A Brooklyn fashion photographer is suing after being roasted online for charging plus-sized models $100 more for portfolio pictures than smaller-sized catwalkers.
William Lords — who charges $1,050 to plus-sized or “curve” models but just $950 for “standard” size models — says his reputation took a hit and he lost business after agent Megan Mesveskas and model Sixtine Rouyre slammed him on social media as fatphobic.
He’s calling them big fat liars and suing them for defamation.
Mesveskas posted Lords’ price list on Instagram and TikTok, claiming he asks for more money from plus-sized models because he “doesn’t want to have to look at them through his camera.”
Rouyre, 24, a 5-foot-7 blue-eyed brunette with 43-inch hips who has signed with Ford Models, promptly shared Mesveskas’ gripe on her TikTok, blasting the shutterbug to her 591,000 followers.
“This is just one more example of how awful the modeling industry is to literally anyone over a size zero,” Rouyre said in the clip. “Like, how does this make any f–king sense? How does it make sense to charge more because the person standing in front of you that you’re taking photos of is bigger? Tell me how the f–k that makes sense, William.
“Fatphobia is showing, its f–king disgusting and you should be ashamed of yourself,” she added in a tirade reported by Newsweek and other outlets.
Lords insists that the “high-end and creative” designer outfits he finds for plus-size models simply cost more and can be harder to get.
The lensman has filed a $1.5 million lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court, claiming the public shaming resulted in “countless threatening, offensive and shaming emails from individuals” who now have an “evil opinion of him.”
“Lords is not disgusted by the appearance of plus size models and he does not discriminate against plus size models,” he said in court papers.
“While it is relatively easy to source designer clothes for standard size models, finding designer clothes for plus sized models is significantly more difficult and costly,” he contends in the litigation.
Mesveskas and Rouyre declined to comment through their lawyer, who blasted Lords’ lawsuit as “a desperate and transparent attempt to chill [their] exercise of their constitutional right to free speech.”
“My clients will not be intimidated or bullied by Mr. Lords’ baseless lawsuit; nor will they be silenced by his improper exploitation of the legal system. We look forward to having Mr. Lords’ frivolous claims summarily dismissed by the court,” attorney Joshua Blum added.
