Shoppers have taken to social media to criticise fashion brand In The Style’s latest body positivity campaign after they announced a collaboration with blogger Chessie King.
Taking to social media to announce the news of the partnership with the size 12 influencer, the online fashion store revealed: ‘We have been working with self love queen @chessiekingg for the last few months on a super cute range we are very proud of and it’s all about sisterhood, body confidence and loving yourself a little more 🌟.’
Chessie has amassed nearly 600 thousand followers on her Instagram account, where she shares body positive content and bares her ‘stomach rolls’ and cellulite in the hope of normalising parts of the female body that some women are ashamed of.
Amid the launch of the clothing line, many social media users were quick to hit back at In The Style for choosing ‘thin’ Chessie for the project, with Bethany Rutter, author of plus size fashion publication Plus+, writing: ‘This is one of the most absurd things I’ve ever seen.
MORE: Mum claims Lush Dream Cream ‘cured’ her son’s eczema in just one week
‘A range themed around a thin person promoting body confidence likes yes, I would imagine you are confident about your body...
‘Can thin people have insecurities about their bodies? Yes. But is it useful to frame conversations about bodies around normative bodies? No.’
More irritated people came out in force to criticise Chessie’s online presence, with one accusing her of forcing her body into positions to look a certain way.
They wrote: ‘I just can’t with her, the contestant hunching over or pushing her stomach out to look like she has rolls and simultaneously pulling these sad or funny facial expressions is just performative as she is NOT FAT AND HAS NEVER BEEN FAT! Argh.’
In response to the backlash, Adam Frisby, founder of In The Style, told the Mail Online: ‘We are saddened by a small minority view on our recent Chessie King campaign.
‘Chessie is someone who we purposefully reached out to to collaborate with not just because of the body positive attitude she adopts, but the self love messages that resonates on her social media.
‘Chessie, who is a size 12, has been shamed as being 'thin', yet seemingly that 'positive discrimination' voiced by some denies her the right of being able to tell women it's okay to be themselves'
