The model becomes the first plus-sized model to be featured in the magazine's annual eye candy issue.
Plus-sized model, Ashley Graham, is making history by posing in Sports Illustrated’s annual swimsuit issue.
Graham stars in the first ever ad to feature a plus-size model in the pages of the highly anticipated issue. This means that along with the usual models — Benhati Prinsloo, Chrissy Teigen, Heidi Klum, Adirana Lima, to name a few — a curvier woman totally rocking a string bikini will be in the same pages.
“I know my curves are sexy and I want everyone else to know that theirs are too. There is no reason to hide and every reason to flaunt,” Graham says in a statement.
The ad is part of a new swimsuitsforall campaign, #CurvesinBikinis, that aims to help celebrate the beginnings of the ‘Curvy Girl Era’ and to help women feel confident and sexy in any swimsuit.
“The world is ready for more curves in bikinis,” Graham says of the campaign.
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The 27-year-old model who is a size 14 has been very vocal about the need for the media to embrace curves. In January, she penned an essay for Net-a-Porter’s online magazine, The Edit, encouraging women to love their bodies.
"I think that you can be healthy at any size and my goal is to help and educate women on that,” she wrote. "It doesn’t matter if you’re a size 2 or 22 as long as you’re taking care of your body, working out, and telling yourself, ‘I love you’ instead of taking in the negativity of beauty standards."
The Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue hits stands on Feb. 9. Watch the video above to check out the new ad and to learn more about the campaign.