Posing for four Sports Illustrated covers was just the beginning for extra-curvy US model Hunter McGrady, who has now designed an inclusive range of fashion to suit women of all sizes.
McGrady’s All Worthy range was launched in April amid the coronavirus pandemic that has engulfed the world. Despite the social restrictions that remain in place in many nations, McGrady says some of the pieces in her debut online collection sold out in the first week – one in particular, a black jumpsuit, within minutes.
She has come a long way since she struggled against a series of rejections from modelling agencies, and agents who told her she would never make it in the fashion world.
Now 27, she says the constant knock-backs crushed her confidence.
“I was really upset and thought that I wouldn’t be good enough unless I lost the weight they asked. Now, I let it roll off my back,” she says.
A voluptuous US size 22, these days McGrady says she has the mental toughness to ignore the insults.
“As a teenager, you are already a sponge and believe everything people are telling you about yourself,” she says. “I have still been told that I will work more at a certain size, but I have to do what makes me happy. I am not here to conform to societal ideals.”
Now married and living in New York on the east coast of the United States, McGrady was born in southern California on the west coast. Her father, Michael McGrady, is an actor and her mother, Brynja McGrady, is a former model.
“I was always around the industry in some form and was enamoured with it,” she says. “I wanted my pictures taken and felt lit up when I did. It was a fun way of expressing myself.”
Despite her early enthusiasm, McGrady feels her looks have been frequently judged unsuitable by short-sighted critics. Larger, plumper people of both genders are mostly ignored in the glossy fashion world, where ultra-thin models are considered the most attractive, even though the vast majority of ordinary women are on the curvier side.
More and more plus-sized models are making their presence felt around the world, though, with larger women in Europe and Asia cultivating a social media following. German influencer Caterina Pogorzelski has a blog, a podcast and an Instagram account, and has transformed herself into a brand for larger women.
Scarlett Hao, born in China and now living in New York, is another plus-sized influencer who encourages her Instagram followers to help change the way the world thinks about larger women.
I want women to feel beautiful, confident and fierce when they put on every garment - Hunter McGrady, US model
McGrady is pushing back against the all-too-easy assumptions of people who know little about her world. “People think things about me all the time without actually knowing me,” she says. “Social media makes that really easy for people to do.”
Since she began professionally modelling at the age of 15, McGrady has represented a variety of brands including Macy’s, Revlon, Jessica Simpson, Target, Olay, Nordstrom and Amazon.
“I feel that the industry is slowly but surely getting there. It is a big fight to get larger women visibility and to change the stigma around them, but that is a fight I am willing to be a part of,” she says, adding that she wants the modelling business to see her “not just as a model, but as an advocate for all women”.
Some magazines have been known to use digitally altered photos of models who are considered to be too large, a habit that infuriates McGrady.
“I think it is absolutely ridiculous,” she says. “We are already put down so much as it is in this industry and to see yourself unrecognisable in a magazine is not a fun feeling. You are basically saying that what we gave you is not meeting your personal standards and is detrimental to society.”
The fashion world often has a blinkered view of the way models should look: regarding both their size and, too often, their colour. In the age of racial division and profiling in the West, many believe too few non-white women are chosen to wear designer collections in photoshoots or on the catwalk.
Mehek Raza Rizvi, the editor in chief of Pakistan’s Good Times magazine, says the obsession in India and Pakistan is with fair skin.
“South Asian beauty standards are deeply rooted in its colonial past, valuing not just petite bodies, but fair skin and long blond hair as the epitome of beauty,” she says. The failure of mainstream media to think more carefully about stereotypes has given rise to racism and alarming intolerance concerning the size, shape and colour of women, she adds.
McGrady, too, sees how the fashion world continues to have difficulty dealing with both the size and colour of women.
“I think any woman of colour has to put up with more challenges than I do. It is my duty to understand my privilege and speak about things that may not specifically affect me. Unfortunately, we still live in a world where opportunities are not the same across the board, and I always speak out against this because we have to create change together,” she says.
“A lot of people are afraid of change, but nothing good comes from staying in your comfort zone. The world needs to see diversity. Our children and the next generations need to see people in magazines, television and movies who look like them and can relate to them as well.
“I have faith that there are so many women like myself who have been using their voices to change the way society views plus-sized women and women in general.”
As well as modelling and fashion designing, McGrady is involved with various charities including the JED Foundation, which helps people with suicidal thoughts in the US with their mental well-being.
Her All Worthy fashion line includes a range of sizes from XXS to 5X. McGrady and other large women modelled the range for the line’s website.
With an array of different looks, from patterns of snakeskin and paisley to solid colours, the line includes pull-on wide-leg trousers, a scoop-neck tank top, a chiffon dress with ladder lace insets, a crepe and lace cut-out jumpsuit, and a snake-print skirt with an asymmetrical hem.
“The line was set to launch long before the pandemic happened, and one of my pieces sold out in eight minutes flat,” McGrady says. “People are still wanting things to wear.”
She was inspired to create the fashion range by the shortage of attractive and well-made clothes that fit her.
“I have always wanted to shop for cute options in my size and wear the same things my girlfriends of different sizes would wear, but they have not been available to me. I want women to feel beautiful, confident and fierce when they put on every garment. Each piece is made with that intention in mind.”
She says it was her mission to create a line that catered for all women of different shapes and sizes. “Not many brands were able to offer me a wide size range that I was so passionate about. I wanted to create a line that everyone could wear and not just plus-sized women.”
McGrady’s modelling career was already booming when featured her as its curviest model for the fourth time in this year’s popular annual swimsuit edition. She says she is thrilled the magazine is featuring more mid- to plus-sized models.
“It is wonderful. They are really on the forefront of this body image movement,” she says. “They know the importance of showcasing all types of beauty. I feel very grateful to have been in their pages for four years in a row. They are such an incredible team.”
