Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes but most fashion magazines would have us believe that it only exists in a six-foot-tall, size two, Photoshopped illusion. Model Tess Holliday is shattering those illusions and, just this week, became the largest plus-size model signed to a mainstream agency when MiLK Model Management and Holliday announced the deal.

Most plus-size models are taller than 5 feet 8 inches and wear a U.S. sizes from 8 to 16. According to Business Insider, in U.S. sizing standards plus size is actually between 14 and 34. So the fact that modeling agencies consider a size 8 to be “plus-size” is astounding enough, but agencies and magazines continue to perpetuate the unrealistic notion that anything over a size 7 is tipping the scales.

Tess stands at 5 feet 5 inches and wears a size 22.

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Anna Shillingshaw, owner of MiLK Management, discovered Tess through Instagram, saying, “I started following her, and saw how many followers she had — more than most models. She’s such an important role model for so many women.”

Over the last four years, Tess has been the driving force behind the online movement #effyourbeautystandards. The Mississippi native was bullied relentlessly as a child because of her size, saying, “It took a really long time to get over things that had happened to me during the vital years of my life.”

When asked about her success, she has a hard time reconciling the past and the present: “It doesn’t feel like it’s me. Every time I have a big thing happen in my career, it’s an out of body experience. I’m always still that 13-year-old girl in Mississippi who people told I wasn’t good enough. I never could have imagined that I could be here.”

So…#effyourbeautystandards, world. Tess Holiday has arrived and with her, hopefully we can usher in a little more diversity in the fashion world. Best of luck, Tess! We can’t wait to see what you do next!

What do you think of this new development in the fashion world? Leave your comments below!

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