There’s a new modeling agency in town — but traditional toothpick-thin types need not apply, as the starting size at JAG is about an 8.
Just don’t call them a “plus-size” business.
“We’re the first agency not distinguishing between sizes,” says JAG co-founder Gary Dakin, who ran the “plus board,” as the bigger-size division was known, at Ford before the company closed it down — and he subsequently split off to found his own firm with partner Jaclyn Sarka. The two have a combined 25 years of experience at Ford.
“We wanted to be about beauty of all shapes and sizes,” says Dakin, whose agency officially opened its doors July 1.
It’s certainly an auspicious time to focus on curvier, more normal-size models, who have been highly visible lately thanks to prominent shoots with voluptuous model of the moment Kate Upton (Sports Illustrated, GQ) and companies like H&M, which recently featured now-JAG model Jennie Runk, a size 14, in the campaign for its Beyoncé line of swimwear — without calling her out for being plus-size. The ensuing public scrutiny of the shoot media to defend her body type and the ads.
JAG model Georgina Burke shows off her killer size-14 curves, which have appeared in ads for Saks, Macy’s and more. (Courtesy of JAG Models)
Size-10 model Myla Dalbesio oozes sex appeal in a 2010 Elle Italia feature. (Courtesy of JAG Models)
McKenzie Raley says models, like women, should cover the size spectrum. (Courtesy of JAG Models)
Size-14 model Katy Hansz has done ad campaigns for Playtex, among others. (Courtesy of JAG Models)
Former Miss Teen USA Kamie Crawford is proud of her size-12 body. (Tamara Beckwith/NY Post)
Model Michelle Olson has a healthy, athletic build. (Courtesy of JAG Models)
Size-14 model Jennie Runk made a splash with this recent ad campaign for H&M. (Courtesy of H&M)
Tonya Pittman’s size-12 frame scores her lots of ad campaigns. (Courtesy of JAG Models)
Maiysha embraces her curves, and the elimination of the term “plus-size.” (Courtesy of JAG Models)
Foodie Sammy Apgar has perfected the art of eating healthy but flavorful food to keep her figure. (Courtesy of JAG Models)
“I don’t have a problem with the term ‘plus-size,’ ” Runk tells The Post, “but I do have a problem with the stigma and negativity around it. I never considered straight-size modeling as an option. My body is not supposed to be a size 2.”
At Dove cosmetics, the long-running “Real Beauty” campaign has for years drawn attention to the disparity between the female body types shown in the media and those that generally exist in the world.
And nowhere is that contrast more stark than in the modeling industry, where anything over a size 2 is considered large for “straight-size” models, and anything under a size 12 is considered unacceptable for the plus-size end.
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The yawning chasm between those sizes, in which millions of real women dwell, is one of the main reasons Dakin and Sarka are so optimistic about their new Hudson Yards-based venture, as are the women signed up with the agency so far (30, of whom 20 are based in New York).
“[Editor-in-Chief] Cindi Leive at Glamour has been very upfront with us that she wants to see girls of all sizes in the magazine, not called out as plus-size,” says Dakin. “Just to have them all in the same story, wearing the same fashions.”
Still, he says, as far as higher-end work goes, they’d like to see more exposure here in the States. “We’ve put girls on Italian Vogue and French Glamour,” he says. “We’d like to see more mainstream covers,” he adds, referring to the American versions of those magazines.
JAG model Myla Dalbesio, 26, says the fledgling agency seems very different from a traditional one. She credits Dakin with encouraging team spirit among his roster: “They certainly foster a family kind of environment,” says the size-10 model, who’s also a Brooklyn-based performance artist. “The idea that success is best achieved all together. If one girl gets a job — even if she’s not you,” she says, “it’s going to be better for all of us.”
Georgina Burke, 23
Lives in: Chelsea
Size: 14 to 16
Height: 5-foot-10
Measurements: 36C-32-45
Best asset: “I’m 100 percent proud of my body and shape. To be able to show it off to the world is pretty amazing.”
Bona fides: Current ads for Saks, Macy’s, Kohl’s, Avenue
Body philosophy:“I think the industry is getting there — but needs to move a little quicker. It’s not every month that we appear in Vogue, but when it does happen, the only thing we ever get is positive feedback. People are asking for it, and it’s received well.” — Georgina Burke
Myla Dalbesio, 26
Lives in: Fort Greene
Size: 10 to 12
Height: 5-foot-11½
Measurements: 36DD-29-42
Best asset: “My creative mind.”
