World's First Size 22 Model, Tess Holliday on People Magazine Cover (VIDEO)
Tess Holliday, the world's first size 22 model, recently made the cover of People Magazine, challenging contemporary concepts of beauty in the fashion world.
People Magazine's June 2015 issue features super plus-sized model, Tess Holliday, who is the first size 22 model to have been signed by a mainstream modeling agency.
Holliday, 29, a self-described "body positive activist," has made a name for herself as one of the largest models in the industry. At five and a half feet tall, and weighing 260 pounds, she earlier made headlines with her #effyourbeautystandards movement on her Instagram account in 2013.
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In the same year, Vogue Italia dubbed her one of the top six plus-size models in the world, alongside Ashley Graham, Robyn Lawley, and Myla Dalbesio, who fall between sizes 12 to 14.
This year, Holliday, whose real name is Ryann Meagan, marked a major milestone in her modeling career with her People Magazine cover. After having tried to break into the fashion industry for the last 14 years, she has been elevated from a trending topic to a household name in the U.S.
Holliday, who is from Laurel, Mississippi, has admitted to having been bullied as a teenager, even to the point of getting death threats from her detractors. She went to her first open casting call at the age of 15 when she was a size 16, but was turned down for years, with no one in the industry willing to hire her for her size.
Holliday relocated to Seattle where she worked as a make-up artist and fashion show creative director until 2009. Moving to Los Angeles a year later, she worked at a dental office while doing professional modeling on the side, according to Yahoo! News.
After responding to and getting accepted to a "House of Dreams Model Search," she was chosen to as the face of "Heavy," an A&E documentary series, after being discovered online.
The documentary spun off to a television show with the same name, and Holliday's face appeared on billboard advertisements across the country. Subsequently, she has been featured on a number of "fatshion" blogs, while she modeled plus size clothing lines and accessories.
Holliday's resume includes work for Benefit Cosmetics, Vogue Italia, photographer David LaChapelle, Torrid, Domino Dollhouse, SWAK, Evil Pawn Jewelry, Vintage Box 1947, and other independent designers.
She has also appeared in "#everyBODYisflawless" Vimeo video, a "TakePart Live" interview, Channel 4 News, and the "The Meredith Vieira Show."
