Size-22 Model Tess Holliday Gets Flirty in Photo Shoot With Torrid—Go Behind the Scenes!

Plus-size model gives E! News a behind-the-scenes look

By Nicole Adlman Mar 03, 2015 8:30 PMTags
Tess Holliday, TorridTorrid

Tess Holliday went girlie-glam in a new campaign for Torrid—and we got a behind-the-scenes look at her playful, sexy shoot!

The 29-year-old Mississippi native appeared comfortable and flirty in front of the camera as she modeled spring-ready duds from the popular plus-size clothing brand. It's obvious that Holliday has come into her own as one of the most recognized plus-size beauties in the biz: Back in January, Holliday and MiLK Model Management announced a new partnership via Instagram.

Before that, however, Holliday made waves in an editorial for Vogue Italia and with her #effyourbeautystandards campaign, a movement that calls for men and women to embrace their individual body types and believe in beauty beyond the thin-is-in zeitgeist.

Watch: Size-22 Model Tess Holliday Strikes a Pose for Torrid

The behind-the-scenes vid offers an interview with Holliday, who started shopping at Torrid when she was 15.

"I've learned through modeling that there were so many options with clothing in the plus-size community," Holliday shared. "Years ago we were really limited, but now with companies like Torrid and other brands there are so many options to shop for your body."

The shoot was obviously a fun one: It was "dog day" on the Torrid set, and the model can be seen getting kisses from a pup in her makeup chair. A mix of Dolly Parton, Sia and other feel-good tunes played while she worked her stuff for the camera.

Holliday—who formerly modeled under the name Tess Munster—explains that plus-size fashion doesn't have to be any less daring, sexy or well-fit than its counterpart.

"You don't have to worry about wearing bad prints paired with a bad fit," she said of shopping in Torrid. "You can wear what you want to wear, you can feel good and you can embrace your body and not have to cover it up with bad clothing." (Tess' style faves, FYI, include "anything that shows my stomach off, [with] high slits—really, anything sexy.")

Torrid

With over 500,000 followers on Instagram and even more than that on Facebook, the brunette beauty's outreach has continued to grow. Holliday mentions that the "connection" with her followers is one of the most rewarding aspects of her #effyourbeautystandards campaign.

"I'm a firm believer that everyone should dress how they want to dress and rock what they want to rock—it's part of why I started my #effyourbeautystandards movement. It's really all about being yourself," she said. "The more or less you want to wear, you should be able to do it and feel good about yourself and feel sexy and not hold back."