Leesa Fogarty, the woman behind MaraJoara swimwear designs, is continuing to stand behind her stand to include size 8-12 models in her show.
Ms. Fogarty put the future of her company on the line when she decided to put out a call for models in nightclubs and universities for women and men who looked like the people that bought her line's swimsuits, the customers.
"We wanted to cast models that depicted "everyday Australian men and women" because they are the ones that are going to buy our swimwear, and with Fashion as such a huge subculture in our youth we have an ethical responsibility to demonstrate good role models," spokesperson Leesa Fogarty said.
Her and her team have since returned home of Manly Beach in Sydney in celebration of their Australian Fashion Week success. Their label was stocked in Sportsgirl last summer, the retail store's first time selling swimwear for about 8 years.
The are now gearing up to distribute the line internationally. The overwhelming amount of fan mail from the international general public was a welcome home gift, as were invitations from Fashion Week organizers in Miami and Mallorca, the latter asking Leesa to be an exclusive guest designer at their 2007 show.
"MaraJoara are celebrating our new swimwear range launch and promoting a healthy body image with everyday Australians on our catwalk! When we asked ourselves what depicted Australian - we were simply celebrating the fact that no matter what cultural background, if you were skinny, short, tall or curvaceous that MaraJoara had swimwear for men and women that could look and feel fantastic!" Leesa said.
