The First Major Plus-Size Male Model Takes On His Critics
In his neighborhood of Astoria in Queens, a borough of New York City, model Zach Miko lives an unremarkable life: He wakes up, walks the dog, goes to the gym, and binge-watches HBO’s Westworld. But he’s in the midst of doing something remarkable: Miko is the first plus-size male model to sign with a major modeling agency.
A few years ago, the 26-year-old, who was then trying — mostly unsuccessfully — to make it as an actor, felt unaccepted and often dismissed because of his size: 6 feet 6 inches tall with a 40-inch waist. “I’m an all-around big guy and always have been,” Miko tells Yahoo Style.
Then he landed a modeling gig for Target’s “big & tall” clothing line, for which Miko wore an Ugly Holiday Faux Cardigan Sweatshirt and a T-shirt with “UNWRAP THIS” emblazoned across the chest. That’s not usually the kind of campaign fashion dreams are made of, but IMG Models called him shortly afterward. The most elite modeling agency in the world, whose roster includes supermodels Karlie Kloss and Gigi Hadid, wanted to debut a “Brawn” or plus-size division for guys and thought Miko was the perfect model to start with.
“The industry is completely crazy,” Miko said. “It’s funny because I got rejected from acting jobs because of my size, but IMG was like, ‘We’ll take you! We’ll create a whole new thing for you to be part of!’”
Miko has since added big clients like Levi’s and Old Navy to his modeling portfolio and has grown a considerably large fanbase of more than 60,000 followers on Instagram. Not everyone online is supportive though.
“The Internet is a really dark place,” he said, “And it really brings me back to my childhood, when I was constantly bullied because of my size. I can get 100 wonderful comments, but I just need one person to say something awful like that I’m ‘disgusting’ or ‘promoting unhealthy lifestyles,’ and I’ll be in a bad mood for days.”
Though it may be difficult for Miko to ignore all the negativity online, he’s decided to battle social media trolls with a “they go low, you go high” mentality — something he’s learned from fellow plus-size models (and close friends) Ashley Graham and Candice Huffine (and Michelle Obama, of course).
“It’s ‘water off a duck’s back,’ we say. You know, I want to fight back, but have to realize that the Internet has given people a mask to be anonymous,” he said. “Of course, I’m bullied all the time, but at a far less volume than Ashley and Candice.”
This is why Graham, who considers herself a “body activist,” has especially advocated for change in the modeling industry. “I’m very proud of my work as a model, and I’m even more proud of the work we’ve all done to raise awareness for body positivity and size diversity within the fashion industry,” she wrote in an article for Lenny Letter. “However, I refuse to let others dictate how I live my life and what my body should look like for their own comfort. And neither should you.”
Miko agrees that he has a responsibility to make change happen. “I often ask myself, ‘Does my size define me?’ But really, I get to write my own definitions,” he said, “and that is a great responsibility.”
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