Aerie Has Become the Go-To Brand Partner for Celebrities With a Mission
An image from the 2020 #AerieREAL Role Model campaign. From L-R: Iskra Lawrence, Beanie Feldstein, Lana Condor, Molly Burke, Brenna Huckaby, Keiana Cave, Hari Nef, Dre Thomas, Manuela Barón, Aly Raisman, Jenna Kutcher, Tiff McFierce, Ali Stroker
Photo: Andrew Buda/Courtesy of Aerie
This year will officially mark six years since Aerie debuted its #AerieREAL campaign, a groundbreaking series which swore off the then-standard photo retouching in favor of images of "real" women. Not only did it turn business around for parent company American Eagle, but it also revolutionized the lingerie industry, opening the doors for new brands — ranging anywhere from indie startups to the Rihanna-led Savage x Fenty ready — to take a big bite out of Victoria's Secret's market share with their messaging of female empowerment and body positivity.
It also single-handedly launched the career of supermodel Iskra Lawrence, and since naming her the brand's first #AerieREAL Role Model in 2016, Aerie has brought on a whole slew of inspiring women, famous and not, for its campaigns, like Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman, actor Yara Shahidi, poet Cleo Wade and YouTuber Molly Burke. This ever-growing, diverse cast reflected the models used on the brand's site, featuring body hair, colostomy bags, insulin pumps and more. It became Aerie's goal for every one of its customers to see themselves in every part of the brand.
"It's not just about putting marketing out there, it's about believing it, and that's what I think we do really well," Global Brand President Jennifer Foyle told Fashionista last year. "There's not a day without tears, some happy, some emotional, but we all really feel it and believe it."
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Now, that message has begun to resonate with would-be Role Models, the kind of celebrities and activists Aerie seeks out to be both faces of the brand and collaborators. If you have a message to share, Aerie offers a big platform with a built-in following — and Hollywood is starting to take notice.
"I remember seeing the campaign last year with Jameela [Jamil] and Samira [Wiley]," recalls Beanie Feldstein. "I was so in love with what they did, and so when I got the email I was like, 'I know exactly that campaign and I am so honored that they would even think of me.'"
Feldstein joins the impressive roster of #AerieREAL Role Models for 2020, which includes fellow actors Hari Nef, Lana Condor and Ali Stroker, as well as a group of activists: Manuela Barón, a sustainability activist; Tiff McFierce, DJ and wellness advocate; Keiana Cave, scientist and CEO; and Dre Thomas, founder of Smile on Me. They join Role Model mainstays like Raisman, Burke, Paralympic athlete Brenna Huckaby and entrepreneur Jenna Kutcher.
Lawrence, of course, serves as a kind of elder statesman for the brand, helping newbies overcome stage fright on set and making sure the Role Models have the chance to bond. "I definitely want to be like the glue that connects the whole Aerie family," she explains. "I feel very grateful to be in a position to be like, 'This is why you're here and what you're bringing to the table.'" Part of that pep talk includes telling newcomers that Aerie wants to learn as much from them and contribute to their causes as much as possible, something which was appealing to Nef.
"They have been really receptive every step of the way to my ideas for collaboration. They're not trying to fit me into a mold as a collaborator. They're allowing me to lead the way and just giving me resources and a platform to approach this mission the way I see fit," she says. "Even just on the basic level of change-making, any fashion brand who is going to allow me in their branded video to say, 'I want to see universal health care in 2020 and see a pathway forged to a living wage for all, which we don't have yet,' anyone who's going to rock with me on that wavelength, I'm excited to work with."
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It's no wonder, then, that a contract as an #AerieREAL Role Model has become so desirable for a caliber of celebrity who might otherwise hold out for a blue-chip luxury company. But being a Role Model doesn't just have an impact on fans of the Role Models and the brand; it can also change the Role Models themselves. When Raisman first signed on with Aerie in 2018, she was fresh off of coming forward with sexual assault allegations against Larry Nassar, her former Olympic team physician. It was, understandably, quite a raw time for her. Through her work with Aerie and interaction with followers, she explains, she learned how to be more open and more comfortable again.
