As someone who is half-white and American, who doesn’t speak the language, if they would let me inspire body change and positivity, that was part of my dream for being on Japanese Vogue, just leaving space for people who don’t look like the beauty standard.” “It’s a body-conscious issue, and it’s just a headshot,” she says, laughing. Case in point: Yumi’s appearance on the cover of Vogue Japan this spring. On the flip side, the sisters have found themselves walking the line in confronting Japanese beauty standards, as well. “It’s like they’re just barely trying to check any of the boxes.” “Or more than one plus model,” Yumi adds. “It’s very rare that you’ll see two Asian people on a set,” Natalie chimes in. “I spent so much of my life ignoring my Asian side and not feeling white enough, and then when I finally want to accept my Asian side, I don’t feel Asian enough." “I didn’t have anyone that looked like me growing up, so now I’m fulfilling that for myself and for others who look like me,” Yumi says, to which Natalie heartily agrees. “It’s like, we’re on the same team.” Beyond blood, the sisters are bonded by their mission to champion body inclusivity and Asian-American representation in media. “But I’m so lucky to have seen sisters like Gigi and Bella, Dakota and Elle, who lift each other up even though they’re in the same industry,” says Natalie. Like many other famous sisters, Yumi and Natalie have found themselves climbing the ranks of the fashion world in near tandem, which has felt challenging at times given the comparative lack of opportunities for plus size and Asian models. Agreeing, Natalie adds, “you almost have flashbacks to growing up.” They say a bit of distance has helped them grow closer - they tried living together for a bit in LA, but, “It was not happening. Natalie has a very dry sense of humor, cracking self-deprecating jokes with a practiced poker face that leaves her sister in stitches. “I did metal for a little bit, now I’m doing rock music,” Natalie says later, speaking with the cool, confident manner that helped her become the first plus size model to walk the runway for Anna Sui when she was only 16 years old. Shrugging off her coat, she reveals a tattoo of the word Awareness on her inner right elbow, while a red snake slithers across her left forearm. Natalie, 21, is wearing a solid red tank top and a necklace with a dragon clutching a pearl in its mouth, her hair loosely braided to the side. A few minutes later, her younger sister and fellow model-musician Natalie Nootenboom arrives, having flown in from their family home near Las Vegas for the occasion.
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