All Woman Project is a multi-pronged, multi-platform campaign that aims to broaden fashion’s definition of beauty. Fronted by Charli Howard, the British model who broke silence over the industry’s impossible standards last year, and Clémentine Desseaux, body activist and first “plus size” model to bag a campaign for luxury label Christian Louboutin, it brings together a cast of women expanding what it means to be beautiful, proving straight and curve models can and should feature together – “flaws” and all.
“The industry needs to stop associating beauty with a size, or putting women into categories because of their size, colour or sexuality,” Howard and Desseaux tell i-D. “We traditionally associate plus-size girls with terms like ‘curvy’ and ‘real women’, and straight-size models as ‘high fashion’ and ‘editorial’, missing out a vital fact – we’re all women, and should be treated as such.”
The campaign is lead by an array of models – including Elliot Sailors, Iskra Lawrence, Denise Bidot, Barbie Ferreira – each picked because of their own vocal stance on body image and each willing to be photographed completely unretouched. “All the girls we feature speak about diversity in some way or another – whether that be shape, size, colour, politics or LGBT rights,” say the pair. “They’re all so unique and strong in their own ways and it was a pleasure working with them.”
The fruits of that work can be seen in the Olimpia Valli Fassi shot film premiering below, alongside photography by fellow curve models Heather Hazzan and Lily Cummings and exclusive content published on social media startup clapit, through which women can upload their own messages via the #IAmAllWoman hashtag. “We wanted it to be a female-led project – models and team included,” say Howard and Desseaux. “We called upon friends that speak about diversity to get involved and used brands that actively promote women in their most natural form.”
They continue: “We can only achieve a change in fashion if more people create campaigns like this and make diversity the ‘norm’, rather than a trend. If we can create a campaign on a minimal budget, with girls of a variety of shapes and ethnicities, then bigger brands can certainly do the same.”
Check out the campaign film below.
For more information and to see the editorial project, visit allwomanproject.com. To see exclusive #ALLWOMAN content, download clapit from the iOS app store and follow @ALLWOMAN.
Credits
Text Matthew Whitehouse
Photography Heather Hazzan and Lily Cummings
Videography Olimpia Valli Fassi