"I feel like a different person from the first Role Model shoot," Raisman says. "It was maybe a month or two after I came forward publicly for the first time about everything, so I was feeling vulnerable and pretty uncomfortable and nervous, and everyone on set was so amazing. I've learned how to connect with people since then, and to be able to trust people and to be able to have fun."
Meet all the 2020 Aerie Real Role Models and hear about their experiences shooting the campaign in the gallery below:
!["I was so excited and moved by this opportunity because I really believe in representation. To be able to be a role model, be a woman in a wheelchair and get to represent that for all young girls in chairs is a dream come true for me, first and foremost. Also I love Aerie — I legitimately shop there all the time. I love that they do this; you actually see in their ads people with real bodies, people that look like me and like my friends.My motto, and something that I want to bring to this opportunity, is turning your limitations into your opportunities. One of the ways that I want to do that is by creating a lot more exposure around access. There are so many places still in the world that are really difficult for people who have mobility issues to get to, like the beach, and places that mean a lot to me like getting onstage. If there is a will there is a way. Are there ways to provide ramps, lifts and beach wheelchairs, beach pathways, to more people so they can enjoy those parts of life?[The photoshoot] has been so cool. When you're in front of the camera alone, it's one experience, but to be in front of the camera with a whole team of powerful women is really exciting. You feel the energy and you feel the power that you have to be able to capture a moment where all these women are coming together with a message to try to encourage and inspire people to be authentic and be themselves.I am excited about hopefully helping them design some accessories for wheelchairs and for mobility assisted products and tools. I hope that we can come up with some creative, cool things; I think it will be really exciting to see what things we'll be able to create and design together for my community. Something that's really beautiful about being given this opportunity is now I have to remember what it means to be a role model all the time. Part of that is being kind and gentle to myself. If you are taking on the role as being a role model, you have to think about, what are you going to give to the world? What do you have inside to give? But the first step before doing all of that is really being good to yourself. That's also a really beautiful thing to take into this year, is how will I take care of myself in order to take on this responsibility of being a role model."](https://fashionista.com/.image/ar_3:2%2Cc_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_700/MTY5OTI3MjI2MTQ0MzM1NDMz/ali-stroker-aerie-real-role-models-2020.jpg)
!["I was so excited and moved by this opportunity because I really believe in representation. To be able to be a role model, be a woman in a wheelchair and get to represent that for all young girls in chairs is a dream come true for me, first and foremost. Also I love Aerie — I legitimately shop there all the time. I love that they do this; you actually see in their ads people with real bodies, people that look like me and like my friends.My motto, and something that I want to bring to this opportunity, is turning your limitations into your opportunities. One of the ways that I want to do that is by creating a lot more exposure around access. There are so many places still in the world that are really difficult for people who have mobility issues to get to, like the beach, and places that mean a lot to me like getting onstage. If there is a will there is a way. Are there ways to provide ramps, lifts and beach wheelchairs, beach pathways, to more people so they can enjoy those parts of life?[The photoshoot] has been so cool. When you're in front of the camera alone, it's one experience, but to be in front of the camera with a whole team of powerful women is really exciting. You feel the energy and you feel the power that you have to be able to capture a moment where all these women are coming together with a message to try to encourage and inspire people to be authentic and be themselves.I am excited about hopefully helping them design some accessories for wheelchairs and for mobility assisted products and tools. I hope that we can come up with some creative, cool things; I think it will be really exciting to see what things we'll be able to create and design together for my community. Something that's really beautiful about being given this opportunity is now I have to remember what it means to be a role model all the time. Part of that is being kind and gentle to myself. If you are taking on the role as being a role model, you have to think about, what are you going to give to the world? What do you have inside to give? But the first step before doing all of that is really being good to yourself. That's also a really beautiful thing to take into this year, is how will I take care of myself in order to take on this responsibility of being a role model."](https://fashionista.com/.image/c_fill%2Ccs_srgb%2Cg_face%2Ch_80%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_80/MTY5OTI3MjI2MTQ0MzM1NDMz/ali-stroker-aerie-real-role-models-2020.jpg)
