Emily Ratajkowski is known for being many things: she's a world-famous model, an erstwhile actress (Gone Girl, We Are Your Friends), a "Blurred Lines" video star, a Harry Styles' make-out partner and one of Pete Davidson's many famous exes. What she is not, however, is plus-size, which is why she ruffled some feathers after posing in plus-size clothing for a recent photoshoot.
Back in November, the 32-year-old model, known as EmRata, posted select pics from a photoshoot with M Magazine on her Instagram page. In one shot, the famously svelte star can be seen wearing a pair of large light-wash jeans, posing with both of her legs standing in one pant leg and extending the waistband of the jeans far from her body.
At the time, many of Ratajkowski's social media followers called out the fashion model for the "fatphobic vibes" of the photo, and now one of her own modeling peers, Tabria Majors, has joined the criticism. The plus-size model posted on her own Instagram a side-by-side picture of herself alongside the photo of Ratajkowski, along with a lengthy caption on why she was "triggered" by the image:
Imma just start wearing a single pair of jeans on both legs, stitch together multiple small skirts to fit my extra large waist, tie a pair of small sweats around my chest so y’all know how it feels to not be able to find anything to wear. There are so many more important issues going on rn, but this really triggered me. How did no one flag this @m_magazine ? @emrata how did you write a book about body positivity and think this was ok?
In her photo, Majors can be seen shading Ratajkowski and the magazine's creative choice by pointedly wearing "a single pair of jeans on both legs." She also called out EmRata's participation in the photoshoot, especially as someone who wrote "a book about body positivity." She's referring to Ratajkowski's 2021 essay collection My Body, which is described as a "profoundly personal exploration of feminism, sexuality, and power, of men's treatment of women and women's rationalizations for accepting that treatment," per a press release, which continued:
These essays chronicle moments from Ratajkowski’s life while investigating the culture’s fetishization of girls and female beauty, its obsession with and contempt for women’s sexuality, the perverse dynamics of the fashion and film industries, and the gray area between consent and abuse.
Majors addressed those very "perverse dynamics" of the fashion industry in her post, citing her decade-long modeling career during which "the erasure of models [her] size or bigger has been crazy to witness in real time." She then added:
I’ve been modeling for nearly 10 years now and the erasure of models my size or bigger has been crazy to witness in real time. We started with plus models, then they changed it to curve to sound “nice”, now we have “mid-size” models getting the jobs plus models once had. This shows they can make bigger sizes, they can sell bigger sizes, but God forbid you model it on a bigger size. I know Ozempic has the industry in a chokehold rn but this is giving Jenny Craig, it’s giving Jared from Subway, it’s giving Weight Watchers…what was the concept?? Postpartum has me all over the place nowadays but I just had to get this off my chest
Others in the industry applauded Majors for speaking out against that erasure, with 2020 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover model Jasmine Sanders commenting “Mic Drop 🎤" on Majors' post. Six-time SI Swimsuit model Camille Kostek echoed the sentiment, saying:
The👏entire👏caption👏
Emily Ratajkowski has notoriously been comfortable showing off her figure in public, from nude selfies on social media to bikini pictures for swimsuit brands to see-through dresses worn at Oscar parties. And she's previously divulged how her own physicality has limited her from securing jobs, saying that her bustiness hindered her for being hired for acting roles. However, EmRata has not yet publicly responded to the backlash.
