A New Model: What Confidence, Beauty, and Power Really Look Like

People familiar with Ashley Graham as a model and clothing designer may approach her first book, A New Model, expecting a lighthearted glimpse into the world of a famous model, something a bit surface with a few salacious details sprinkled throughout but little substance. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In her own words, Graham writes about her willingness “to explore [my] deepest vulnerabilities with others,” and it is this willingness that makes the book so worth reading. While there are several anecdotes about her career as a model, they are tempered with personal and self-aware passages about her insecurities, her tumultuous relationship with her father, her recklessness in her youth, and her deep, abiding faith in God. What emerges is a story about a complex woman trying to know, respect, and celebrate herself while using that knowledge to help other women do the same. And always present is the funny, honest, and real voice of Ashley Graham herself, talking about everything from the horrors of gastrointestinal distress to the joys of married life in a voice very much like that of a close friend.

As much a book about the importance of honesty and communication in relationships as it is a primer for would-be models, A New Model emphasizes beauty as part of who we are, not how we look.