!["This year is everything that I could have imagined. I feel like my voice and what I stand for was finally able to get out to a reach that I've been really envisioning and hoping for. And doing the Real Talks this past year was just — like, my heart could explode just from the feeling of love and the feeling of support and hearing other girls' stories that were so touching and what I needed to hear. That is what I did everything for, that is why I'm here, and so to see it in action this past year has been incredible. I feel like not only are we not represented or seen, but it's an education aspect and [it's been cool] teaching people within a brand, as well as the rest of the following and whoever's watching. It's not just seeing it, it's making a difference with it. When I walked in last year, when Iskra or Aly came up to you and was like, 'Hey,' and made you feel at home, it's nice to offer that to the other girls that are coming in. I love that aspect.We have some really exciting things in the works right now. Nothing is set in stone, but the fact that we're talking about it and planning it is huge because I don't think they've ever done anything to the levels that we're talking about before. So yeah, stay tuned."](https://fashionista.com/.image/c_fill%2Ccs_srgb%2Cg_face%2Ch_80%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_80/MTY5OTI3MjI2MTQ0NDAwNzYx/brenna-huckaby-aerie-real-role-models-2020.jpg)
!["I absolutely love everything that Aerie stands for. They stand for being comfortable in your body, loving yourself, loving your girlfriends, being cozy. And I'm very much a kind of a homebody, so I love all of their pieces because you can just relax in them. What they're doing with the Role Models is really something special; all of the Role Models are so unique and one-of-a-kind, and I feel honored to be a part of it. I really wanted to be able to help in any way that I could and use my voice on their platform, particularly about education, but also just being body positive, which is all about what being a Role Model is.I have a scholarship with The Asia Foundation where I put Vietnamese young women through four years' education of high school, and so, myself and the team, we all really want to do something, some sort of partnership where the proceeds would go to The Asia Foundation to put more girls through school. I would love to use my platform to educate my fans about loving the body that we have been given, because I think it's a miracle that we even wake up every single day. A lot of the times we don't treat our bodies with love and with kindness — like the way that we would never call our best friends ugly, but we say it to ourselves — and we should. Aerie is amazing with body positivity. I'd love to use both of our platforms to speak to my fans about that and just tell them to be kinder to themselves and to love themselves. You can just tell right now at the shoot how loving it is, how everyone is so sweet and kind and really amazing. It's been so great. It's honestly the most fun, laid back, kind shoot I've ever been a part of. Sometimes in fashion, it can be so scary and the shoots can be very rigid and cold. But this one is so warm and we're lucky because there's so much light and all of our sets are very warm-toned and positive. The photographer is amazing, shooting with the girls has been so fun. Sometimes when you shoot something with a ton of girls, or just a ton of people in general, it can be kind of hard because you've never met them before. But everyone is clicking so easily.I'm looking forward to doing panels and meeting Aerie's fans and being able to talk to them about what the brand so deeply believes in. I'm excited to just meet the consumers and further tell them about how awesome the brand is, and I've been wearing their pieces forever, since I was little, because it's so cozy and comfy and exactly what I wear in my everyday life. I'm hoping I get some cozy sweaters out of this. [laughs] That's something so awesome about this brand, is it is so relatable and approachable."](https://fashionista.com/.image/c_fill%2Ccs_srgb%2Cg_face%2Ch_80%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_80/MTY5OTI3MjI2MTQ0NTMxODMz/lana-condor-aerie-real-role-models-2020.jpg)
!["I wasn't shooting yesterday, but I came to set to support everyone and to make sure that everyone was bonding, because when you're shooting sometimes maybe you don't get to meet certain people on set or one person's busy and then the other one has to go and shoot. I definitely want to be like the glue that connects the whole Aerie family — and we've grown a lot. We have so many more Role Models this year.I feel very grateful to be in a position to be like, 'Hey, everyone. This is really what Aerie's about. This is why you're here and what you're bringing to the table. And just knowing that this didn't happen by accident. You've been on people's radars; we've been watching you, we've been getting excited for what you can bring to us as well and we want to learn from you. Your contribution is why you're here. This isn't just surface level. We want you to influence the brand. We want you influence the marketing and the communication.'I