Four years ago, Aerie made the game-changing commitment to stop retouching their photos. It was a huge move for any fashion brand to make, much less one known for their swimwear, intimates and activewear offerings. In an industry riddled with airbrushing overload and unrealistic body standards, their decision sent the important message loud and clear that real is beautiful. While other brands including Missguided have since followed suit and announced that they, too would stop photoshopping their imagery, we still have a long way to go before the practice is commonplace (or at least not the exception) within the fashion world, and before women of all shapes, colors, sizes, and body types are equally represented.
Last year, model and body positivity activist Iskra Lawrence was named the first #AerieREAL Role Model, meaning that she would front campaigns for the brand and appear at pop-ups and in stores around the country to share her fitness and lifestyle tips and help spread the message of self-love. Iskra, who is an ambassador with the National Eating Disorder Association, has been working with Aerie since 2014, and has been hugely influential within the body positivity movement and beyond. "When I saw the AerieREAL campaign I immediately put it on my vision board! I’d never seen a brand align with my values the way Aerie did," reveals Iskra, who booked her first shoot with the brand within six months of moving to the United States. "I knew after meeting the Aerie team that I wanted to work more closely with the brand; I was living in the brand, creating ideas and posting on social media. We saw a larger role together and that’s how the AerieREAL role model concept came about."
Today, Aerie has announced that three new inspiring women have joined Iskra as #AerieREAL Role Models and trust us, they deserve the title tenfold. Actress and activist Yara Shahidi, Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman and singer/songwriter Rachel Platten will also work with the brand to help spread messages of female empowerment and body positivity. “I couldn’t be more excited for the #AerieREAL Role Model community to grow because we need voices,” says Iskra. “We need diversity. I want every girl to feel like she has someone to look up to.”
The role models will be participating in Real Talk speaking engagements, appearing in brand campaigns and sharing their own stories of their journeys towards self-love both in-person and in videos (you can watch a few of them below), ensuring their voices are available to anyone who wants to hear them. “We are very passionate about our mission to make all girls feel good about their real selves,” says Jennifer Foyle, Aerie’s Global Brand President. “In the four years since it started, #AerieREAL has grown from a no retouching campaign into a movement focused on body positivity and empowerment. Now, more than ever, is a time for women to stand together. #AerieREAL Role Models will encourage girls to love their REAL selves, support one another and share how they are role models, too.”
The Aerie ambassadors are indeed exceptional women and exemplify what it means to be empowered game changers who build others up. Iskra continues to work passionately with NEDA and advocate for self-love; Aly is not only a gold medal athlete, but a survivor of sexual abuse who bravely came forward to very publicly testify against her abuser alongside fellow survivors; Yara uses her platform as an incredible actress to voice support to movements and causes she deeply cares about like female empowerment and increasing voter turnout in the 2018 midterms; Rachel is a talented artist who uses her honest music to uplift others and sings to patients at local hospitals. In short, they use their influence to affect positive change. “In being more vulnerable and having the courage to share my truths even more, I’ve learned that more people feel like that gives them permission to do the same,” says Rachel.
The gorgeously shot campaign captured the strength, confidence, and love that the role models all embody, each in their own personal ways. “It’s really important and exciting to be part of the campaign with three other really strong women,” says Aly. “We’re all unique and different in our own ways but we’re coming together to try to help spread the messaging that focusing on the inside is what’s more important than what’s on the outside.” When she was younger, Aly felt insecure about the muscles she developed as a gymnast, as boys at school would make fun of her and make her to feel like she wasn’t feminine because of them. “I’ve learned to be proud of my muscles—they’ve made me into a successful athlete. Girls should never feel self conscious or insecure because they are muscular—you have to embrace it and be proud of who you are,” she says. “Rachel and I were talking before our Aerie shoot and we don’t everyone to think that it was easy for us,” she continues. “We felt nervous to do it but that’s the whole point; we’re trying to change things so that there’s not so much pressure on women to be perfect. Women more than ever have to be there for each other and lift each other up.”
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Along with appearing in Aerie’s new campaign images and speaking at the brand’s in-store Real Talk engagements ("they're about having open dialogues and connecting with others. Personally, I hope what people will take away from them is a greater ability to love themselves," explains Iskra), the four women will also be designing a selection of exclusive products for the brand. They will go on sale in March and 100% of their sales will benefit a charity of the role models’ choice. “I love supporting causes and movements that help perpetuate this idea of people rising together,” says Yara. By standing alongside other inspiring women in support of all women, she’s doing just that.
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Watch the #AerieREAL Role Model campaign videos below!
