Ashley Graham,patron saint of curve-flaunting, is launching the denim capsule her fans have long been waiting for in partnership with Italian plus-size brand Marina Rinaldi. The line will debut September 22 (that’s tomorrow! ) during Milan Fashion Weekand will be available for purchase in January 2018.
Graham has already fronted two campaigns for the brand, which boasts over 300 stores worldwide, including in London, New York, and Los Angeles.
“This allows for extra comfort,” Lynne Webber, Marina Rinaldi’s managing director, toldWWD. “It’s very difficult for plus-size customers to find the right fit with denim and we wanted to use comfortable fabrics that have a super recovery quality and dress all silhouettes. ”
“Ashley is a super positive role model with a vast following on social media. The capsule is centered on Ashley as a typical consumer, there is an identification with her,” Webber added.
While plus-size clothing options have slowly begun to expand in recent years thanks to websites like ModCloth and ASOS and inclusive designers like Christian Siriano, denim options that go beyond size 12 are still woefully few.
Graham, an outspoken activist for the body positive community, has been a pioneer in the fashion industry, breaking barriers as the first plus-size model to cover Sports Illustrated and walking the runway last season for Michael Kors.
“I got most of my confidence by having a mother who never said ‘I don’t like this or this. ’ It was just, ‘You’ve got to love what you have because it is the only body that has been given. ’ I know that is where a lot of my confidence came from,” Graham told Vogue in 2014.
No word yet on how much Graham’s jeans will cost, but most of Marina Rinaldi’s denim hovers between $100 – $300, making it a reasonably affordable investment. After all, jeans are a workhorse in pretty much every stylish woman’s closet.
