at the auditions of a recent tv model hunt asking even slightly curvy modelling hopefuls to shed weight the fault partly lies with our entrenched culture of fatshaming everyone from your friendly aunty to your best friend has advice to give says gurgaonbased pallavi verma an iim graduate who is tired of the assumption that she is lazy or keeps an unhealthy diet last year the 36yearold verma a telecom firm employee signed up as a plussize model to tell the world there was no need to judge in fact some overweight people are far healthier than their slimmer counterparts clarifies the gorgeous verma who recently participated in the walk of hope in which she covered 500 km on foot however the farthest she got to landing work as a plussize model was last november when an indian garment exporter testing clothes for the italian market told the 36yearold that her measurements were perfect well almost unfortunately your waist is two inches larger than the requirement she was told a few lucky and fair ones do land assignments recently kolkatas sanjeevani vyas a 24yearold banker who weighs 110 kgs was hired by an american apparel brand because of her milky complexion and height that was the first time i wore a jumpsuit recalls the 5 ft 11 inches tall vyas who will soon model for an international denim brand that is launching a 40 plus waist size in india though these assignments are rare and dont pay much vyas got rs 10000 they can be transformative i wear short dresses now says vyas whose colleagues noticed the change even reading congratulatory comments when they upload glamorous selfies encourages them to experiment with their look i would never expose my arms or legs earlier says verma who now carries off kneelength trousers and offshoulder tops with a flourish which surprised her husband i also got the confidence to try deep necks says verma who even does parttime alternative therapy counselling in her sessions she meets several clients with body image issues i ask them to look at nature says verma does a watermelon aspire to be a banana the more the merrier its exploded is how tess holliday the worlds first size22 model describes the global plussize modelling scene in an email interview we now see plus size models walking in new york fashion week appearing on covers of magazines and wearing major designers there are also more companies making plus size clothing and recognizing that they need models who resemble their customers but there are still hurdles we dont get paid as much as other models because our options are limited says 29yearold holliday to truly change societys perceptions of beauty diversity would be key feels holliday we need more women of colour and larger models social media believes holliday can help push for the cause i am proof of that