When Georgia Gibbs posted a photograph on Instagram (META) standing next to best friend Kate Wasley, she didn’t expect the overwhelmingly negative reaction it received. Followers asked if she had Photoshopped the picture to make fellow model Wasley look larger, while making herself appear smaller in comparison.
“My first reaction was disappointment—if I’m honest, Kate and I had never seen ourselves as different, so why did anyone else?” Gibbs asked the Observer. To combat the negativity, the best friends, who look more like sisters, created a shared Instagram account Any BODY, quickly acquiring 100,000 followers.
The account’s message is firmly stated in the bio: “Aussie models & best friends that believe there’s no size standard for the modern woman.” On the app, they encourage others to share their experiences with fat shaming and to post selfies and bathing suit photos.
“I ignored the accusations, but couldn’t help feeling concerned that people saw such an issue with two differently shaped women appearing side by side,” Gibbs, a Wilhemina model who travels between New York and Los Angeles, explained.
Alongside bikini photos and inspirational personal messages, their account shares stories from their followers. “We’ve had 13-year-old girls sharing their own struggles with peer pressure and body image, and 50-year-old best friends telling us how they, like us, are different body shapes and how it made them feel. Any BODY has helped to reassure them beauty has no size or shape guidelines—from women who have struggled with eating disorders to a young father with a daughter thanking us for creating a movement that one day could benefit his little one, we feel so humbled by people’s responses,” Gibbs said.
Gibbs believes “the industry needs to embrace variety, not extremes and not one ideal shape.” Her favorite comments are when people call the pair twins or use their #loveanybody hashtag to support the movement. Both women share their own body image stories, inspiring others to do the same. Their shared quest to make different body types not only accepted, but normal, might just start a body positive revolution on the notoriously judgmental Instagram app.