feel like I'm quite good at being on the ground and listening to my followers and the Aerie community about what they want to see and how they want to be spoken to, and that has shifted and that has changed. We've all learned new things and, as inclusivity and diversity becomes such a bigger conversation and we're seeing more representation, it's also our job to keep up with that and realize, 'Okay. What we were talking about two, three years ago isn't what's relevant now.' Aerie's growth has been from no retouching to become this movement of empowerment for females.This year it's really about the change-makers, and it's about allowing the Aerie girl who's sat at home to realize she can be a change maker because there isn't one look or one feel or one career path. Change-making comes in all different shapes and forms, whatever your purpose is meant to be. Everything looks different for everyone.One of the biggest things [I learned] last year was meeting Molly and Brenna and understanding more about disability awareness, and how I can be an ally and an advocate in my own space, becoming more aware of the day-to-day challenges of people with disabilities and how so much of their struggles are because people haven't even thought to make it easier for them. It's changed my whole life and the way I look at things on a day-to-day basis.Everyone has different personalities; everyone's interpretation of what Aerie means is really, really exciting. It pushes you on, as well; when you hear about some of these women and what they're achieving right now, it pushes you to think, 'I want to do more,' or to connect. I'm sitting down with Keiana and I'm like, 'You need to speak with my lawyer, Jennifer Justice, she can help you raise VC.' We're going to make more change if we do it together.I'm really proud of my body and grateful, because I know this isn't easy for everyone and I just can't wait to show my baby one day, 'Look at what you've done with me and what we've done together.' My partner was here earlier on set and just watching him watch me, it was a new level of love and appreciation. That was really special. And me and Brenna — she's eight weeks ahead of me — we did bump-to-bump pictures. Those pictures are going to be very cute."](https://fashionista.com/.image/c_fill%2Ccs_srgb%2Cg_face%2Ch_80%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_80/MTY5OTI3MjI2MTQ0NDY2Mjk3/iskra-lawrence-aerie-real-role-models-2020.jpg)
!["I think, specifically for this campaign, the idea of being real and authentic [was appealing to me]. That's what I try to do for the girls I get to work with, creating that space where they can be their authentic self and discover something new. That really resonated with me. I really love to encourage girls to take charge and use what they have in their hand to make change, so I'm really looking forward to sending that message to girls who are in these low income communities who don't really have positive role models to see that they have all the power within them already to make change.Everyone's just so positive. I've only been on set one other time, but this has been a really positive environment. Everyone's so encouraging. I'm not a model but we were doing our group shot and everyone was like, 'Oh, my God, you're doing such a great job.' That affirmation gave me more confidence that, hey, you know, I can smile. It was really good to kind of be on set with everybody and feel that energy. I was definitely looking at Iskra the whole time. She's just so natural about it and I was like, okay, let me not be so stiff and be a human for a second. Just watching her and side eyeing, seeing how she's posing and moving her body, I'm like, 'Oh!' And then Jenna, she's just so out and her personality is so big. She made me feel very comfortable. I'm looking forward to a lot. Knowing my background, where I came from, I'm really excited for girls who are coming up behind me to see they can be on this journey as well, and not just being celebrated, but being able to make change and do something new. Going back to girls I get to mentor and them knowing where I've come from and my friends would be very, very inspiring, for me and for them."](https://fashionista.com/.image/c_fill%2Ccs_srgb%2Cg_face%2Ch_80%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_80/MTY5OTI3MjI2MTQ0NDY2NTA1/dre-thomas-aerie-real-role-models-2020.jpg)
!["This is my third role model shoot. This is my second year working with them and it's hard to put into words. They're just so supportive. I'm trying to find words that don't make it seem like I'm just saying it because they're so great.Everyone's hanging out in the other room and it's just really nice to see. We're all getting to know each other and we all went out to dinner last night. We're all really connecting and we all have different things that we're passionate about, so it's really cool for me to learn from other people about what they're passionate about. I think you can learn so much just from having conversations with people. Molly and Brenna were in the shoot last year and I've gotten to know them really well; Molly, her service dog Gallop is so sweet and I was getting emotional just watching him protect Molly. There's so much going on in the world and it can be overwhelming; everyone wants to help