Plus-size model Charli Howard pens love letter to her body as she fronts lingerie campaign

‘My curves were shameful,’ wrote the British model

(Rex Features)

Plus-size model Charli Howard has written a letter to her own body and urged other women to do the same ahead of Valentine’s Day.

The 27-year-old Brit, who now lives in New York, recalls thinking her curves were “shameful” and her stretch marks as “hideous”, admitting to having “abused” her body when she was younger.

“I was never satisfied with what you gave me,” she writes, “I put so much focus on looking perfect on the outside that I forgot about the love you offered me from within.

“And the truth is, Body, you were perfect already – I was just blind to it.”

Howard wrote the letter about body positivity as part of a campaign for Agent Provocateur, and described landing the job for the luxury lingerie label as a “dream come true” after years of feeling discriminated against due to her curvy frame.

“I used to pin Kate Moss’ campaign photos up on my wall, dreaming of shooting for AP one day,” she wrote in an Instagram post, “except I’m modelling for them at the size I’m naturally at, with the ‘flaws’ I used to try and starve away.”

Ms Howard went on to explain how she hopes her casting proves that women “don’t have to be rail thin to feel sexy in lingerie”, nor do they need to be a certain size in order to model if that’s what they want to do.

“I know that if I’d seen a model with a few stomach rolls when I was a teenager, I probably would’ve felt a bit less bad about myself,” she added.

The young model called for other women to indulge in some self-love this Valentine’s Day by writing a love letter to themselves.

“Show yourself some love and wear lingerie that makes you feel sexy and empowered, regardless of whether you’ve got a partner or not,” she wrote.

“I think that we beat ourselves up as women all the time and we don’t have to,” she added. “After all, loving yourself starts from within.”

Howard found fame in 2015 after she was allegedly fired by her modelling agency for being “too big”.

“Here’s a big F*** YOU to my (now ex) model agency, for saying that at 5ft 8in tall and a UK size 6-8, I’m ‘too big’ and ‘out of shape’ to work in the fashion industry,” she wrote in a Facebook post that subsequently went viral and put her at the vanguard of the body positivity movement.

“I refuse to feel ashamed and upset on a daily basis for not meeting your ridiculous, unattainable beauty standards,” the post continued.

“The more you force us to lose weight and be small, the more designers have to make clothes to fit our sizes, and the more young girls are being made ill. It’s no longer an image I choose to represent. If an agency wishes to represent me for myself, my body & the WOMAN I’ve become, give me a call. Until then, I’m off to Nando’s.”

Howard has since been photographed for British Vogue, fronted a number of body positivity campaigns and written a memoir for young adults titled Misfit.