CULTUREEDIT ART AUCTION #1

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velvet d'amour

Few artists working in fashion today have done more to broaden beauty standards as a cultural act of rebellion than actor, photographer, model, and activist Velvet D’Amour. The native of Rochester, N.Y., studied at the School of Visual Arts in NYC and later in Italy under photographer James White’s tutelage before relocating to Paris. In 2006, at the age of 38 and 300 pounds, she became a haute couture sensation, walking the runway for Jean-Paul Gaultier and John Galliano, appearing in French Vogue, in an editorial by Nick Knight, and inspiring controversy even inside the plus size modeling world. That same year, she also played the title role in the French film Avida, directed by Benoît Delépine. Her groundbreaking performance helped earn the film's inclusion in the Cannes and Tribeca Film Festivals and U.S. distribution. In 2007, a photograph of D’Amour wearing a “Please Feed The Models” T-shirt went viral. Three years later, in 2010, she won €55,000 for a charity that cares for animals in the South African bush on the French reality TV show La Ferme Célébrités. In 2012, D’Amour launched Volup2, an online fashion magazine that features her lush photography and bold art direction. The magazine celebrates all kinds of beauty regardless of size, age, ethnicity, or disability. For over a decade, Volup2 has been her focus and clarion call to honor what makes us unique. More recently, she crossed paths again with James White, whose company, Sebastian+Melmoth, is publishing her first eponymously titled book in 2025. Two photographs from the CULTUREEDIT auction are part of that forthcoming book. The book encompasses over 20 years of Velvet D’Amour’s work photographing women of all shapes and sizes. Due to her compassionate work and activism, the world is a more beautiful place because Velvet D’Amour is in it.

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