The official Model of the year has been announced! Pamela Elsesser is the 2023 model of the year, the first plus size model in history to ever win model of the year. Within the Fashion Industry there are many body standards placed that make models and many who would like to be a model try everything they can to achieve said body. Pamela has officially pushed that boundary and showed that you don’t need to be skinny or have a certain figure to become a model.

When I asked Tahoma’s Fashion teacher: Mrs.Durrett “What do you think about what people are saying about Pamela Elsesser winning?” She made a few very good points about how she is showing so much diversity in a world of body standards. She mentioned how when she was growing up people looked up to Twiggy, “the world’s first supermodel” who was very skinny. She said that made many feel like that’s how they had to look like and nothing else. This year’s fashion has proven that diversity is coming to the fashion industry and seeing Pamela win shows that no matter what shape or size you are, you can dominate in any industry your heart sets out to.

Yet another great point brought up by Mrs.Durrett is how she didn’t set herself up to be a model. Pamela Elsesser wanted to study psychology or become an author before becoming a full-time model. Mrs.Durrett talked about how people could become upset because she didn’t set out to be a model in the first place, unlike others who could be going to castings everyday or being set out to be a model, for example Adriana Lima the famous Victoria’s Secret model who desired to be a nun but ended up signing with Victoria’s Secret and becoming one of the world’s top models.

Throughout the internet you can find comments after Pamela’s announced win saying “Anok was robbed” or “Runway’s only belong to skinny and tall girls” yet Pamela and many other models are proving every runway show that everybody belongs in the modeling industry, no matter your shape or size.