BE YOUR BEAUTIFUL

True Hues  began with a commitment to provide carefully considered, authentically inclusive essentials in a diverse range of shades and sizes. With the expansion of the line, we wanted to build upon that commitment and redefine what it means to be beautiful, celebrating beauty as a reality, not an ideal.  The newest True Hues campaign proudly features women who reflect a diverse community committed to self-acceptance, self-love and self-determination. We invite you to discover our cast and invite you to Be Your Beautiful with True Hues. 

DREW DIXON / #MeToo Silence Breaker + Record Producer + Writer  

When Drew Dixon, the former Def-Jam music executive responsible for career-defining records from artists such as Mary J Blige, Whitney Houston and Aretha Franklin, spoke to the New York Times in 2017 about her alleged sexual assault, she thought “It would be like a one-day thing.” Dixon’s revelations instead went on to inspire the documentary series, On The Record, which detailed her claims of sexual assault and her life after. Overcoming great difficulties, Dixon is nonetheless triumphant. 

Question: What does it mean to be your truest self? 

Answer: To be my truest self means showing up without shame and without apology and without accommodating anything that diminishes me or forces me to participate in a framework that isn't authentic to who I am and isn't respectful of who I am. 

Question: How does style empower you to be true? 

Answer: Style empowers me to claim the physical space occupied by my body in a way that reflects my inspiration, my state of mind, my mood, my taste, and just to sort of take up physical space with the choices I make, about what I put on my body to make a statement about who I am in the world. 

KIARA MARSHALL / Self Love Advocate + Disability Advocate  

Kiara Marshall is a Black disabled model, redefining the parameters of inclusivity for more than one minority group, advocating not only for equal representation in race but in disability as well. A survivor of a life-altering accident at the age of 10, Marshall proves that beauty is much more than skin deep, exemplified through her work with body and ability inclusive modeling agency We Speak Models and her appearance in campaigns for retailers and brands including Target and Tommy Hilfiger.  

Question: What does it feel like to be seen? 

Answer: It's I feel like this subject is always a little emotional to me because...so I am a bBlack disabled woman and those intersections... I feel like there's a fight to be seen. And I feel like, you know, I come from my ancestors who were fighting to be seen and the disabled community is fighting to be seen and women want to be seen and heard. So, to finally feel like someone sees you is extremely emotional because it's like, finally I'm validated. It's just extra confirmation that you need to just, even if it's small, just to keep pushing forward and keep trying to be seen even more and helping other people to be seen. 

Question: If you could describe your skin in one word, what would it be? 

Answer: Varied. 

AMELIA GRAY / Body Positivity Activist + Influencer  

Amelia Gray—the 19-year-old daughter of Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin has lived much of her life on camera. Gray, who has documented her struggles with anorexia, now uses her platform as a body-positivity activist and influencer to speak candidly about mental health while encouraging others to find the beauty in themselves. 

Question: How does style empower you to be true? 

Answer: Style empowers me because I feel like it's a very large form of expression for me. And it's the outlet that I use to create my emotions and bring them to life. And I feel like my style is very unique. I've never followed trends and what society has to told me to where I kind of just do it based on my mood and how I feel and how I want to express myself. 

Question: What does it mean to be comfortable in your own skin? 

Answer: To me being comfortable in your own skin means accepting who you are. I've struggled with being comfortable in my own skin for a long time. And I finally found a place where I've never been more comfortable, and I've never loved being in my own skin more. And I'm so proud of being me and I don't judge myself anymore for the flaws that I might see and might come across. I can finally say that I feel comfortable in my own skin. 

KARINA SHARIF / Artist advocating for Black Womxn, Stylist, Designer 

Karina Sharif is the embodiment of a multi-hyphenate she’s a paper artist whose work has been featured in New York Magazine’s “The Cut” and Vogue; a stylist who has collaborated with the likes of fashion photographer Dana Scruggs and musician Leikeli47; and founder of the denim line We are LOVD. Originally from Boston and a current resident of Brooklyn, Sharif makes sure creativity is at the forefront of what she does. 

Question: What does it mean to being true to yourself? 

Answer: Being true to myself is all about deciding that it’s okay to put myself first, so I can then think about other people. 

Question: How does your style empower you to be true? 

