Inclusivity has reached a new milestone as a dwarf, Tamera McLaughlin, made history as the first little person to walk in Miami Swim Week, Art Heart Fashion Show.
McLaughlin made her debut with Naava Swim on Friday, and the experience was as exhilarating as it was nerve-wracking. Swimsuit modeling has always been the gold standard of the industry, reserved for only the most alluring, but now it is being “democratized.” As she says, “”You don’t have to be tall to be a model. You don’t have to be really short. You can just be yourself, and whoever accepts you accepts you”. It wasn’t easy for her, not physically and not mentally: “I had like an anxiety attack,” she tells Yahoo Life.
One could say that the very concept of modeling is being redefined. Where once, until recently, it was reserved for those that physically represented the idealized standards of human beauty, now it is viewed as being representative of all.
McLaughlin was born with achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism. People with the condition are born with shortened limbs. It can make everyday tasks especially challenging and, in some cases, painful.
“When we walk long distances, our legs hurt really bad. We have knee problems. We have a lot of issues when it comes to our legs because they’re little and they didn’t grow the way they were supposed to grow,” explains McLaughlin.
This makes walking the runway especially daunting for McLaughlin, who says she usually does print modeling, which doesn’t require the same physical exertion.
She explains that, “One step, for an average height person, is like three steps to me.”
In addition to specific anxieties caused by her condition, she had to deal with one of the greatest fears that any other model faces: the high-heeled shoes she wore — something she does not often do.
“I was nervous I was going to fall. I was nervous about a lot of stuff,” she explains.
When she heard the applause from the crowd, she knew it was all worth it, “that’s when I was very excited, like ‘OK. Yes, I’m really doing something,'” she says.
McLaughlin hopes her casting will help serve as inspiration for anyone who has felt excluded from the world of modeling.
“I really do get a lot of little people saying they look up to me due to the simple fact that I am creating change. I am doing something that a lot of people don’t see,” says McLaughlin.
