Why Forever 21 is in hot water over their plus-size Instagram

When news broke that Forever 21 launched their plus-size line back in January (with Ashley Graham starring), the entire Internet celebrated. After all, we’re talking about a major retailer championing body diversity — what could be better? However, the brand is currently in some trouble over their Instagram account. Many customers weren’t exactly thrilled with their idea of curvy women, believing Forever 21 was using models that were too small to actually qualify as “plus-size.”

Many customers felt as though Forever 21 was breaking its promise to portray plus-size women instead of the typical super-thin fashion model we all see so often.

“This is so depressing that she’s considered plus sized,” wrote one commenter.

“I was her size in grade school and I thought I was fat because of advertising like this,” another replied.

“You do realize that in society’s world plus sized is anything over a size 0,” wrote another.

“This gorgeous lady is not a realistic representation of a plus size babe,” wrote another commenter about the image above. “. . . Maybe though I should thank you for reminding me that whilst shopping online there are MANY other plus size retailers who make a legitimate effort for their plus size babely customers, and are more deserving of my [money].”

According to AOL, Forever21 has since deleted some of their more controversial images, and to their credit, they also have posted various pictures that seem to strike a chord with many plus-size customers, including one featuring Tess Holliday and Priscilla Ono.

Though Forever21 needs to reconsider the way it’s representing its brand, we’re happy that the conversation has been started. Every woman deserves to be able to see her body represented in fashion, and slowly but surely, we;re seeing that happen.

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