The Model Who Broke the Luxury Ceiling
For decades, the luxury fashion establishment maintained an unspoken rule: high fashion was for thin bodies. Plus-size models could work in commercial fashion, catalogue shoots, and mid-market campaigns. But Chanel, Fendi, Lanvin, Versace — the houses that defined taste — those runways were reserved for women who wore a sample size.
Paloma Elsesser shattered that divide.
The London-New York Story
Born in 1997 in London to a Swiss-German mother and African American father, Elsesser grew up between London and New York. She was studying at The New School in Manhattan when an Instagram post caught the attention of a casting director. The photo was unposed, unretouched, and radiated a confidence that felt entirely new.
Pat McGrath — the legendary makeup artist whose opinion carries more weight than most editors' — saw something in Elsesser and featured her in a campaign. The fashion world noticed.
Breaking the Luxury Barrier
Elsesser's career milestones read like a systematic dismantling of fashion's size prejudice:
- 2019: Featured in the Fenty Beauty campaign alongside Rihanna
- 2020: Walked for Coach, Lanvin, and multiple New York Fashion Week shows
- 2021: Walked for Fendi, Versace, and Valentino — three of the most prestigious houses in fashion
- 2022: Featured in the relaunched Victoria's Secret campaign as part of the brand's pivot toward inclusivity
- Appeared on the cover of Vogue, i-D, The Cut, and dozens of international fashion publications
- Named Model of the Year by models.com in 2023
The Difference from Previous Plus-Size Models
What made Elsesser's breakthrough different from Ashley Graham's was the context. Graham opened the door in commercial fashion and swimwear. Elsesser walked through the door of luxury — the segment that had been most resistant to size diversity.
When she walked for Fendi, she wasn't in a special "inclusive" section of the show. She was in the lineup, wearing the same designer's vision, on the same runway. This was normalization, not tokenism.
The Lingerie Connection
Elsesser's impact on the lingerie industry was both direct and symbolic:
- Her work with Victoria's Secret represented the brand's most dramatic casting shift in its history
- She modeled for Savage X Fenty, reinforcing Rihanna's inclusive vision
- Her presence in luxury campaigns changed what lingerie brands believed they could cast — if Versace could feature a plus-size model, so could any lingerie company
The Intellectual Model
Elsesser is notably articulate about the politics of her position. She has spoken and written extensively about:
- The difference between tokenism and genuine inclusion
- How the fashion industry uses "diversity" as a marketing tool without structural change
- The intersection of race and size in beauty standards
- The pressure placed on plus-size models to be "grateful" for opportunities that should be standard
Why She Matters
Elsesser didn't just model lingerie for bigger bodies — she modeled it on runways that had never before considered those bodies worthy of the invitation. She moved the conversation from "should plus-size models exist in fashion?" to "why weren't they always here?"
The model who didn't open a door. She proved the wall was never necessary.