"Being the Change: A Look at Robin Lawley" by Natalie Bauer
Robyn Lawley was the first plus-sized model to be on the cover of Australian Vogue. She has also been one of Sydney Magazine’s Top 100 Influential People. She was diagnosed with Lupus and APS at 25 after the birth of her daughter. Robyn made the news in 2018 not for a new front-page cover but for having an accident related to her lupus that caused her a serious head injury and facial damage. Her accident led to a public dialogue about disability and a whole other aspect of body inclusivity in the modeling industry. As a plus-size model, Robyn has been challenging media and fashion industry norms throughout her illustrious career. Integrating her disabled identity into her work has brought much-needed advocacy and conversation around industry inclusivity and body positivity around visible and invisible disabilities, an area that can fall into the shadows of the body positivity movement. Robyn has been bringing these, and more important inclusivity topics to the public through her new Audible podcast, Every Body with Robyn Lawley.
As a disabled model myself, I am thankful that Robyn and people like her are being the change we need to bring advocacy, inclusivity, and a safe space for everyone in the media and in the modeling and fashion industries. I grew up thinking the modeling, entertainment, and fashion industries were not for me, I didn’t see people like me. I grew up without mentors to look up to and for a long time I tried to fit myself into a standard that I wasn’t and that causes emotional damage. It is a long and ongoing self love journey to be proud and safe in my identity. I couldn’t have started my modeling career if I hadn’t done (and still do) a lot of self work. I am thrilled to see inclusion ever expanding in the industries and am hopeful for all the people growing up now, seeing representations of themselves in the media.
"I would like to see more disabled bodies. I would like to see more intersex bodies, and trans bodies. I would like to see more ethnicities and ages," (Lawley on fashion industry inclusion quoted in MamaMia.com.au).
Find her on Instagram.
Enjoy her podcast on Audible.
Robyn Lawley’s Website.
As a disabled model myself, I am thankful that Robyn and people like her are being the change we need to bring advocacy, inclusivity, and a safe space for everyone in the media and in the modeling and fashion industries. I grew up thinking the modeling, entertainment, and fashion industries were not for me, I didn’t see people like me. I grew up without mentors to look up to and for a long time I tried to fit myself into a standard that I wasn’t and that causes emotional damage. It is a long and ongoing self love journey to be proud and safe in my identity. I couldn’t have started my modeling career if I hadn’t done (and still do) a lot of self work. I am thrilled to see inclusion ever expanding in the industries and am hopeful for all the people growing up now, seeing representations of themselves in the media.
"I would like to see more disabled bodies. I would like to see more intersex bodies, and trans bodies. I would like to see more ethnicities and ages," (Lawley on fashion industry inclusion quoted in MamaMia.com.au).
Find her on Instagram.
Enjoy her podcast on Audible.
Robyn Lawley’s Website.