Beautiful like a doll, and just as cool!
23-year-old Barbie (short for Barbara) was born in New York and raised by her Brazilian mother and grandmother. Active as a model and actress, her career began several years ago at American Apparel. She has also worked with brands like Aerie, Adidas, Forever 21, H&M, Missguided, Asos, Diesel and many more.
Her real breakthrough happened in 2016 with a campaign for Aerie, where the photos were shown completely unedited. The interview went viral and garnered many views. Barbie is also very active in the body-positivity movement and was named in Time Magazine’s “30 Most Influential Teens” list that same year. In an interview with the Australian magazine Oyster, she also commented on the words “plus-size” and “fat”. She said that “fat” in particular is a simple adjective that should be used with less association to negative emotions and more loving ones. We love and encourage this attitude!
With her unique outfits and unconventional style, Barbie Ferreira shows off a very confident and inspiring vibe on Instagram and has accumulated over 2 million followers.
Not only do we think Barbie’s look is totally cool, but we also admire her attitude toward the plus-size community. In another interview with Teen-Vogue she shared that the feeling of togetherness is very important to her and that more and more progress is being made in the area of inclusive fashion, but there is still a lot of work to do. Many brands often choose just one plus-size or off-standard model for their campaigns to show the world that they are inclusive. But that is by no means enough. Not only white, fat women should be shown who also have an hourglass figure. What about all the different shapes that exist? Overweight disabled people? Or also different ethnicities?
We find Barbie’s attitude really inspiring and hope that this young woman will achieve and accomplish a whole lot more! Her commitment to body confidence and acceptance is amazing!
We love you Barbie! You are beautiful, inside and out!
Edited and translated by April Verite.
