International Careers: Tegan Aileen Wylie on Modeling in Europe
Tegan Aileen Wylie modeling in Narbonne, France for Diane Kroe
We first encountered Tegan Aileen Wylie in the promotional materials for Diane Kroe, a Canadian company producing versatile, convertible travel clothing for women. But we were really hooked when we discovered Wylie’s website, The Travel Curve, which focuses on travel and fashion tips for “full-figured” women. We loved Wylie’s tone and her message, and wanted to get to know her and her mission a little more. Undomesticated talked to her about modeling, being an influencer, and more just before we rang in the new year.
How did you decide on modeling as a career? And what led you to France?
Wylie in Barcelona
This is such a long story that runs almost the length of my life, but to sum it up, modeling was always a path that was brought to me. Since I was young I was considered for a lot of opportunities in the industry (mainly because I was "tall and pretty"), but my mother refused a lot of them because she wanted me to have a normal childhood. When I was in my early 20s I was discovered again by an agent in Toronto who had a very successful diverse modeling agency called the Ben Barry Agency. I was able to model with them and still be my curvy plus-size self, which was the only way I wanted to do it at that point in time.
I moved to France in 2016 because I met my future husband two years earlier while traveling in Barcelona. We knew each other for one day, waited a year to see each other again, and in 2015, he came to Canada and we took a twomonth 27,000-kilometer road trip around the US and Canada. Moving to France was the next step in our growing commitment to each other. We were married in 2018 and now live in the countryside of Southwest France.
People have a lot of existing ideas about what a career in modeling must look like. But your experience has led you to become a role model and a model. Can you say more about what led you to start The Travel Curve, and how you think that's changed any impressions you may have had of what it's like to be a model?
Personally, I feel that there is a huge disconnect between the impression of what being a model must be like and what it actually is. We talk a lot these days about a society that pressures us to look a certain way or be an "ideal woman." Well, models are often the trigger for that concept, but we forget they are human, and they feel the pressure just as much as we do. It's a really hard industry to be a part of and it's an industry I do not make excuses for.
This has been the main reason I did my modeling career the way I did. I wasn't going to let anyone tell me how to look in order to be "better." I wanted to embrace who I really was. In the end, I always told myself if being a plus model gets that level of diversity out there, then it was worth it. I always wanted to use my career as a platform to inspire other full-figured women. The Travel Curve was really born out of that too. I knew I was moving to France and that my modeling career was changing too. I wanted to find a way to continue the messages I was representing in my career, and at the time web sites and social media was the perfect way to do that.
Is there a difference between your modeling career now that you live in France and your modeling career when you were living in Canada?
Wylie in the Ubaye, a valley in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
Absolutely. In Canada I was professionally represented. Now that I’m not represented by an agent, I can work with the brands I choose to as an influencer. This year I focused on working with small brands that were all female or Indigenous brand owners. Had I been with any agency, not only could I not work with them, but I would be doing more corporate campaigns that align less with my core values.
I'm sure I could have gone to Paris and looked for an agent there (even though it would have been like starting all over again because France is far behind in the Plus Size/Body Neutral movement), but moving to France opened up a completely different aspect of my life. At this time, I am a freelance model, but this way of working also gives me so much more control over my career, my image, and how I want my own work to be expressed.
What was the biggest surprise about modeling, for you? What would surprise other people about this career?
They feed you! I think a lot of people assume models don't get fed on set. That's not true. Now, this could have just been my experience because I was a plus-model working with only companies and brands that were open to inclusion and diversity, but we were always very well looked after on our sets. Everyone was incredibly open and nice. I'm lactose intolerant, so once I requested a special meal and for whatever reason the team forgot (accidents happen!), but they went so far out of their way to correct it for me that I was shocked. I wasn't expecting that level of kindness, but hey! That's the Canandian industry for you, I guess!
What is the biggest reward of this career?
In one of my very first gigs, I was one of the size models on How to Look Good Naked Canada. When the woman who was getting the makeover found out she had the same measurements as me, she looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, "I look like her?!"
I fell apart! Just knowing that seeing me in my white undies and tank made her feel better because we were the same size made everything worthwhile. All I ever wanted to do with my modeling was allow women of all shapes in sizes to see themselves represented in fashion.
What is the biggest challenge?
Wylie in Rome wearing Diane Kroe’s Fisherman Pants
My biggest challenge has always been the fact that I'm midsized. We live in a world where thin has been normalized. Now we are addressing our inherent fatphobia as society and how we can change it and be better (which I love and am here for a billion percent), but we don't talk a lot about mid-sized bodies. When I was a size 12 model I would lose a lot of jobs because I wasn't thick enough, but I was also too full to be considered for straight sized jobs. They say size 12 is the most common size in the world, and yet we still don't talk about what it means to be mid-sized. This made me question myself a lot in my modeling career — and even with The Travel Curve.
What advice would you give someone hoping to get into this line of work?
Do it on your own terms. There are a lot of places out there that will embrace you as you are if you look for them. Don't fall into the trap of losing weight or shaving inches off your thighs. You're beautiful, and you can do things the way you want! We need to make the industry change to accommodate us, and not the other way around.
What skills would you say you use the most in your career?
In my career as a model, interpersonal skills were always helpful. Additionally, posing is a legit skill that can (and probably should) be learned if you want to model. On the flipside, as a Social Media Influencer, understanding the full capacity and capability of marketing has been my most useful skill set so far.
In addition to her work at The Travel Curve and at Diane Kroe, Wylie is in the beginning stages of creating a whole new digital business. Sign on to The Travel Curve’s Facebook page for updates, and follow Wylie on Instagram here.
