Ashley Graham looked stylish in a white lace dress as she made an appearance as a St. Tropez ambassador at Ulta Beauty on Wednesday.
The 36-year-old supermodel looked radiant as she arrived at the cosmetics store in Herald Square, where she mingled with fans, wearing white sunglasses, hoop earrings and strappy heels.
For the occasion, the mother of three, who is married to cinematographer Justin Ervin, styled her waist-length brunette locks in loose waves.
During the event, she shared her secrets for a year-round tan, including using St. Tropez self-tanning gels, mousses, mists and lotions.
In 2021, she announced that she had partnered with the brand because it has always been her favorite self-tanner brand.
Ashley Graham looked stylish in a white lace dress at an in-store event for Ulta Beauty as a St. Tropez ambassador on Wednesday
“For years I have used their products for a natural-looking, healthy, sun-kissed glow,” she said Forbes‘For me, a beautiful tan is not just about how I look, but also about how I feel.’
When asked why she uses self-tanner, Graham says she’s “always a health nut” and likes that “St. Tropez combines serious skincare with self-tanner.”
“When I shine a little bit, I feel like I can take on the world,” the Sports Illustrated cover girl added.
However, she admitted that, like ‘everyone else’, she has also had to deal with a ‘self-tanning disaster’.
“I ruined a beautiful pair of white sheets once, but now I feel like such a pro,” she recalls. “What I love about St. Tropez is that all of their formulas are so easy to use and leave no residue. If I can do it, you can too!”
Graham’s latest observation comes after she recently opened up about being called “big” by her peers as a child in a personal essay titled The Words I Use to Encourage Self-Love, for Time.
“I was 9 years old when I was first introduced to the idea of beauty. I had always been a bigger kid — stocky, athletic. People said I was ‘big and strong,'” she shared.
“But this girl, a stranger I saw at Target one day, was different.
‘She had long, thin legs, a flat stomach and full-grown breasts. Her blond hair fell perfectly over her shoulders.
The 36-year-old supermodel looked radiant as she arrived at the cosmetics store in Herald Square, where she mingled with fans, wearing white sunglasses, hoop earrings and strappy heels
For the occasion, the mother of three, who is married to cinematographer Justin Ervin, styled her waist-length brunette locks in loose waves
‘I was so young, and yet I knew: she was beautiful. That’s what I wanted to be. I didn’t know what modeling was then, I didn’t even know what fashion was, but I wanted what she had. I wanted to attract attention.’
As a model, she said she was often told she was “beautiful for a big girl” or “beautiful from the neck down.”
“My teachers would tilt their heads and look at me askance, looking for whatever the industry saw,” she added. “I flew out to New York City for a modeling gig with my mom for the weekend and was back in school on Monday dealing with the abuse.”
She continued, “I wish I had had a mentor back then, someone to help me understand my value and my purpose as a model. But there was no one I could look up to and emulate, no one who had gone through the same challenges to hold my hand and tell me that all the noise didn’t matter, that I just had to keep going.”
During her performance, she shared her secrets to getting a tan all year round, including using St. Tropez self-tanning gels, mousses, mists and lotions
In 2021, she revealed that she partnered with the brand because it has always been her “favorite tanning brand”
Luckily, Graham had a smart mother who could see into the future.
“One day I finally called my mom, crying and looking in the mirror, feeling like I couldn’t do this anymore,” she said.
“She told me something I’ll never forget: your body is going to change someone’s life. You have to keep going… That was the ‘aha’ moment for me.”
Ashley added, “My mother helped me understand my purpose. As I let her words sink in, I thought about how I had spent years letting other people tell me who I was. I needed to define my worth for myself. And I could use words, like my mother had, to do that.”
She also talked about the impact she has had on the world.
“My body has changed things for other people, and it’s a huge honor – and a huge pressure – to know that,” she said.
‘I’ve always wanted women to recognize themselves in me, to know that the recognition I get is also for them.
Graham’s latest observation comes after she recently opened up about being called “big” by her peers as a child in a personal essay titled The Words I Use to Encourage Self-Love
‘But sharing my body with the world has also meant that the people I represent sometimes take ownership of my appearance. We all change.
‘I was 28 when I appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit. Now I’m 36 and a mother of three.’
Graham said: ‘My body looked different when I was pregnant, and now that I’ve had my three sons, it looks different.
‘Losing weight after having children often elicits reactions from people who feel betrayed by the changes they see.
“I never want women to think I’m abandoning them. At the same time, there’s nothing I can do but accept the journey I’m on and focus on the things that make me feel strong and powerful. That’s all we can do.”
‘I might lose weight, I might gain weight. This is my body and I am incredibly proud of everything it has accomplished.’