Ralph Lauren casts first ever plus-size model, as Vogue beauty Robyn Lawley takes starring role in new campaign

Plus-size model Robyn Lawley has become somewhat of supernova in the fashion industry, defying thinness equals beauty ideals to star on the world's most covetable magazine covers and ad campaigns.
The 23-year-old's curves have been featured on Vogue Italia and French Elle, and now, she has become the first plus-sized model ever to star in a Ralph Lauren campaign, breaking apart ingrained notions that bigger can't be beautiful.
Notorious for Photoshopping its models to unrecognizable versions of thin, Ralph Lauren's move to book the 6'2", size 12 Australian model is another step on the industry's path to reshape long sought after body paragons.

Making waves: Robyn Lawley's curves have been featured on Vogue Italia and French Elle, and now, she has become the first plus-sized model ever to star in a Ralph Lauren campaign

While one image only shows Miss Lawley from the chest up, hiding any notion of a curvy figure, a second full-length image shows the model covered up in cozy winter knits as she rests, seated, on an outdoor staircase.
After she signed to an modelling agency at age 16, the Sydney native said she struggled to keep up with the industry's corrosive skinny standards.
British lingerie brand Boux Avenue also  recently announced that Miss Lawley will be the new face of its campaign, replacing size 10 model Ola Jordan, a move meant to appeal to 'a curvier demographic'.

'I'm big boned,' she said on Good Morning America. 'I used to be told to lose weight and exercise all the time. I got a huge amount of pressure to diet. And my body, it was such a battle for me to do that because I'm tall and I'm broad. I really struggled to maintain that size.'

After 'skipping meals, counting calories,' and 'trying to eat nothing,' Miss Lawley says she dropped to 136lbs. 'I wet crazy dieting. When I ate it was an apple. I used to get really faint.'
When she put her modelling career on hold to study in France, she stopped watching her weight, and her frame gained 40lbs.

Role model: After she signed to a modelling agency at age 16, the Sydney native said she struggled to keep up with the industry's corrosive skinny standards, instead embracing her curves

'I gave up trying to be a model... and fell in love with food all over again, and came back much bigger than I was. And I saw plus-size models doing well. And I decided that I wanted that.'
When she returned home to Australia she joined a plus-size agency after seeing a fellow size 14 model in ads dotting Sydney's buses, streets and billboards. 'I was like "She's my size and she's on a bus!"'
She quickly booked a swimwear shoot, and admits that after seeing herself in a bikini, she though she looked 'hot'.
Despite being profiled on covers with captions that read 'The model who likes her food,' she says hopes to one day make size irrelevant.
'I've given up caring what people think,' she told People magazine, explaining that she maintains her body through swimming three times a week when she's at home in New York City, where she lives with her law student boyfriend, Evan Schmidt.

Overzealous Photoshop: Ralph Lauren is notorious for airbrushing its models to unrecognizable versions of thin -  booking a size 12 model has been seen as a huge positive step for both the industry and the brand

She also runs her own food-centered blog called Robyn Lawley Eats, where she shares food tips, her favourite eat-out haunts and photos of mouthwatering meals that she 'makes for fun,' ranging from chocolate souffle to aspirational wedding cakes and healthy tacos.
'I tell tall girls, being tall and curvy is the double whammy! But confidence is really sexy. I love my shape. I love my body. I've come a long way.'
'I genuinely want companies to take notice and start being more realistic about who their customer really is. I hope to keep breaking down those barriers,' she added.
'And you know there's so many plus-size models in New York doing so well in the moment, and it's only going to get better.'