Ashley Graham reveals designers not interested to design for ‘bigger body

Ashley Graham addresses ongoing resistance from fashion designers for making sizes for bigger body

Ashley Graham has recently opened up about ongoing resistance from fashion designers for making sizes for bigger body. “There's still some designers that have said, 'Sorry, we can't, we're just not going to design something for a bigger body,’” said the model in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE during appearance at Good American's open casting call event at The Row in Los Angeles over the weekend. Graham mentioned, “Things have changed immensely in some ways and just have had a full stop in others.” “And that is why I'm not going to stop talking about my body and dressing people of larger sizes because it's not a norm yet,” stated the 36-year-old. Graham revealed that new fashion brands wanted to make clothes for her but bigger bodies needed more fabric and charged more money. The model shared that she usually “pays for the extra fabric” so that designers, who don’t have the money, could have the opportunity to design Graham’s outfit. She told the outlet, “That's not a negative thing by any means, but it still is just where we are in society.” Graham pointed out that even though the fashion industry is changing, “more progress needs to be made”. “If you look at the runways, not much has changed,” she remarked. Graham said, “If you look at designers, some of them are dressing different types of bodies, but it's not the norm.” Reflecting on the issue, the model noted, “Is it fatphobia? Is it that they're scared to look like they have fallen into commercialism? Is it because they don't have the capability to be able to understand what true grading is on different types of bodies when it comes to breast, belly, butt cellulite?” “I don’t know,” she added.