Why This Designer's Only Showing Plus-Size Women of Color in Her Clothes
Courtesy of Rum + Coke
A New York City-based fashion brand that offers its styles in sizes 2 through 22 is already a novelty. But one that only shows its clothes on plus size models who aren’t white? Well, that's actually groundbreaking. Designer Courtney Smith launched Rum + Coke in 2013 and now she’s making headlines for the way in which she’s marketing her fledgling fashion brand.
"I want women to be their most beautiful selves,” she writes on her site. “There are so many negative messages: You’re not thin enough, you’re not young enough, you’re not light enough. These all basically tell women they are inadequate unless they change something about themselves or purchase this or that.” So she came up with a motto for the contemporary brand: “You, woman, are enough. [Women] are beautiful in whatever package they come in.”
Related: How A Plus-Size Girl Navigates the Pin-Thin World of Fashion
Most brands cater to one or the other: size 0 through 12, or size 12 through 22. If mainstream brands do offer larger sizes, it’s an afterthought (with few exceptions, including ASOS). Everyone might have noticed a gap in the market, but Smith, who used to work in finance, vowed to do something about it. “Many brands fall short of making quality plus pieces, or plus pieces at all, because of the stigma attached to weight,” Smith tells Refinery29. “Some of these larger brands can do better, but choose not to because they know there are a limited number of places that cater to this demographic.”
Courtesy of Rum + Coke
So Smith isn’t just catering to this demographic, she’s screaming it from the rooftops. Rum + Coke’s vibrant prints and on-trend cuts might come in a size two, but she’s only using plus size women of color in her ads and lookbooks. " No one questions why there are only small women in other brands’ shoots,” Smith tells Refinery 29. “I put women of color and ‘larger’ women in my photo shoots for many reasons. One, because I believe in the multiplicity of beauty, and two, there are so many women who seldom see women who look like them in advertisements.”
Related: How Shopping With Plus-Size Model Denise Bidot Made Me Face My Own Body Issues
It’s just one more indicator that the tides are turning. While Smith is breaking the mold with her diverse collection, Aimee Cheshire, a 35-year-old Brooklyn-based fashion executive and former plus-size model and blogger, is shaking up online shopping with Hey Gorgeous, an online resource for affordable, luxurious clothing in sizes 8 to 28, photographer Victoria Janashvili created a book celebrating women of all shapes, sizes, and color to break social stereotypes and help transform women’s body image within the media industry, and Sophie Tweed-Simmons, Gene Simmons’ daughter, just launched a fashion line that’s equally committed to making women feel good no matter their size.
Related: Candice Huffine: The Plus-Size Model Who Is the Ultimate Muse Among Fashion’s Skinny Set
2015’s looking good so far.