Answer: I would say style is a tool that you can use to share who you are. It also can be the colors that you wear or the silhouettes that you wear. I feel like they are a really great tool to let other people know. Like non-verbal things about you as well as verbal things. I know for myself, sometimes I use my style to be a little louder, a little more out there than I may like sometimes, or not always feel that I can be out and about. 

SYDNEY SWEENEY / Culture Writer + Journalist 

Syndey Sweeney is a culture journalist, poet, model and self-proclaimed Mariah Carey stan. Sweeney believes that through her writing — which has appeared in publications including i-D and Sophomore magazine. 

Question: How has your skin tone or shade shaped how you see yourself? 

Answer: The way I perceive my Brown skin is entirely flipped from childhood to adulthood though, as a young girl and a teenager, my Blackness made me feel insecure and others, but today my brown skin feels elegant, royal and empowering and beautiful and rich. It took me years to learn to love it. But throughout my twenties, some things I've really sort of revolutionized the way that I think about myself. And now that there's no other, there's no other complexion, I'd rather be than beautiful chocolate woman. 

Question: What does it mean to be comfortable in your own skin? 

Answer: Being comfortable in your skin is recognizing that there's poetry and your complexion, no matter what color you are, whether you have lighter or darker skin—it isn’t exclusive to, you know, people who are Black, — it's for everyone, whether you have freckles or whether you are a parent, you know, everyone has insecurities. 

STEPHANIE KIM / Professional Dancer + Film Director  

Dancer, choreographer, and movement artists Stephanie Kim finds strength and freedom through self-expression and self-acceptance. By the age of 13, Kim was already training at prestigious institutions including the School of American Ballet and San Francisco Ballet. For Kim, dance is not only a part of her identity, it’s an extension of herself and how she relates to the world around her. 

Question: What does it mean to be your truest self? 

Answer: Being my truest self is not apologizing for my passion. Speaking my truth without apology and leaving out the explanation of how I see the world. Even when I encounter someone that sees it different. 

Question: How does style empower you to be true? 

Answer: Knowing that with the confidence and knowing of who I am reflects into whatever I wear and knowing and believing that clothes do not make me who I am, material objects, do not make me who I am, but they enhance it. 

TEDDY QUINLIVAN / Model + LGBTQ Advocate 

For model Teddy Quinlivan, publicly revealing her identity as a trans women “was a necessity.” Just 23-years-old at the time, Quinlivan’s disclosure in 2017 was a direct response to what she saw as anti-trans sentiment nationwide. With her high profile in the fashion industry, Quinlivan wanted to use her visibility to shine a spotlight on the challenges facing the trans community while also advocating the importance of self-acceptance within it.  

Question: What does it mean to be comfortable in your own skin? 

Answer: For me, what it means to be comfortable in your own skin is to be confident in your own skin, to know that whoever you are, whatever color you are, whatever background you come from, however, you were raised that you have confidence in who you are and the person that you are becoming because we're all constantly changing and progressing and morphing into better versions of ourselves. 

Question: How does style empower you to be true? 

Answer: Style empowers me to be true because for me, style was always about expressing my identity. I'm transgender. And for me, when I was younger wearing women's clothing, [it] was this very forbidden thing. I wasn't allowed to do it, but in my specific case, fashion and style has always helped me to express my gender identity and to help myself. Being able to wear clothing that represents how I really feel, allows me to show the world who I truly am. 

SARA MORA / Immigrant Rights Advocate 

Sara Mora first became “aware of her skin color at a really young age.” Unbeknownst to Mora, these early encounters with race inequality would inspire the work she does today. As an Immigrant Rights Advocate, Mora is dedicated to raising awareness around issues confronting undocumented workers and educating others about the prejudice and racism that immigrants continue to face, Mora continues to break down boundaries in the hopes of affording greater representation for the nameless, undocumented citizens of the United States, bot through her charitable border work and advocacy via her social media platforms.  

Question: What does inclusion mean to you? 

Answer: Inclusion to me means decentralizing. I think when we think of the word inclusion, we think of representation, but on the contrary, I think inclusion is about understanding that the more you decentralize power and narrative and, what controls people's perceptions of society, the more you can help share the truth, that there's so many people in the world of so many different backgrounds. 

Question: Describe your skin in one word? 

Answer: If I could describe my skin in one word, it is resilient.