Source: Kevin Mazur / Getty
Tabria Majors clapped back with a strong stance after a photo of fellow model Emily Ratajkowski in a pair of plus-sized jeans shook up the internet.
On Dec. 5, Majors posted snapshots from a photo shoot that’s creative direction directly mocked a now highly-criticized image of Ratajkowski, aka EmRata, in an M Magazine editorial published last month.
The problematic photo of Ratajkowski showed her standing in a pair of light-wash jeans many sizes too big for her. In a pose reminiscent of old-school extreme weight loss advertising, the 32-year-old woman held up one side of the waistband and emphasized the glaring gap between herself, the garment, and those who would fit the plus-sized pants.
Majors’ photo shoot and Instagram caption outlined how tone-deaf and insensitive Ratajkowski’s reckless photo is to plus-size buyers excluded from the fashion industry because of their size and frequent inability to find clothing that fits.
The plus-size model — a new mother — said she felt triggered by Ratajkowski’s photo. Majors emphasized that her industry peer should have made a more responsible decision about modeling and posting a snapshot so insensitive to a problem fashion faces. She also highlighted that Ratajkowski’s M Magazine image was especially harmful considering that the latter model published a book on feminism, sexuality and body politics in 2021.
Majors connected the dots between how Ratajkowski posing in the plus-sized pair of pants had real-life ramifications for other models.
The 33-year-old noted that throughout her almost decade-long career, she’s experienced an erasure of plus-sized fashion models. She said her peer’s controversial M Magazine image proved that designers could make bigger sizes for plus-sized people to model in if they wanted to.
“How did no one flag this @m_magazine? @emrata, how did you write a book about body positivity and think this was ok?” Majors questioned.
“This shows they can make bigger sizes, they can sell bigger sizes, but God forbid you model it on a bigger size,” she continued. “I know Ozempic has the industry in a chokehold rn, but this is giving Jenny Craig, it’s giving Jared from Subway, it’s giving Weight Watchers… what was the concept?”
Online users slammed Ratajkowski for perpetuating fatphobia in the comments of her M Magazine editorial post.
“It’s giving fatphobic realness.”
“What in the fatphobic hell is that second picture?”
“This is so foul and tone deaf.”
“Writing a book centered on body image and then doing the second photo is crazy.”
“This is the proof that there are people who pose as ‘allies’ just to steal speeches and gain popularity. So sad @emrata.“
Although seemingly a simple image, Ratajkowski standing in a pair of jeans far too big for her in a pose that accentuated the size difference only represented the fashion industry’s fixation on “thin is in.”
Instead of using her privilege as a thin white model with an already established voice in the body positivity space, Ratajkowski modeled in an image mocking plus-sized bodies. The photo tauntingly emphasized the areas in fashion that bigger bodies can’t fit into because they’re intentionally excluded.
Hopefully, Majors’ message will be a sign to Ratajkowski and the fashion world to do better.
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