Remi Bader Always Keeps It Real

With over 2 million followers on TikTok and 350,000 on Instagram, it’s safe to say Remi Bader is an influencer. But the 26-year-old content creator and curve model gained a following by doing anything but living for the ‘gram.

“What you see on social media is not, and will never be, exactly what you’re looking at,” Bader tells Bustle. It’s an ethos that grounds the realistic try-on haul videos that made her famous on TikTok, in which she films herself trying on clothing from fashion brands like Abercrombie and Free People while recreating the models’ poses and narrating the results.

Often, those results are humorous. (“All I could do was laugh,” Bader says, recalling the many times she posed like Zara models in ill-fitting clothing. “It's funny to see the picture of the model and then see it on me.”) Yet the videos also expose the maddening experience of feeling like your body doesn’t live up to the fashion industry’s still-too-narrow beauty standards.

Bader knows shopping as a plus-size woman can be frustrating, and she doesn’t shy away from sharing her own mental health and confidence struggles online, either. Her fans often tell her she’s helped them feel less alone. “I think that it's really cool that people actually are listening and want to see that.”

It’s not just Bader’s followers who are taking notice. Victoria’s Secret’s Pink brand recently brought her on as a brand ambassador and size consultant as it begins rolling out larger sizes. It’s the start of change in the fashion industry, Bader says, but she’s still far from satisfied. “[In five years] I hope the [fashion industry] looks very different,” she says. “It takes people like me to be calling these brands and being like, OK, figure it out.”

Directly impacting the fashion industry is something Bader couldn’t have imagined in 2020, when she was laid off from her job at Tidal amid the pandemic. “I was lost. I didn’t know what to do,” she says — until she started making TikToks for fun. Now, almost two years later, she’s changing the fashion industry, one TikTok at a time.

Below, Bader talks about her first TikTok, sliding into DMs, and more.

The Fast Follow With @RemiBader

Who’s your favorite person you’re following right now?

I don’t have one. I just write and comment on everything that I enjoy — I’ll comment on some random person’s video and be like “Oh my God, I love you.”

What’s the best article you’ve read or thing you saw on the internet this week?

This video — fashion designer Christian Siriano is going up to Size 30 in his new collection, which is a huge change and big deal in the higher-end fashion industry.

Describe the first post you ever shared on your TikTok. What do you think of it now?

My first TikTok was me dressing in an identical outfit as Khloe Kardashian, being like “this is me being Khloe Kardashian but showing it in a size 16 body.” I love that video.

F*ck, Marry Kill: Twitter, Instagram, TikTok? Why?

F*ck Instagram, marry TikTok, and kill Twitter. I was only on Twitter when I was obsessed with Justin Bieber — I don’t have one anymore. Instagram is the perfect example of f*ck, like superficial and feeling like you need to look perfect. We’re all obsessed with it, we can’t get off of it, but it’s not real. And I just think TikTok is the best freaking thing in the whole world. I think it’s the most realistic thing — you get to see people’s personalities and connect with people from around the world. There’s nothing better.

Have you ever slid into someone’s DMs? What came of it?

I DM a lot of girls and people in the industry. I’ve DM’d Sports Illustrated model Camille Kostek. I’ve always thought she was funny and has such a great personality, and she answered me and was like, “We have to meet up.” I don’t think it always has to be sliding into the DMs of someone you want to get with.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.