Missouri-born model Tess Holliday made headlines earlier this year when she was the first truly plus-size model to sign with a major modeling agency. In January, Anna Shillinglaw, the owner and director of the U.K-based agency, told the Daily News, “I think we’re the only agency with a model of her size. She is by far the largest model I have in the [Curves] division.”

At 260 pounds and a size 22, many would argue that 29-year-old Holliday, whose real name is Tess Munster, isn’t just plus-size, but obese. Models like Myla Dalbesio, Ashley Graham, and Robyn Lawley—all of whom both media and the fashion industry have deemed plus-size—are really just normal sized women (with exceptional features) who clock in around size 12 or 14. Holliday is significantly larger, but she’s also just hit a very significant milestone in the career of a model: Holliday’s on the cover of People magazine.

Models have been struggling to take back the magazine cover since Anna Wintour started handing A-list actresses the coveted spot in the early ’90s. Only this year, thanks to their booming social media presence, have models like Karlie Kloss and Cara Delevingne started making their way onto covers. But Holliday, whom the magazine calls “The World’s First Size 22 Supermodel,” is making an even bigger splash. She tells the magazine, “My phone still hasn’t stopped ringing. It’s good, but it’s a lot!”

After trying to model for 14 years, she’s now the face of Benefit and Torrid, with plenty more to come. Holliday says she was bullied, even receiving death threats, as a teenager. “Nobody was interested,” she says of her first open casting when she was 15, but she stuck with it: “I just knew that I could do it. I wasn’t the best, and I still am not the best. The key to it is just doing it.”



A mere mention in People, let alone the cover, elevates a person to household name status in America. So while the word “supermodel” might be a stretch at this point, there’s a good chance Holliday really is on track to fame outside the fashion and modeling industry. What that means for America’s evolving ideals regarding body shape and size, however, remains to be seen.

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