Model iskra: “Perfect doesn’t exist – I love my curves”
After defying claims she was “too big” to model, Iskra Lawrence is championing body diversity
She wowed on the S beach last week during a Californian photo shoot, and her modelling career is going from strength to strength. But Iskra Lawrence wasn’t always so confident. The 26-year-old British catwalk star was dropped from a modelling agency as a size 10 teen because she was deemed “too big” and has experienced body shaming.
Opening up to her 2.6 million Instagram followers on how she bounced back, size 14 Iskra – who starred on the catwalk at New York Fashion Week in September – wrote last year: “I never fitted in – I was dropped for being too big then rejected for being too small for plus-size modelling. But I’m proud of who I am... There’s no one else in the world like me and I love this body...”
Unlike some stars who alter their bodies on social media with editing apps, Iskra has a “no-photoshop” policy for both her personal Instagram account and for her professional modelling shoots. She is the leading model for lingerie brand Aerie, whose ads have been Photoshop-free since 2014.
Iskra hit the headlines this year after a bodyshamer on Instagram called her a “fat cow,” adding: “The NHS is f***ed because of people like her eating too many crisps.”
Iskra responded with a photo of her lying on crisp packets, saying: “This is for anyone who has ever been called fat.”
Now Iskra says she looks after her body with regular exercise and good food – but treats herself, too. She works out three to four times a week and does a mixture of weight-lifting, squats and high-intensity interval training. She eats “normally,” admitting that while she eats healthily most of the time, she won’t say no to a doughnut – and adores pizza.
“‘Perfect’ doesn’t exist,” Iskra says. “All those ‘flawsome’ things are what makes you you. You are one of a kind and that’s beautiful.”