Iskra Lawrence is a plus size model based in New York and London. We are blown away by her beauty and her body and especially her inspirations on body confidence and body issues. Lawrence is planning to change to a different modelling agency and open it up to women of different shapes and sizes. Her social media has 630,000 followers worldwide on Instgram. Iskra also has a role as a spokesperson for NEDA (National Eating Disorders Assocation).
The plus size model is also the managing editor of Runway Riot, “a style and fashion site for an underrepresented and often under-appreciated majority of women in America who wear larger sizes.” The 25 year old found it very difficult at 13 to find an editorial modelling agency which was called, Elle Girl because her body started to change at 15 which became womanly.
The model says, “Every agency would mention my hips. I remember looking at the other models and thinking: ‘I do not look like these girls’,” “I was called fat 200 times on shoots and had serious trouble fitting in the clothes at fashion shows. All these things break you down to a point where you look in the mirror and don’t like what you see. I remember googling operations to make my calves slimmer and I ate only ham for a week to try and become skinny.”
Luckily for her she found out about plus-sized modelling and began researching suitable agencies. “I soon realised that I could be a successful model at the size I’m meant to be,” she adds “I then made it my mission to become the best version of myself – to work really hard, work out and be strong and healthy, as well as be confident and nice to people.”
Lawrence then joined a campaign with Aerie, a lingerie retailer owned by American Eagle Outfitters, and her stunning, completely unretouched images went flying– she even landed a billboard in Times Square! Wow she has become really successful. It just shows that dreams do come true, and if you believe in something anything can be possible.
“I was so happy,” she tells Hello “I walked out and saw the billboard and just burst into tears. I was the biggest girl they’d used. One of the shots was just me sat down normally, not sucking in. I was just comfortable and I love how that image made other girls feel. As a model, I feel a great responsibility and I understand how an image can make a young woman feel, she adds. I used to tear myself apart because of an image I’d seen so I want to do the opposite – I want to empower women and tell them that they’re beautiful as well. If you have thread veins like me, why is that a flaw?”
Iskra used Instagram as a platform to build her followers and to help women with body issues to build on their confidence by sharing pictures of her real self rather than edited and airbrushed images. This helped build her career and make it into a success.
