Velvet D’Amour

Velvet d'Amour is an American plus-size model and fashion photographer born on May 27, 1967. She gained widespread recognition following extensive global media coverage of her appearance in Jean-Paul Gaultier's 2007 Spring/Summer prêt-à-porter show in Paris in 2006. Standing 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighing 300 pounds, she also walked the runway for John Galliano's prêt-à-porter show titled "Everybody Is Beautiful" in 2006 and was featured in a related French Vogue article shot by photographer Nick Knight.

Her appearance in Gaultier's show occurred during a broader international debate surrounding model health. While media observers frequently framed her casting as a direct response to this debate, d'Amour noted in interviews that Gaultier was assembling a 30-year retrospective and intended to reference earlier collections in which he had previously cast plus-size models.

Addressing the media discussion on body representation, d'Amour publicly commented on the exclusion of curvier individuals from modern media. She highlighted the contradiction between excluding plus-size models under the rationale of preventing the promotion of poor health, while simultaneously saturating the media with figures such as Britney Spears, Nicole Richie, Paris Hilton, Kate Moss, and Lindsay Lohan.

Beyond her modeling work, d'Amour expanded into film and television. In 2006, she played the title role in the French film Avida, directed by Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern and produced by Mathieu Kassovitz. The film was selected for several events, including the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival, and was acquired by Cinema Epoch for distribution in the United States. In 2010, she appeared on the French television show La Ferme Célébrités en Afrique.

As part of her photography career, d'Amour launched a publication named Vol-Up-2, which features her own work alongside that of other artists and photographers. Building on her profile as a plus-size model, she has used the platform to photograph various plus-size models, including Clementine Desseaux.