Curve Model Kate Kope Reclaims Her Power After Awkward Body Comment at 30,000 Feet

22 June 2025

Credit: JAG Models

At 27, Kate Kope is already a seasoned name in the fashion industry. Signed to Jag Models, she has fronted campaigns for Victoria’s Secret, SKIMS, Fenty Beauty, and Hollister. Standing between a size 8 and 10 and often modeling for samples sized 12 to 16, she embodies the “midsize” curve model. But even with her credentials, nothing prepared her for the awkward moment on a Delta flight when a seatmate observed: “Oh, don’t worry, you're not that fat.”

The incident came to light in a TikTok Kope shared alongside a candid retelling to People. It resonated with more than 300,000 viewers within hours. The comment may have sounded caring, but mask a deeper judgment. Kope says she wasn’t shocked, she’s grow accustomed to such micro-aggressions. Though taken aback, she refused to let it derail her day, rolling it off and engaging the passenger in friendly conversation instead. She credits her resilience in part to understanding that these offhand remarks echo broader, entrenched societal beliefs equating thinness with virtue.

Kope reflects on this as a familiar moment that transcends fashion. When she tells new acquaintances she models curves, people often feel obliged to reassure her she’s not fat. Yet her professional title doesn’t fit conventional stereotypes. She describes herself as someone who “exists in this middle ground” too “curvy” for standard fashion sample size, yet too small by plus-size industry standards. Unsolicited reassurance highlights how normalized fatphobia is, even in unlikely spaces like a crowded plane.

Her story ties into recent industry shifts. A few years ago, curve and plus-size models once had more visibility in major campaigns. Kope recalls friends wearing size 16+ and being featured prominently across beauty and editorial platforms. Today she sees an alarming regression. Instead, brands are often hiring smaller “curves” models like herself while genuinely plus-size figures struggle for visibility. Sizes six to twelve are overrepresented, while larger bodies recede from campaigns. Without intentional inclusion, real progress against outdated norms remains elusive.

Kope’s advocacy extends beyond personal anecdotes. She has embraced her platform to call for genuine representation of size diversity, not token gestures, but purposeful inclusion of fuller figures. She emphasizes that younger generations deserve to see their bodies reflected in media without skewed standards of beauty. Kope encourages her followers to seek out brands that feature a range of bodies and to challenge those that traffic in slimness as default.

In modeling, concept of “plus-size” remains contentious. According to Kope, the fashion industry’s narrow definitions mean she is often miscategorized. Her wardrobe fits vary significantly, making sample sizes for true curvy models misleading. She notes that while people think she's small in person, they still feel the need to emphasize she’s “not that fat.” It shows a moment of societal tension where acceptance of her body still depends on thinness.

Over years, her career spans major beauty and fashion milestones. But these achievements don't negate the daily undercurrent of judgment that accompanies how bodies are perceived. For Kope, confidence isn’t something granted, it’s earned through mental work. She describes stepping away from chasing thinness as an identity anymore and instead, embracing body diversity as a movement with intention. Her message clear: no model should feel defined by size or pressured to conform to old standards.

Her PoV became especially needed at a time when curve representation in fashion seems to be shrinking, not expanding. She sees brands retreating from heavier representation, dismantling achievements made in the previous decade when real plus-size presence began gaining traction. That regression isn’t lost on her: it's both an opportunity and a warning. Without pressure, visibility could fade entirely. Kate advocates for audiences to vote with their wallets and attention, and for brands to hire more size‑inclusive castings from size 16 upward.

Her public recounting of the flight moment is more than a personal anecdote. It’s a symbol of the tension between increasing acceptance and persistent stigma. She hopes one day mid-size models like her won’t spark awkward apologies. That moment of reassurance may not go away soon, but each time she gently challenges it, she chips away at deep-rooted biases.

As she continues work in beauty and became a sought-after face for brands, Kope aims for more than a career. She seeks cultural change. The industry needs to reflect its customer base in all forms, not just the slender ideal. With each campaign and candid story, she forges a more inclusive path forward: one where being a curve model means something beyond appearance, it means visibility, confidence, and systemic change.