Curvy Kate Releases New Campaign Featuring a Trans Model, Amputee and Woman With Alopecia

For all those brands that apparently still need a reminder: Lingerie isn't only for conventionally "thin" girls. In need of an example to lead by?

For its new campaign entitled #TheNewSexy, Curvy Kate — a fuller bust lingerie brand located in the United Kingdom — enlisted eight inspiring women of all different shapes and sizes. 

Take Taylor Crisp, for example: When she was 11, she had her right leg amputated and was even told she might never walk without the help of crutches. 

Or Stephania Van Cluysen, a transgender woman from Belgium, who underwent gender reassignment surgery in 2015 and overcame years of bullying. "Not everyone should look the same and if they did there wouldn't be a 'sexy," she said in a blog post. "We need a mix of people."

Then there is Therese Hansson, a curvy model who was diagnosed with Alopecia when she was 14-years-old, which caused her to lose her hair. "We need to embrace it so other people understand and accept it," she wrote. "It is a difficult disease because I could get my hair back tomorrow but I could easily lose it all again next week." 

Megan Jayne Crabbe recovered from an eating disorder and has since launched the body positive blog BodyPosiPanda. "We judge ourselves against everything we see and that's why so many people think they have to match to up to this unrealistic and often Photoshopped standards," she said. 

It's refreshing move to see a brand not only step away from the traditional body type seen in lingerie ads, but one that also includes groups of women that are not often represented in campaign ads. 

"It's important for us as a brand to speak to as many women as possible through our campaigns," Chantelle Crabb, Curvy Kate's public relations and marketing executive, said in an interview. "We know our customers don't all look the same so why should our models? Why should boudoir lingerie just be reserved for a handful of society?"

"Many models today tend to look very similar and aren't a true representation of the women we see in everyday life," Crabb said. "[These girls] are beautiful, empowering and they should be celebrated." 

Curvy Kate, and the women within the campaign, hope these images remind others that they don't need to morph their bodies to look exactly like models or those posing for other lingerie brands. 

"Sexy is not one definitive look, size or style."

"Sexy is not one definitive look, size or style, it's down to personal preference and that can be different for every person," said Crabb. 

Van Cluysen added: "Everybody has the right to feel okay with themselves and if the media show a wide range of women – different races, heights, sizes, ages and abilities then the girls looking at the models in the magazines and wishing to be them, will feel way more at ease with who they are." 

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