Meet our muse, Isabella Moore. Moving between opera houses, fashion sets and community spaces, her career has always existed across worlds. A Kiwi–Sāmoan creative now based in London, she balances modelling and performance with advocacy for Tagata Moana communities, while also co-founding Mana Arts Co. and helping organise the first Pasifika Fest UK. Music remains the thread that runs through everything she does — whether performing internationally or simply listening at home. As she puts it, “Music moves me like nothing else.”
Her path through opera and fashion has also shaped how she understands both her body and her voice. Entering modelling, during the height of the body-positivity movement, offered a new perspective — one that helped rebuild her confidence. The shift ultimately deepened her sense of self-worth beyond the industry’s changing standards. Reflecting on that journey, she says, “My internal strength has grown so much, and I’m less worried about external validation.”
That perspective is part of what led her to the documentary series Cutting the Curve, which explores the rise and fall of size diversity in fashion. Through the project she saw more clearly how inclusion can sometimes be treated as a passing trend rather than a real commitment. Yet the experience also revealed something hopeful: a growing solidarity among women in larger bodies who are creating their own spaces and opportunities. As she explains, “my experience of the fashion industry has made me appreciate and value my body more. I’ve seen how fickle and shallow it can be, and that it’s built on unstable, ever-changing trends that don’t count at the end of the day”.
Creatively, much of her energy right now is going into Mana Arts Co., a platform designed to connect and support Tagata Moana living in the UK. Its upcoming Pasifika Fest UK will celebrate Pasifika culture through performance, workshops, talanoa and film — a space built by and for the community. For her, the work is deeply personal as well as cultural. “It’s a soul-fulfilling kaupapa that helps me serve my people and gives me purpose.”
Isabella wears the Balconette Bra and Hi-Cut Briefs in Sable and the Teardrop Bra and Highrise Briefs in Sand.