Ashley Graham has called for "inclusivity in sizing" across all luxury fashion brands.
Ashley Graham at the launch of her PLY capsule collection
The 30-year-old American model launched her new capsule collection, PLT Starring Ashley Graham, with online brand PrettyLittleThing.com in Los Angeles on Monday (24.09.18) and the range caters for ladies up to a US size 24.
Ashley wanted to work with the company because they have always been committed to supplying a diverse range of sizes but she insists the entire fashion business needs to do the same.
Speaking to Glamour.com, she said: "We need inclusivity in sizing at luxury brands and as the curvy community, we have more options than just basic T-shirt and great jeans. I want there to be awesome, great fashion across the whole industry. The thing about being a woman is that we all have different tastes, we have different bodies and we all have different wants and desires. That is just what I think the fashion industry should actually represent ... The most exciting part for me was that we were going up to a size 24 and PrettyLittleThing.com has never shied away from showing off the body, showing leg, showing cleavage. That was so exciting for me because that is the way I dress.
"PLT are going up in sizes; they cater to millions of women around the world and they will have the sizes they need in cool, sassy, sexy clothes."
Discussing the garments she loves most in her capsule collection, she added: "The whole collection is so sexy but something I am so excited about is that I can wear a bra with everything because these big boobs of mine need a bra. So that's something that made me feel confident.
"I love the dresses with the high splits. I love leopard print, I was living for my Dolce dress at Milan Fashion Week."
Ashley - who is married to 29-year-old videographer Justin Ervin - hopes that young girls growing up will now see her work in the fashion industry and that of the other diverse models who are making a name for themselves and be inspired to embrace their own imperfections.
The sultry brunette admits when she was younger she had no plus-sized role models to look up to, other than her mother.
She said: "There were curvy girls in the industry, but they didn't have the same spotlight as we do now. They were just given catalogue jobs and we didn't have social media then, obviously. It was always a struggle. I was so thankful to have my mom to look up to as she had a similar body shape to mine. She was always confident about her body, which made me confident about mine."
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