Tuesday, 25 February 2014

Size 16 model Whitney Thompson flies the flag for plus-size women in her latest fun and flirty lingerie campaign

Size 16 model Whitney Thompson flies the flag for plus-size women in her latest fun and flirty lingerie campaign 

  • Whitney Thompson, 26, is former winner of America's Next Top Model 
  • Latest project is as star of Panache's new tropical lingerie range
  • Passionate about supporting and developing the plus-size market
  • Model has worked with Rihanna and launched plus-size dating site
  • Says she eats whats she wants and will only exercise if she feels like it
Whitney Thompson is used to breaking boundaries. She was the first ever plus-size winner in the history of America’s Next Top Model and has since launched a plus-size dating site, worked with pop royalty Rihanna and fronted hundreds of campaigns.
Her latest? Flying the flag for plus-size women in a fun and flirty new lingerie campaign.
The 26-year-old, who won the modelling show back in 2008, stars in a tropical photoshoot for Panache's Sculptresse range.
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New gig: Plus-size model Whitney Thompson is the new face and body of Panache's lingerie range
New gig: Plus-size model Whitney Thompson is the new face and body of Panache's lingerie range
Posing in an American style diner, Whitney models the vibrant and playful lingerie, which is available from a 36-46in back and from a D-J cup, to perfection.
American-born Whitney is extremely vocal with her views on the plus-size industry and has become a poster girl for fuller-figured women. 
    ‘If men were only attracted to women who looked like Victoria Beckham, then we would all look like her. But they’re not and that’s why we are all different shapes and sizes,' she told MailOnline last year.
    Whitney has taken it upon herself to spread her message to the masses in her role as an ambassador for the National Eating Disorder Association.
    Floral fancies: Whitney, 26, models the vibrant and exotic lingerie, which is available from 36-46in back and from a D-J cup, to perfection
    Floral fancies: Whitney, 26, models the vibrant and exotic lingerie, which is available from 36-46in back and from a D-J cup, to perfection
    She travels to Universities all over the States and attends global charity events to support the cause.
    Speaking about her work, she said: ‘After winning the show I knew I wanted to be involved in philanthropy and as the only plus-size model in the history of the show I knew I needed to do something in touch with that; it felt like a good fit for me.
    ‘University age is when you’re deciding who you’re going to be for the rest of your life so I love that I’m impacting on people.’
    And it seems like her hard work is paying off. She was recently named one of the most influential women in the world, beating off stiff competition from the likes of Hilary Clinton and Michelle Obama.
    Stellar career: Whitney won America's Next Top Model back in 2008 and has since landed top campaigns and even launched her own dating site
    Edit
    Stellar career: Whitney won America's Next Top Model back in 2008 and has since landed top campaigns and even launched her own dating site


    One thing Whitney refuses to do is bow to pressure to eat less or exercise more in the name of her figure.
    ‘I travel all the time, I haven’t been home in over a year because I am literally on a plane every other day’ (she was recently photographed in 200 outfits in one day during a shoot in Istanbul.)
    ‘When I can and I have the energy, I run because it’s the easiest thing to do but I don’t ever do anything I don’t want to do.
    ‘I’ll eat what I want to and I think that’s the problem – people stop listening to their bodies and start listening to the media.
    ‘We have a multi-million pound diet industry that wants us to think we are fat so they succeed, they get our favourite celebrities on board and the problem is that no one is listening to themselves.
    Mouthpiece: Whitney has long championed a fuller figure and refuses to bow to pressure to diet or lose weight
    Mouthpiece: Whitney has long championed a fuller figure and refuses to bow to pressure to diet or lose weight
    ‘If I want a steak and chips, I am going to eat it and when I feel like going on a run, I will.
    ‘But I’m never going to force myself to do that. Life is too short; I could walk outside and get hit by a bus so I may as well eat what I want to eat,’ she said.
    ‘At the end of the day, you have to look in the mirror and say: “This is it, this is the only body I’ve got.”
    ‘I’ve definitely been criticised for marching to the beat of my own drum but I take pride in that. You can’t listen to anyone.
    Charitable: When she's not modelling, Whitney travels to Universities all over the States and attends global charity events to support the cause
    Charitable: When she's not modelling, Whitney travels to Universities all over the States and attends global charity events to support the cause
    ‘It hurts. I’ll get called a fat cow or that I am huge. People are harsh. The show is in over one hundred countries so I get hate mail from lots of people but the fan mail is worth so much more than that.
    ‘The reason I went on top model was because I wanted to live out my motto: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”. 
    ‘There was no other plus-size model that was really outspoken about the industry and I feel like I have accomplished everything that was on my check-list.
    ‘If I did stop modelling tomorrow, I would be satisfied with the work I have done.’
    Whitney walks down the catwalk at a Versace fashion show as part of the final series 10 ANTM show
    Big break: Whitney walks on the catwalk at a Versace fashion show as part of the final series 10 ANTM show



    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2567325/Size-16-model-Whitney-Thompson-flies-flag-plus-size-women-latest-fun-flirty-lingerie-campaign.html#ixzz2uM0drfUm
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