For years, the modeling industry has demanded models to be thin and follow strict diets to maintain skinny figures. However, plus-size modeling is more normalized now, as body positivity and body neutrality have become powerful forces when it comes to representing women in all shapes and sizes. One photographer is facing backlash after a modeling agent learned that he charges plus-size models an extra $100 for his services. However, there may be more than meets the eye when it comes to this photographer’s story.
This NYC photographer is being cancelled.
New York photographer, William Lords , was exposed by Megan Mesveskas, owner of the modeling agency, Model Nexus, on TikTok. Mesveskas discovered Lords’ alarming business policy in an email listing of Lords’ pricing for photos. She noted that there are two different prices that divide models into “standard” and “plus/curve,” and the bigger woman have to pay more. Mesveskas posted a video calling out this out as body discrimination with screenshots from Lords’ email.
Model Nexus specializes in body diversity.
As an agent for Model Nexus, Mesveskas helps models of all sizes connect with photographers for photoshoots, and she was interested in connecting with Lords. Sometimes fashion designers charge more for plus-sized clothing because it uses more fabric, thus increasing the cost to create. However, there was no reason she could see for a photographer to charge curvier women more. His listing revealed to Mesveskas that photos for “standard” women are $950 and $1050 for “plus/curve,” and her jaw dropped.
Models are speaking out about this discrimination.
A model named Sixtine Rouyre, who works with Mesveskas took to TikTok as well to call out Lords. She explains that, “His fatphobia is showing.” Just like Mesveskas, Rouyre is baffled because it’s unheard of for photographers to have higher rates for models based on their own standard of who’s skinny enough. She captioned the video with the words, “Another day another [expletive] photographer in the industry! absolutely disgusting.”
Lords has spoken out to defend himself.
Apparently, Lords was shocked when he saw Mesveskas’ video about his prices and spoke to the New York Post to set the record straight. He explained that the rate for plus-size models is higher because his service package includes access to designer clothes, and larger sized wardrobes are harder to come by and more expensive. He makes up for the added cost of clothing by charging larger women the extra $100. He claims it has nothing to do with targeting fat women and making them literally and figurative pay for their sizes. It’s about making a fair profit for his work.
In fact, Lords is considering taking legal action.
n against Mesveskas and Rouyre. These accusations have upset him significantly and hurt his career. He explained, “I’m a Black man in America, and two white women tell me I’m discriminating them? I’m so hurt by this. Nobody is telling the true story.” The story becomes more complicated because neither women seem to have asked Lords about his pricing before dragging his name through the social media dirt.
Rouyre made a follow-up video when she saw that the issue was getting press attention.
In it, she cites another interview he did with Newsweek , one she believes just makes him look worse. In it, he explains the same stipulation, saying, “Most of [the plus-sized models] say what they want, and you know what it is? The high-end stuff. They want the stuff that the straight-sized models have.” He claims the looks he has for curvier models come out to about $1000 per outfit, which he sourced and purchased on his own. “$100 is absolutely nothing compared to what I do for these girls.”
Rouyre finds that reasoning to be BS.
In an email to Newsweek, she said, “If you [don’t] have clothes for a model, tell her to bring her own [no one knows what looks best on your own body type better than yourself] or hire a stylist. Easy as that. If my agent tried to defend someone like that, I’d fire them on the spot. They should be fighting FOR me and working to make the industry a better place for everyone, not defending some gross egotistical photographer who thinks he’s good enough to pull some shit like this.”
Mesveskas was also interviewed for this article.
“After speaking with many models, no one has even heard of a higher rate for models with a lot of acne or one who would need exponentially more photoshop retouching—so to see this applied arbitrarily against women who a photographer deems as non-standard sized is, really odd at best and discriminatory at worst,” she said.
In fact, she believes the categories of ‘plus-sized’ and ‘curvy’ to be useless.
“Every woman, regardless of her dress size, has curves. I’d love to see a human being without a curve,” Mesveskas told Newsweek . “‘Plus-size’ is meaningless too. Plus according to who or what? I think these are unfortunate categorizations that are made because the world still finds it shocking to see any woman above a size 2 modeling.”
Some comments on Mesveskas’ TikTok agree with her.
With 1,830 likes and 380 comments, Mesveskas’ TikTok has gotten a lot of buzz. Many people have sided with her stance on Lords’ pricing, saying things like, “How does it even make sense!? Thanks for calling him out,” and similar sentiments of support.
However, other commenters are siding with Lords.
On the surface, this seems like a clear case of discrimination, but after looking into Lords’ side of the story, people aren’t in agreement. Many are saying that his logic actually adds up. TikTok user @aryasmom16 wrote, “His explanation seems pretty reasonable: it’s difficult to find plus-sized clothing at the same price as regular sized. Even Walmart is 25% higher.” User @smooth_brain_supreme takes things a step forward by calling out Mesveskas and some commenters for making quick assumptions about Lords’ reasoning.
There may be a lesson about communication in this case.
When something alarming comes on our radars, it’s easy to jump on the bandwagon. When we’re passionate about a cause, we can get fired up quickly. However, many people believe that this wouldn’t even be a story if Mesveskas would have simply asked Lords about his pricing and opened a dialogue. People are following Mesveskas’ posts, but don’t seem to have researched on their own. There’s likely a bigger truth that many people are missing.
People have even been harassing Lords.
This situation has reached new heights, as people are leaving comment after comment on Lords’ social media. He disabled comments in his Instagram profile, but commenters like Candle Witch took to Facebook to leave “about 100” comments on a post Lords’ tagged in. We’re pretty sure he gets the point by now, only time will tell what comes next.
Let us know what you think of Lords’ plus-size photography prices in the comments and if you think Mesveskas is in the wrong for jumping to conclusions.
