This is what a typical fashion show looks like:

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A cast of white, rail-thin, super-tall models. This is the reason the fashion world has been so controversial for the past decade and a half: since the "heroin chic" look took off in the nineties, diversity seems to have been all but completely sapped from the high fashion magazine editorials and runway shows that are supposed to project what "beauty" looks like to the entire world. Yet now, the world's top modeling agency IMG, which represents everyone from Gisele to Joan Smalls to Kate Upton, is starting an initiative to sign models of all shapes, sizes, ages, races, and heights.

"We want to be an ageless, raceless, weightless agency," IMG Models Senior Vice President and Managing Director Ivan Bart told Cosmopolitan.com exclusively in New York Saturday at a career summit put on by Cosmopolitan magazine, the Council of Fashion Designers of America, and Lancome. "We just want to represent the best people in the industry."

IMG won't segment new signees who don't fit the standard fashion model size-zero, 5' 10"-tall mold into their own division. Rather, they'll sit on the agency's board alongside its current roster of supermodels. Giving a size 8, 5' 6" model the same significance as a size zero, 6' one sends a powerful message to the fashion industry, which has largely reduced beauty to one size, shape, height, and race for a very long time. Finally, one of the biggest, most influential players in fashion is making a huge move to recognize that beauty goes far beyond fitting into sample size.

Bart thinks social media has brought heightened awareness to diverse images of beauty not commonly seen on high fashion runways. "I feel like the consumer wants to see themselves," he said. "Sure, there are women who are naturally thin and can fit into sample sizes, and the plus size market begins at a size 12, but where is the average consumer represented from a size 2 to 10?"

"We just want to represent the best," Bart continued. "With this new way of thinking, I can tell women who work so hard to get into the sample size, 'Eat! Be yourself, just be the best you can be — exactly how you are!' For us, as long as the talent is at a healthy weight that he or she and his or her doctor believe is right for them, and they're exercising, since that's a healthy way of life, then the industry should reflect that."

Bart has seen the power and influence of models who aren't size zero. He pointed out that Tara Lynn, a "plus-size" (though Bart hates the label) model represented by IMG, has been getting amazing, steady work throughout her career. Tara Lynn — who has covered Italian Vogue and French Elle — currently covers Spanish Elle.

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Bart believes the industry can shift to include many, many more models of diverse sizes. "You can stand outside with a picket sign, but I feel like the best way is to change the industry is from within," he said. "We might not win in certain aspects of it and it might take a while for companies to adapt to what we're trying to do, because we still have to work with the industry and if they ask for a sample size, we have to deliver." Bart hopes IMG can "switch up the ask" and send clients models who have 40-inch hips if they're better suited the job than a sample size model with 34-inch hips. Now, "if you don't fit the sample size, you might not be working, which is what sparked this new integration," Bart explained. "I'm not saying that everyone is going to be receptive to it, but we're going to try."

Bart is also working to mold IMG into an ageless agency. "At IMG, if you're a talented model, we're going to work with whatever you are," he said, noting IMG's roster of talented fortysomething models, including Carolyn Murphy and Stephanie Seymour. IMG also represents Kate Moss, one of the biggest earners in the busines, who turns 40 in January. Christie Brinkley, the legendary supermodel whose career is still soaring at the age of 59, recently signed. And IMG boasts 83-year-old beauty China Machado, the current face of Cole Haan. "At 83 years old, she is more vibrant and has more personality than most people," Bart said.

The agency's efforts to represent models of all races will continue. "We've always tried to find the most diversely beautiful women in the world, and we can always do better," Bart said. "But as of now, we do represent a lot of the top African Amercian, Brazilian, and Asian models."

Because men are also beautiful in all shapes, heights, and sizes, the agency's men's division will continue to grow (after a hiatus from the men's market, IMG brought its men's division back in 2012). "Young men today moisturize because that's what you do," Bart explained. "They also have a great love for clothing and apparel, so we needed a representation of men that the market could connect to."

Now, it's up to the fashion industry to join IMG in its mission to vastly expand the definition of beauty it projects to the world. The agency can make a lot of progress, but they can't do this alone.

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Carly Cardellino Carly Cardellino was the beauty director at Cosmopolitan.

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