Jag Model Agency Pledges to Feature ‘Real Women’
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iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — At 5′ 10″ and a size 12 to 14, Jennie Runk is an in-demand bikini model for H&M, but don’t call her a plus-size model.
“I don’t really think of myself as skinny or fat, like, at all,” Runk told ABC News. “I just kind of think of myself as me and it’s just where I’m at and who I am.”
Runk, who doesn’t weigh herself or track her size, has signed on with the hot new agency in the modeling industry, Jag Model Agency, that bills itself as an agency for “real women” of all different body types.
“It seems to be getting more and more positive and less of the negative,” Runk said of the public and the fashion industry’s acceptance of curvier figures. “Ultimately it should just be an acceptance of everybody because nobody looks the same at all.”
Jag Model Agency was founded last month by Gary Dakin and Jaclyn Sarka who ran the plus-sized division at Ford Models until it was shut down.
The pair says the response to their agency, which so far has 30 models signed on, has been “overwhelming” and “incredible.”
Joining Runk among the agency’s 30 models is Kamie Crawford, a former Miss Teen USA.
“I think that whatever is natural for you is exactly what you should be,” said Crawford. “I think it [JAG] represents everyone.”
Dakin and Sarka say their mission with JAG is to break barriers with the fashion industry’s acceptance of different figures, an acceptance that they say starts at home.
“You know, I’m not going to blame the media,” Dakin told ABC News. “Let’s talk about the family. Let’s talk about teaching your kids how to love themselves.”
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio