This curvy teen model just dropped the mic on body image with her new Aerie campaign
There are a *lot* of reasons to love 19-year-old model Barbie Ferreira. She’s not only an incredibly talented and body-positive model (she’s modeled for American Apparel and appeared in Seventeen magazine), but she uses her social media influence (which is extensive over 65k followers on Twitter and 223k on Instagram) to preach the incredibly important message of body diversity and self-confidence.
Now, Barbie is totally killing it in Aerie’s latest swimsuit campaign, and we are the epitome of the heart eye emoji right now.
The 2016 spring “The Real You Is Sexy” campaign, which was shot at a pool in Palm Springs and aims to promote “loving your REAL self,” features Barbie alongside three other models. All photos, like Aerie’s other campaigns, are unretouched, and we’re totally in love with Barbie (and her super cute pink bikini).
“I am unapologetically myself, no matter what anyone’s opinion is,” she says in the video. “Not being retouched in the images is something that’s very important to me, people knowing that that’s what I look like without anyone’s perception of what my body needs to look like.”
“The world needs more women who are so strong. . . women find out that they’re just doing it for themselves, and that’s the most powerful thing in the world, and it inspires me,” she says.
The campaign has been receiving a shower of praise from women who admire and are inspired by Barbie and her beautiful self-confidence. One comment in particular from an eight-year-old girl and her big sister touched Barbie so much that she posted it on Twitter, captioning it “Why I wake up every morning.”
— barbie (@boredbarbara) January 21, 2016
One thing’s for sure: Barbie’s making a difference, and she will soon be a household name with how she’s been totally slaying. Thanks, Barbie, for standing up for what’s right in the world and helping girls and women around the world love their beautiful bodies.
(Images via Twitter, Instagram.)