and do things, but you can't do everything, so I think it's really cool to learn little things from each other or what we can do to help make a bigger impact. You might think it's just a small thing, but it really can make a really big difference.I think it's been really helpful for me personally just because [Aerie doesn't] retouch anything, and when I have certain moments where I feel a little bit more self conscious, I actually remind myself maybe if I grew up seeing unreached photos, I wouldn't feel self conscious. It's really cool to be able to have Aerie be so supportive and really embrace all of us for who we are, and they're picking us based off of what we believe in and what we stand for, which is very, very cool. I hope that my fans like it. I think Aerie's an amazing brand and when I go to the stores with them, just seeing how much Aerie impacts other people, it's really special. Aerie has a lot of things they want to continue to do and that I hope we can continue to work towards together, because they have an incredible platform and a great fan base who's really supportive. Aerie's super open to hearing people's feedback, which is really important, too.I honestly think my favorite part is the friendships that I've made. Iskra is just an amazing person. She's a great role model. I look up to her. She's going to be an amazing mom, I'm so happy for her. It's just nice to be around such nice people — and I don't say that lightly because you meet so many people.I feel like a different person from the first Role Model shoot — even Iskra will say I'm a different person, and same with the team. It was maybe a month or two after I came forward publicly for the first time about everything, so I was feeling vulnerable and pretty uncomfortable and nervous, and everyone on set was so amazing. But it's a very hard thing to share that about yourself, and I think I was figuring it out. When you come forward publicly, you don't really know what to expect, but it's sort of an open wound and it's really hard to figure out how to make yourself feel better. I've learned how to connect with people since then, and to be able to trust people and to be able to have fun.I'm excited for everybody to have a bigger platform to share what they're passionate about; so many of the women here do such incredible things and they all have such incredible stories and they've really embodied being themselves. It's another example of how women coming together and supporting each other, having a good time, and it speaks to the fact that you can learn a lot just by having a conversation with somebody else and learning from their experiences in everything that they've been through."](https://fashionista.com/.image/c_fill%2Ccs_srgb%2Cg_face%2Ch_80%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_80/MTY5OTI3MjI2MTQ0MzM1MjI1/aly-raisman-aerie-real-role-models-2020.jpg)
!["I remember seeing the campaign with Jameela and Samira. I was so in love with what they did, and so when I got the email I was like, 'I know exactly that campaign and I am so honored that they would even think of me.' As an actor, all you ever want to do is be honest and be open and be real, and that's what they triumph and what they champion. It felt like such a beautiful fit to be a part of a group of people that celebrates diversity and inclusivity and comfy cozy clothes. Like, a literal dream.My mom has a really beautiful organization called Your Mom Cares that's all about changing the narrative around mental illness to be promoting mental wellness instead of stigmatizing mental illness, specifically the youth. She works with a bunch of incredible moms to help children get access to mental health care that they need, so I would love to do [something] with Aerie. It's a perfect fit. Being open and owning your mental health and encouraging mental illness is a beautiful connective thing, I think, between the two of them. I'd be really excited about that. Access to education is deeply important to me. Education really changed my life and changed my perspective on the world, and so anyone that wants that opportunity, specifically higher education, really deserves that opportunity. It's so fun. I felt like I was a fan girl in hair and makeup this morning — I was just like, 'God, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.' It's a really special group of people. The girls that have been with the company for a long time have been just ridiculously welcoming and warm and lovely. The entire vibe and setting has been really empowering, and I felt inspired to try a different look than I've ever tried before — which is the opposite of what you usually feel at a photo shoot, where you're just like, 'I don't know what I'm doing and I want to stay inside the box.'I'm most excited about standing amongst really incredible women and being a part of a story that is a story of bodies and the story of voices that is inclusive and diverse and honest and real and looks like everyone that you see around you day-to-day walking on the street. And I love being a part of a brand that is size inclusive, because that's very important to me, and celebrates every woman's body for what it looks like."](https://fashionista.com/.image/c_fill%2Ccs_srgb%2Cg_face%2Ch_80%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_80/MTY5OTI3MjI2MTQ0NDAwOTY5/beanie-feldstein-aerie-real-role-models-2020.jpg)
