Tess Holliday (left) is the brainchild of the #effyourbeautystandards campaign.
Photo / Instagram, MonifClarke
Tess Holliday (left) is the brainchild of the #effyourbeautystandards campaign.
Photo / Instagram, MonifClarke
Monif Clarke was first inspired to start her clothing line 10 years ago, when she struggled to find fashionable clothes to fit her size 16 body.
Today, her plus-size business is booming and she's hired Size 22 model Tess Holliday as the face of the latest campaign for her swimwear line Sea by Monif C.
Size 22 model Tess Holliday is the new face of Sea by Monif C swimwear - a line that is specifically designed for women sizes 14 - 24. Photo / Instagram, MonifClarke
Holliday, the first woman of her size to be hired by a major modeling agency, is also the first model over size 18 to model Clarke's clothing line.
"We've always featured size 14 plus models," Clarke told Yahoo.
"But, we thought, 'How do we make this more compelling for our customer?' The feedback we were getting was, 'We love that you show women in size 14 and 18 but what about the 22s and 24s?'"
On the set for the swimwear shoot, Holliday described what she looks for in the perfect swimsuit.
"When I'm buying a swimsuit the thing that is most important to me is how I feel in it, if I feel good," the 29-year-old whose real name is Tess Munster said.
"It's great to buy something that may look cute but I want to buy something that makes me feel sexy and I want to feel confident when I'm going out and I want people to stare so you know I want good support, I want fun prints."
The line features boning, tummy slimming lining, underwire and also comes in vintage-inspired high-waited two pieces.
Photo / Instagram, MonifClarke
The line, designed for women sizes 14 to 24, features boning, tummy slimming lining, underwire and also comes in vintage-inspired high-waited two pieces.
While Holliday says she usually wears slimwear under her bathing suits, she says the intricate features of Clarke's line eliminate the need.
"I love that the swimwear is designed by an actual plus size woman. Not only does [Clarke] know what we need but she also gives us the sexy factor that's totally lacking in swimwear," Holliday said.
"She gets that we don't need to hide our bodies or feel bad for the way we look yet she makes swimwear that helps us embrace our size and look good."
Holliday was recently signed to MiLk Model Management. She is the first woman of her size - 5'5" and 117kg to work for such an agency.
She recently appeared in another campaign for plus-size store Torrid, that was not photoshopped.
Holliday is the brainchild of the #effyourbeautystandards campaign which encourages a positive body image for men and women of all sizes.
Holliday was recently signed to MiLk Model Management.
Photo / Instagram, MonifClarke
