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Beyoncé’s New Model Is Changing Industry Ideals Of Beauty

Jillian Mercado models Bey's new merch in style

Beyoncé’s new merch range is all kinds of swag, obviously. But she’s also got the modelling team to match.

At the forefront of the launch of Bey’s new range this week is Jillian Mercado, an absolute babe who’s smashing it in the modelling world and also happens to have muscular dystrophy.

Jilian appears in her wheelchair on Beyoncé’s online store alongside two other models showing off the new range of merch sporting lyrics such as “I Twirl On Them Hates”, “Hot Sauce” and the brilliantly straightforward, “Smack It, Smack It, Smack It, Smack It”. BRB buying ALL of this.

Jillian is also a blogger, writing on her site Manufactured 1987, which she uses to champion diversity in the industry,as well as posting the many amazing campaigns she’s been involved in.

Speaking to i-D last year, Jillian put it pretty perfectly, saying, “I am in a wheelchair and I am f**king beautiful”, simple!

She realised while she was studying fashion at college that although she had always considered herself beautiful, she didn’t quite fall in line with the standards of the industry. It was at this point that she realised, “we must stop looking for guidance on 'how to be beautiful' because we can be our own compasses. We've had it all along; it's in all of us!”

Ever since, whether it’s for Diesel, Beyoncé or on the runway at NYFW, she’s been proving time and time again, that “every single person is unique and different and that in itself that is beautiful”. PREACH.

Keep an eye on Jillian, she’s going places and she’s got hot sauce in her bag… swag.

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