!["[Aerie] has always been a brand that inspires me. Back when they started doing the no retouching campaign, I immediately thought, 'Wow, this brand is going to change the world.' Iskra became one of my role models. I've always had in the back of my mind that I'm probably never going to start my own clothing brand, but I really wish that some brand out there, instead of hiring supermodels, they would hire people that girls can look up to in other respects. They're doing that now, so it's amazing.It was so hard not to be starstruck at first. In my occupation, everyone's like, 'Who are the big VCs that you need to talk to?' and those are the types of interactions I have, but this is on another level for me. Right now I'm a scientist, so on one end, I want to show girls and women, and really everybody, that scientists can be into fashion too. It's cool because this is the stuff that I wear on a daily basis, but no one thinks about us in the tech field and what we would really be interested in, besides math. Then on the other end, I'm running a pharmaceutical startup and we're developing the first non-hormonal birth control pill. I really want to be able to educate women about their hormones so that we can transition into a world where no one has to be on the hormonal pill if they have some sort of reaction to it.I'm definitely looking forward to people in my field and Silicon Valley, and tech and startup life in general, starting to see that there's space for us too — in fundraising, in board meetings, it is okay that you saw me in my bra on a billboard. You still need to take me seriously because I know my stuff."](https://fashionista.com/.image/c_fill%2Ccs_srgb%2Cg_face%2Ch_80%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_80/MTY5OTI3MjI2MTQ0NjYzMTEz/keiana-cave-aerie-real-role-models-2020.jpg)
!["I wanted to work with Aerie because they're really about that life of inclusion, diversity, and also just being yourself, showing up as yourself. That's really important to me and my authenticity, and I felt like it was a perfect partnership for us to just come together. I currently have a wellness brand called Look IN vs Lookin. It's experiential events dealing with music, movement, and meditation, and we set up safe, curated spaces for people to do things like yoga, boxing, dance class; we have meditation, I curate all the music for it, and I do special music meditations, different connections that you can make with people on their path, and focusing on the fact that you are your tool in your toolbox. You don't need anything to do your wellness; your stillness and how you meditate should really be tailored to yourself.We've been doing that for almost two years, so it's great to partner with someone that cares about wellness and do more of that. I do a lot of notable work with young girls for a nonprofit named Girls Mentor Girls, which I'm on the board for. And then everything I've done musically, DJ-wise, I can kind of bring that flavor and fun to [Aerie]. But we have the same mission. This is my life, sets and things like that, but it's so chill. It's just fun. Everyone's in a good mood. Everybody wants to get to know each other. My glam squad that was paired with me, we were having live talks. You know it's just nice, great vibes. It was more comforting to know that I can show up as myself. That's the one thing from my girl Iskra that I've seen, with her working with them, is she's just herself. There's really no false pretense in what they ask you to come as.The thing I'm most excited about is for young black girls to see me. That excites me every time. I know that I'm very visible, and I know that they watch everything I'm doing, but I think it's exciting for them to see me in this kind of role where they're represented; there's someone that looks like them within that, and it's not just like I was placed there just as a filler for diversity. They're really going to see me and see themselves, I hope, and feel like they can still do anything they want to do, that it's okay for them to be really positive about their body, whatever they look like. That's the one thing about Aerie, they're really about body positivity — and I feel like people just are playing with these words that they think are hot and they throw them out because they want those consumer dollars. I'm excited for girls to see me and Aerie in this situation and see that it's like, "Oh, this is for real."And I'm not going to front. It's going to be exciting to see me on billboards. I finally told my mom about this — I just was holding it from everyone for a while. I'm old school: It's not done until you're wrapped on a set. So I told my mom and she was just like, 'Oh my God, you're going to be on a billboard?' I was like, 'I don't know, Mommy.' And she was like, 'Oh my God, yes, you are because you said since you were a kid you were going to do that.' And I was just like, 'Okay, don't make me cry.' I'm going to make my whole family come out and see it."](https://fashionista.com/.image/c_fill%2Ccs_srgb%2Cg_face%2Ch_80%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_80/MTY5OTI3MjI2NDEyODM2NDI1/tiff-mcfierce-aerie-real-role-models-2020.jpg)
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