Emily Ratajkowski Shares What Empowerment Means To Her As The New Face Of Nasty Gal – Forbes

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 05: General view of 'Nasty Gal' with Emily Ratajkowski bill board in West ... [+] Hollywood on October 05, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by fupp/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)

Emily Ratajkowski is Nasty Gals newest face for their fall/winter campaign, but the establishedentrepreneur, writer, actress, model and activist most recently, Ratajkowski was commissioned by New York Magazine for a self-written essay entitled "Buying Myself Back." It garnered over 850K views in the first 24 hours and led to wide-spread public discourse on image ownership and wide-spread praise for her candid and beautiful prose.In recent years, Ratajkowski has also seen exponential success in her modeling career, where she has claimed the covers of Harpers Bazaar, Marie Claire, Vogue Italia, Vogue Australia, Vogue Spain, Vogue Germany, Madame Figaro, GQ, and Glamour Magazine, as well as InStyles British, Australian and American editions.She has worked with countless international brands, walking in the Versace, Marc Jacobs, Dolce and Gabbana and Miu Miu fashion shows. She is currently the face of LOrals hair care line Kerastase and formerly ofPaco Rabannes fragrance Pure XS.

Since 2017, Ratajkowski has successfully translated her 26 million+ followers on Instagram into a successful direct-to-consumer business via her apparel line INAMORATA, alongside her business partner Kat Mendenhall and a small team of all female employees. What started as a line of bathing suits has since expanded into a multi-category swim, lingerie and ready-to-wear brand that is designed and marketed exclusively by Ratajkowski. As the new face of Nasty Gal, Ratajkowski shares how the brand continues to empower women through their clothes and what empowerment means to her.

Nasty Gal ft Emily Ratajkowski.

Yola Robert: Why has Nasty Gal been a long time favorite for you as this is the second collection you have been the face of. How did your relationship with them come about?

Emily Ratajkowski: I grew up in San Diego wearing Nasty Gal as I definitely wasnt spending a ton of money on clothes. So, just for me, the accessibility has always been really nice. For this collaboration, I loved what they had put together and in the past I just really loved the way that they collaborated with me. It was really nice to work with them as theyre very into seeing me as an Art Director, really collaborating, which is really important to me whenever I work with a brand.

Robert: Your self-written essay entitled "Buying Myself Back" for New York Magazine was extremely empowering. Many women stay silent about these issues. Why did you feel like it was the right time to come out and share your story?

Ratajkowski: Ive been writing for a couple years now, writing a bunch of different essays. My literary agent and I decided we were at a point where we had all of the essays that Ive written thus far so we reached out to New York Magazine and they chose this piece. I was really excited because I really loved that essay and its obviously very personal, but was also represented of so much of my 20s and my life even just about image ownership and consent. But I was still really nervous because its obviously a really vulnerable essay. Telling your truth can be really scary. The thing I thought about the most, once they decided they wanted to use that piece and publish it was how it would potentially speak to other young women and in my dreamiest world, also speak to men by giving them a sense of what its like as a young woman in the world right now.

Robert: Since that essay has been published, what has the feedback been for you?

Ratajkowski: It has been overwhelming in a good way! I mean I think its a funny thing because obviously my experience as a model and as a public figure is very specific, but you know I have girlfriends, and when I share my writing with them, theyre like God its so crazy this is just every womens story. Its maybe different its not always about modeling, but that feeling of you know wanting to get someones approval and validation that men can give women and the ways we compromise ourselves, the way we can be taken advantage of and used in those situations like that is just the female experience, period. Its really nice that its brought women together and I just really hope that in the long run, it changes the way we look at power dynamics for younger generations.

Robert: Nasty Gal has always worked to empower women through clothes. How do you want women to feel when theyre wearing your edit from Nasty Gal?

Ratajkowski: I personally feel that fashion is one of those really amazing things, but I had a complicated relationship to fashion like you know when youre growing up, you dont feel cool enough, you dont feel like youre wearing cool enough clothes when I was younger and even now Ill be like God that person looks so fancy, I could never afford that. I like that Nasty Gal is accessible in that way. I also just think that fashion ,like having a zebra print dress, can really help a woman project the person she wants to be to the world and I love that clothes can feel like a tool to express ourselves.

Robert: When do you feel most empowered?

Ratajkowski: I would say I felt really empowered when that essay was published. It was really scary, again I dont wanna say like oh my God it was all amazing, but I think women sharing their stories, realities and experiences can be the most empowering thing.