UK's Models 1 Agency Says #DropthePlus

Spearheaded by Australian lingerie model Stefania Ferrario and actress and author Ajay Rochester, the #DropthePlus campaign hopes to promote radical change in the modeling industry by getting rid of the damaging catch-all label of "plus-size" for models who don't fit the fashion world's absurdly narrow standards. Now, Britain's leading modeling agency and the biggest agency in Europe, Model 1, is joining the #DropthePlus campaign.

#DropthePlus began back in February with Ferrario and Rochester arguing that this branding isn't just hurtful to models, but hurtful to the young girls who grow up surrounded by their photographs. But since their initial outcry, there's been little support from within the industry itself. That is until yesterday, when Models 1, which has big names like Coco Rocha and Linda Evangelista on their roster, expressed its support of the campaign, and not only in words, but in pictures.

The agency, which has always included non-traditionally sized models (their fuller-figured girls often land within the pages of Vogue Italia), released a number of images along with their public statement of support that show some of their "Curve" division models with no retouching, no makeup, and looking absolutely gorgeous. Michelle George, the photographer for the shoot, told Dazed Digital, "I feel very strongly, as a woman, that we need to empower each other and show that beauty is not defined by size. We need to start to push these boundaries and reach outside the tightly closed box of the fashion industry and embrace our beauty in its holistic, raw form."

Models 1's new photo shoot proves that even though these differently shaped women have all been pushed under the label of "plus," in reality, they have body types closer to those of everyday women that are as beautiful as they are diverse. Let's hope Models 1 and its bold declaration of change not only encourages every other agency to follow suit, but encourages every one to change the dialogue surrounding these women's bodies.