Two best friends wear the same clothes to show how it looks different on each body type

Fashion is one hell of a merciless industry. We have heard of unrealistic standards and high expectations that push girls to the brink of insanity. And although the common conception around plus-size models is fading away these days, the steps are very tiny, that it's barely visible.

Fortunately, more women are willing to take matters into their own hands and rewrite the rules of fashion altogether. One plus-size model, Denise Mercedes, is doing just that. The size 14 Dominican model has launched a TikTok challenge titled "Style, Not Size" with her best friend Maria Castellanos.

The two girls are with different sizes are putting on the same outfits, sharing the snack-sized videos to 1.7M followers, and showing that beauty comes in all shapes and forms.

Their videos have now been liked more than 30 million times, proving that healthy and happy women rule the world!

When Denise was 16 years old and already a petite size 8, she started sending her pictures to modeling agencies, but her height was too short in industry standards. She kept on posing for the camera as a side hobby until she turned 21 and had gone up to a size 14.

According to a statement on her website, Denise started putting outfits together and posting the images on social media. She is an avid advocate of body positivity and runs a campaign on hashtag #becauseitsmybody dedicated to women of all shapes and sizes. She now has collaborated with many fashion brands and boutiques such as Forever21, Target, and JCPenney.

There's quite a big gap between fashion industry standards and real-life women, who measure a size 16 around the waist on average in the United States. Moreover, plus-size women represent 68% of fashion shoppers, according to Glamour, and yet a very small percentage of them actually work in the fashion industry.

Only in 2016, Ashley Graham became the first plus-size model on the cover of Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit edition and paved the way for models with curves. But the model herself told CBS Sunday Morning that she doesn't like the word "plus-size" because it's "divisive to women" and puts them into categories.

Alot of women find the representation of diverse body types in media more appealing.

According to this study which was conducted by Florida State University, women tend to experience deeper body satisfaction and retain a memory of plus-size models better than that of the thinner ones.

It also pointed out that exposure to "unrealistic-sized media models" has a negative effect on the consumer's "mental and physical health, including experiencing lower body satisfaction."