Yumi Nu is making history as the first plus-size Asian model to appear in the Swimsuit Issue of magazine Sports Illustrated.
Nu, who is also a songwriter and the niece of famous deejay Steve Aoki, is of Japanese and Dutch descent.
“Secrets out!!! I’m a 2021 @si_swimsuit Rookie! What an incredible honour it is to be in such an inclusive and beautiful magazine that has pushed the envelope since day 1. I’m so proud to be making history as the first Asian curve Sports Illustrated model,” Nu wrote on Instagram.
Representations of plus-size or “curvy” body types are a rarity among the Asian community in the United States and in Asian countries, where traditional standards of beauty are still the norm.
Just last week, Hiroshi Sasaki, chief executive creative director of this summer’s Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, resigned after proposing that Japanese plus-size advocate Naomi Watanabe come down from the sky in a pig costume to play the role of an “Olympig” during the Olympic opening ceremony.
Meanwhile, in China, a recent trend of adult women squeezing into children’s clothing to show off their waistlines has been attacked by people online, who call the craze “unethical”.
In a video also posted on Instagram, Nu opened up about her confidence in being a plus-size Asian-American woman.
“For Asian-American women, there’s a lot of shame in flaunting your body and feeling sexy. And I think for me as a plus-size model, we’ve had to evolve and battle this like, inner voice that hasn’t evolved,” she said.
“I’m plus-size and Asian. That’s why I’m like, this is important,” she continued. “I want to do as much as I can to show other people that we don’t have to be dainty and little. I can say, I know that in myself, I’m beautiful.”