Bona fides: Just shot for Swedish magazine Bon
Body philosophy: “The term ‘plus-size’ is really outdated. This is something that all the girls in the industry have been really frustrated with for a long time. It doesn’t make sense to be using it anymore. A lot of people have been using ‘curvy,’ but it’s kind of the same thing. I’ve always wanted us to just be called models.”
McKenzie Raley, 25
Lives in: Chelsea
Size: 12 to 14
Height: 5-foot-10 ½
Measurements: 36C-28-43
Best asset: “I’ve been genetically blessed to have a small waist.”
Bona fides: Levi’s, H&M Inclusive, both in 2010
Body philosophy: “I would love for the industry to be an all-size situation — where you don’t have to be a 0 or a 16, but fall in a spectrum. I would love for size to be a non-issue, that we don’t have to be portrayed in any one way. A beautiful woman’s a beautiful woman.”
Katy Hansz, 37
Lives in: Park Slope
Size: 14
Height: 5-foot-11
Measurements: 36C-30-44
Best asset: Bright red hair; plus “I was a dancer when I was young, so I move pretty well on set.”
Bona fides: Marina Rinaldi campaign coming out in September, Playtex, Target, Macy’s, Lands’ End catalog covers
Body philosophy: “I’ve been a plus-size model for over 18 years. I think any kind of division and separation in this industry never feels good for anybody. We all know we’re not curing cancer. But we’re responsible for these images, and we’re trying to create a new way for people to look at them.”
Kamie Crawford, 20
Lives in: Financial District
Size: 12
Height: 5-foot-9½
Measurements: 36C-28-42
Best asset: “I have hips, boobs, butt — all of it. I’m West Indian — I have all of it.”
Bona fides: Miss Teen USA 2010
Body philosophy: “Whenever I tell someone I’m a plus model, no one believes me; it’s seen as a negative thing — but it shouldn’t be. I call it ‘real size’; it’s what normal women look like.”
Michelle Olson, 23
Lives in: Murray Hill
Size: 14
Height: 5-foot-10 ½
Measurements: 36D-31-44½
Best asset: “I have a bigger frame, no matter what — with a big butt and boobs. Even if I don’t eat, they’ll still be there.”
Bona fides: An editorial for V magazine for a “Curves Ahead” feature, 2009
Body philosophy: “I don’t know how much I weigh — I haven’t weighed myself since high school. I’ve always been athletic and very healthy — and my weight never mattered to me. Some of my friends are straightsize models, and it’s a constant stress for them. I feel bad for them; there’s more to life than always thinking about your body 24/7. I’m so glad I don’t have to deal with that.”
Jennie Runk, 24
Lives in: Herald Square
Size: 14
Height: 5-foot-10
Measurements: 36C-33-44
Best asset: “I’m sort of in love with my breasts — they’re my favorite.”
Bona fides: Ads for H&M swimwear (this year), Vogue (2005), Glamour (many over the past several years)
Body philosophy: “I think everything is fine in moderation. Cookies are delicious and life is short — eat your cookie. One every now and then isn’t going to do anything to you.”
Tonya Pittman, 37
Lives in: Flatiron District
Size: 12 to 14
Height: 5-foot-9 ½
Measurements: 36C-32-43
Best asset: “My dedication to professionalism.”
Bona fides: Current ads for Saks, Lands’ End, Macy’s, Dress Barn
Body philosophy: “We all really have great drive, but there isn’t back-stabbing as much as you see in the rest of the modeling industry. We’re such a niche part of the industry that we all know each other so well — that helps to create this family atmosphere.”
Maiysha, “over 30”
Lives in: Park Slope, Brooklyn
Size: 16
Height: 5-foot-10
Measurements: 36C/D-31-46
Best asset: “My hourglass figure. It keeps me feeling ultra-sexy and feminine — and is fun to dress up!”
Bona fides: Current ads for Target, Kohls in-store, Bon-Ton
Body philosophy: “I think the most exciting thing would be if we could stop using the language of plus-size. I think there’s this misconception that there’s some sort of advocacy for unhealthiness going on [with plus-size]. A healthy body doesn’t necessarily mean a small body. When you’re an unhappy model, it shows — and sometimes when you’re starving yourself you’re not happy!”
Sammy Apgar, 22
Lives in: Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Size: 10 to 12
Height: 5-foot-10
Measurements: 36C-28¹/₂-42 ¹/₂
Best asset: “My thick blond hair and my big teeth. And my brain!”
Bona fides: “I just shot for Glamour for the first time, a couple of weeks ago.”
Body philosophy: “Food is my favorite thing on the planet. I eat healthy, but I’m a foodie. One girl I know was living in a model apartment — she was the only plus-size model — and she would plop down with her Chinese food and the girls would look at her wistfully and say, ‘Does that taste good?’ ”