarn called Beyond. Graham wanted there to be something for everyone (the pieces come in sizes 4 to 24), but she says they still have major work to do. The “plus-size” pieces ($56) are still more expensive than the “straight-size” ones ($48).

5. She’s no stranger to rejection or traumatic experiences in the modeling industry. “I had an agent actually wave money in my face and say, ‘If you lose some weight, you can get a lot more of these. Put that Snickers bar down, honey.’” Graham says she’s been asked to gain weight, lose weight, and everything in between.

6. And, yes, she has felt the pressure to starve herself. But how far has Graham gone? “I tried not to eat for a few days, but that didn’t work,” she laughs. “I have never actually stuck my finger down my throat. But I thought about it.” Her secret: balance. She lives a healthy lifestyle — working out and eating right — so if she wants some fries, she’ll have some.

7. She knows that it’s important to look past rejection, because “you never know what opportunity is going to turn into something major.” Like the time she went to 50 castings for Fashion Week and didn’t land any runway shows, but she did get connected to Carine Roitfeld, the famous French editor formerly of Vogue Paris and now at CR Fashion Book, who shot her for Harper’s Bazaar soon after.

8. Her thoughts on Kim Kardashian’s infamous nude selfie: “I don’t know that that was the best message for young girls, but then again, her body looks amazing! As a body activist, though, I don’t know that I would do that.”

9. Even Graham has been the subject of a thigh-gap-gate. “There was a picture of me in Cosmopolitan and I have a thigh gap. … And it’s because I’m dancing,” she laughs. “When you poke your hips backward and you lean your body forward, anybody can have a thigh gap. Everyone thought it was totally disingenuous, but it was just my thigh at a great angle.”

10. The dress she wore to the Oscars was inspired by Gigi Hadid. Here’s what happened: Graham fell in love with a dress the fellow model wore and got in touch with the designer, Bao Tranchi, who then agreed to design her red-hot Oscars dress in a record-breaking four days. (It was also the first time Tranchi made a custom-size 36DDD bra.) Of the designer who used to only make bodysuits, Graham says, “She told me: ‘You’re the only girl I’m dressing for the Oscars and it’s because I want people to know that it doesn’t matter what size you are and designers need to step outside of our comfort zones.’”

11. How she shops: Graham shops everywhere — from J Brand to Target to Bloomingdale’s to vintage. “I get three of the same dress, try them on, and send back two,” she explains. “But who wants to do that?!”