Makeup artist Beth Wilson calls out Sonya Moda fashion designer

An Australian makeup artist has shared the unexpected response she received from a high fashion small business after she asked to see photos of women ‘over a size 10’ wearing their clothes.    

Founder of Saint Jack cosmetics Beth Wilson, who lives in Melbourne, was looking to purchase the Nour Seashell Maxi Dress ($420) from the Sonya Moda online store, which caters sizes six to 16.

But the model on the website wearing the gown was in a size six and Beth, who wears a size 10 to 12 on top and 14 to 16 on the bottom, was hoping to see someone who ‘looked like her’ in it – so she reached out to the brand. 

Instead of offering to send her photos or pointing her to a specific post on their Instagram, the team at Sonya Moda said: ‘I wouldn’t be questioning a brand who creates pieces for plus size women. We have reposted many plus size women on our Instagram Stories’.

Shocked by the response she received Beth created a TikTok video about her experience, calling for better size inclusivity from fashion brands.

‘On Friday I was scrolling through Instagram when I saw this dress and clicked through to the website because it’s perfect for an event I have in November,’ she said at the start of the video.

‘For reference I am a size 10 to 12 on top and a size 14 to 16 on the bottom and I’ve got that tiny waist, big hip thing going on. I noticed that they sell the dress I wanted up to a size 16 but there was nobody else on the website bar one model wearing it.

‘It’s not completely uncommon so I headed over to their Instagram to see if I could see someone wearing it who was closer to my size. But I also couldn’t see anyone around a size 12 or up on their feed.

‘I also couldn’t see much size inclusivity on their highlighted stories. So I found a recent reel of the model wearing the dress and decided to leave them a comment.’

The comment read: ‘Do you have any pics of someone beyond a size 10 wearing this? Kinda astounded you sell a size 16 but there’s zero representation of different figured women on your page’.

Shocked by the response she received Beth created a TikTok video about her experience, calling for better size inclusivity from fashion brands

Mere minutes later a representation from Sonya Moda wrote back to Beth with: ‘Hi lovely, we are a brand who caters for all women of all sizes and repost many of our customers who share their posts’.

‘As a brand owner myself and if it was me I would have just sent me a DM with pictures of girls my size wearing the dress,’ Beth continued. ‘But that didn’t happen and I didn’t get a reply to my second comment asking for them to show me’.

A few hours later another makeup artist, Laura Claire, wrote underneath the thread ‘”women of all sizes” except those beyond a 16’.

This reignited the chat, with Sonya Moda writing: ‘I wouldn’t be questioning a brand who creates pieces for plus size women. We have reposted many plus size women on our Instagram Stories’.

Beth could only find size six to eight models wearing the dress (left) and pregnant women (right)

Beth took aim at the use of the term ‘plus size’ and pointed to the fact the average size Australian woman in 2021 is a size 14 to 16

Beth took aim at the use of the term ‘plus size’ and pointed to the fact the average size Australian woman in 2021 is a size 14 to 16. 

A few minutes later Beth claims the entire thread had disappeared and her account had been blocked from viewing Sonya Moda’s content. 

Director of Sonya Moda, Sonya Mefaddi, told FEMAIL she was sorry to hear about Beth’s personal experience and it was never her intention to make anyone feel excluded or unworthy. 

‘When we launched the brand we were in fact one of the very first Australian brands to include a size-inclusivity model on our runway with La’Tecia walking for the brand in Miami Swim Week in 2019,’ Sonya said.

‘The plus size industry is a huge market and I acknowledge this and it has always been my intention to see a diverse range of women wearing the brand from day dot.

‘As a young brand I am very proud that we cater for women up to size 16 – not many Australian designer brands do so. 

Director of Sonya Moda, Sonya Mefaddi (pictured), told FEMAIL she was sorry to hear about Beth’s personal experience and it was never her intention to make anyone feel excluded or unworthy

Sonya shared five images of women seen wearing their dresses, which were posted to the brand’s Instagram Story

‘As we continue to grow, we will absolutely further expand upon our size range as well as our representation. 

‘As a small business, we do require budget to create two sample sets and an additional model – across our campaigns we’ve always only worked with one model as shoots and samples are so expensive. We repost and share organic content from all our customers for this reason. 

‘Moving forward we will look to include a diverse range of customers across our website and socials.’

In her TikTok video Beth points out that she wanted to purchase the $420 gown and felt as though the ties on the waist would suit her.

But she wasn’t willing to fork out the money when the company’s returns policy strictly states that a store credit will be issued for a change of mind, not a refund. 

‘To be fair last night I did notice the brand repost an Instagram Story with a lovely lady [in a larger size] so maybe they have learnt something from this exchange,’ she said.

‘To be fair last night I did notice the brand repost an Instagram Story with a lovely lady [in a larger size] so maybe they have learnt something from this exchange,’ she said

Many of Beth’s followers were quick to call out the behaviour of the brand’s spokesperson.

‘Brands getting called out and blocking the whistleblowers know full well they’re in the wrong and choose to ignore it,’ one woman wrote.

‘They should be using this as a chance to connect with a potential customer not block you for asking very normal questions about their size range,’ said another. 

A third added: ‘Legit wanted this dress too and I’m a short curvy 10/12 – the selected model has made it super hard to visualise what this dress would look like on me’.