Big Brother star Flex Mami fronts Bras N Things lingerie campaign

Big Brother star Flex Mami - the face of a new Bras N Things lingerie campaign - says she didn’t want to lose weight before stripping down.

DJ Flex Mami describes herself as “plus size by circumstance”.

So when it came to shooting her first lingerie campaign, the 27-year-old wasn’t willing to compromise.

“I just showed up as is,” Flex Mami, whose real name is Lillian Ahenkan, told Confidential.

DJ Flex Mami in Bras N Things I Am Many Things campaign.

“I didn’t want to lose a bunch of weight or do anything in particular to show up as my best self because that is just not me. I really wanted to feel as comfortable as possible. I had not seen myself photographed professionally in underwear before so I decided to show up as I am and whatever the photos came back looking like, well that is an accurate representation.”

Flex Mami, who was a contestant on the current season of Big Brother, is one of several woman fronting Bras N Things new I Am Many Things campaign.

The campaign encourages women to “tap into the groundswell of women empowering themselves to own their stories, speak out and feel more comfortable with expressing themselves”.

Flex Mami measures 174cm tall, weighing around 115kg and wears a size 18 to 20 in clothing.

Others to appear in the campaign include Emma Kate Boyd, Bruna Lapsinskas, Memu Conteh and Billiejean Hamlet.

“I have always been comfortably fat, on the lower end of fat I guess, whatever you want to call it,” she said.

Flex Mami in the Bras N Things I Am Many Things campaign.

Flex Mami in the Bras N Things I Am Many Things campaign.

“For any person, to be out there in your skin is a weird experience. And to be bigger, I am always mindful of the fact it feels like a statement to have someone who is so visibly large in so few clothes because we just don’t see it enough and that is the fault of brands and marketers everywhere.”

The campaign comes as the broader modelling industry faces increased pressure to feature a more realistic and diverse range of inclusive people.

Flex Mami added that it is not an issue of health but one of representation.

“The majority of people are of a size closer to me but it takes a whole campaign to see a big bodied person and that is an issue,” she said.

Flex Mami in Bras N Things campaign.

Flex Mami in Bras N things campaign.

“It shouldn’t feel special or spectacular. It should feel like an average day walking down the street and seeing a campaign with someone whose figure mimics yours in the best way possible. Any insecurities I might have had are trumped by the fact that it is so important for me to exist and take up space in the way that I am doing.”

She continued: “If for some reason seeing a body that looks like mine feels out of the ordinary, that means we are too many steps away from the change that needs to happen. We need to see more rolls. We need to see more unshaved legs … a back roll or a little something, some pigmentation or ezcema. And not in a really basic way. We need to see something we recognise.”