With size
14 stunner Ashley Graham covering the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue,
it truly seems like the plus-size industry is making major strides in
the media — but according to Philomena Kwao, it still has a long way to
go.
The
26-year-old Ghanaian-British model says that in spite of the growing
acceptance of curvy women in the fashion and modeling worlds, curvy
women with her deep, dark skin tone are still largely left out of the
picture.
'I
think that the plus-size industry has been great with size diversity,
but it hasn't really been great for skin tone diversity,' she told Elle.com 'I still feel segregation along skin tone.'
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Big breakthrough: Philomena Kwao stars in a new Swimsuits For All campaign that appears in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue
A way to go: The 26-year-old, who has
also modeled for Torrid and Ashley Graham's lingerie like Addition Elle,
says she'd still like to see changes in the modeling industry
Power trio: She shares the Swimsuits For All ad with mature model Nicola Griffin (left) and Ashley Graham (center)
Plus-size and dark-skinned, Philomena, who grew up in London, is pretty much one-of-a-kind in the modeling industry.
And
while that uniqueness is partly responsible for her success — she's
done campaigns for Beth Ditto Collection, Torrid, Addition Elle, and,
most recently, a Swimsuits For All campaign alongside Ashley Graham — it
has also made climbing to the top harder.
When she was younger, she had a tough time loving herself because she looked different from the women she saw on TV.
'Growing
up, I had body confidence issues not really so much because of size,
but my skin color. I had trouble recognizing that the depth of my skin
tone is really beautiful because whenever people referred to a beautiful
black-skinned woman, you'd see Beyoncé and Rihanna,' she said. 'So,
you'd do harmful things to try and get to that color, like skin
bleaching. I once tried those whitening soaps.'
Fortunately, she eventually gave up on those, and managed to break into modeling — which worked wonders on her confidence.