Even over the phone you can hear that Georgina, or Geo as she has been nicknamed since childhood, is smiling. Beaming even. Despite the temperature reading a cool -8 degrees Celsius outside her New York apartment you get the sense that nothing is going to chill the curvaceous model’s excitement about her new career move.
“It’s for sure my most exciting job yet. When I found out I had to keep it quiet for a while but it was hard because I just wanted to celebrate” said Burke.
Torrid, which carries sizes 12-28 and boasts 236 retailers worldwide, services a substantial chunk of the US retail market with a reported 68 per cent of American women wearing above a size 12. Tall and voluptuous with honey blonde hair and cheek bones sharp enough to slice meat on, it’s not hard to see why the retail giant picked Burke to become their first ever official face.
“In the plus-size world, there are not a ton of models and what sometimes happens is you see the same girl over and over. We wanted to find someone newer and fresher that we could make our own,” said Liz Munoz, the brand’s senior vice president of product development.
Georgina appears in the label’s new swimwear campaign and her buxom body and bountiful curves are a refreshing sight from the often underweight norms of the fashion industry. In her first major shoot for the brand Geo’s ample figure is perfectly poured into the garments with her bronzed size 16 frame radiating confidence.
Georgina giggles down the line when complimented on her stunning swimwear shots and reveals that selective hearing is one tool she employs to help embrace her gorgeous girl curves.
“I never care too much about the negative things people have to say. I’ve always been a pretty confident person and I’m very comfortable with my body”, she says.
Geo was discovered as a teen and then encouraged by her Australian agent and director of Bella Models in Sydney, Chelsea Bonner, to make the move to New York three years ago to pursue her modelling career. Bonner is equally excited about her prodigy’s signing and says it demonstrates a huge step forward for the fashion industry. Bonner hopes the deal will open up other brands to the idea of using women beyond a sample size to front major labels.
“Torrid wanted to make a point of signing a model who their customers could relate to- someone with confidence. Geo is that truly confident curvy girl!” says Bonner.
While rare, the Torrid signing isn’t without precedent. Of late, voluptuous models such as Kate Upton, Tara Lynn and Aussie supermodel Robyn Lawley have all graced the covers of some major style bibles like Vogue Italia, Elle France and even the coveted CR Fashion Book, the brain child of former Vogue Paris editor-in-chief Carine Roitfeld.
Georgina says that her new venture with Torrid has been met with overwhelming positivity and believes this reflects mainstream society’s hunger for more size diversity in fashion campaigns.
“It might sound silly but since this went public I have been getting so many messages from people on social media. People are like ‘Finally a model that is actually curvy’ which means people are happy to see bigger models working for the labels they love”.
Geo says that while living and working in New York is already a dream come true, she really hopes that now she can use this career move as a stepping stone to help inspire other women to love themselves.
“I want women to embrace their bodies and I’m happy to be seen as a confident healthy role model to help them do it.”
