Correspondent photo / Sean Barron Latanya Forster of Youngstown fits a flowered hat to complement a yellow sundress she wore in preparation for Wednesday’s annual EveryBODY Fashion Show at the Eastwood Event Centre in Niles.

NILES — If you tell LaNae Ferguson and Ciara Penny they’re beautiful, the two Youngstown women likely will hope your compliment is more than skin deep.

“A lot of what is deemed beauty can be lost in perfection, but beauty is best in its imperfections,” Ferguson, 24, who’s also affectionately known as “Lady Perez,” said.

“You are perfect in your own way,” Penny added. “The perception that matters is your own.”

Both women not only held fast to their narratives about inner beauty, but also took them on a walk down the runway. That’s because Ferguson and Penny were among those who took part in the annual EveryBODY Fashion Show on Wednesday evening at the Eastwood Event Centre.

An estimated 100 male and female models graced the runway in front of an audience of several hundred for the gathering, which debuted in 2013 to promote body positivity and provide funds to assist those with eating disorders who are unable to afford treatment, which typically is not covered by insurance, Jennifer Frank, event organizer, noted.

The youngest model was 1; the oldest was 75, she added.

“I hope people recognize that beauty is from within, from their hearts, not from the outside,” said Frank, who taught fashion merchandising courses at Youngstown State University for 15 years.

Suffice it to say that Ferguson was hard to miss. She wore a leather jacket, velvet chaps and boots complemented with colorful lipstick, a fringe top and a hat filled with small duck figures and glued rainbow droplets. In addition, the remaining duck figures were used as difficult-to-miss accents for her fingernails.

For her part, Penny had on a layered yellow sundress, a choice she said was inspired by one of the characters in the iconic 1985 Steven Spielberg Film “The Color Purple,” starring Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg, as well as the type of dress worn by many black women who were enslaved.

“Fashion tells a story,” Penny said.

Also not shy about doing their parts to promote body positivity were Melanie Fletcher, 50, and Latanya Foster, both of Youngstown, whose friendship blossomed as East High School students.

Beauty is not merely “skinny model types. We’re all beautiful no matter what,” said Fletcher, who sported a gold rose-themed gown with sequins she bought from an online site.

Fletcher, who is a cook at the Collingwood Center in Campbell, got her dress in March, which also marked her 50th birthday, she said.

Gee’s Hats & Alterations in Warren was the purchase place for Foster’s yellow swing dress, accented with a largely yellow, green and blue hat with matching flower pattern.

Acceptance for being bald also is a way she promotes a positive body image, Foster said, adding that true beauty extends far beyond one’s physical looks.

Delivering the keynote address before the models made their appearances was Grace Burns, a clinical social worker who recovered from an eating disorder she said lasted more than 10 years.

“It covered my entire life,” Burns said, adding that she viewed food as a defining feature of her life while perceiving herself as defective, incompetent and broken.

Burns, who also is on the autism spectrum, recalled that after figuring out her problem and seeking help, she began to feel more empowered and felt more in control of her life — without food being a dominant force in it.

Also, Wednesday’s gathering was to remember and honor the late Danielle L. Peters, a Youngstown State University freshman who died July 21, 2012, from complications related to bulimia. She was 21.

Her death inspired YSU faculty to more closely study eating disorders.

Also fondly remembered was Giaunna Renee Lee “Gigi” Jackson, who died March 28 at age 22. She had participated in the EveryBODY Fashion Show. Jackson also was a 2022 Campbell Memorial High School graduate who attended YSU to major in criminal justice.

Eating disorders commonly begin at a young age and affect people of all ages, races, genders, body shapes, weights and religions.

Specifically, an estimated 9% of the U.S. population, or about 30 million Americans, will have such a disorder in their lifetime. Also, eating disorders have the second-highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illness, behind opiate addictions, according to the National Eating Disorders Association.

Root causes include trauma, depression, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder, all of which can lead to disturbances in eating behaviors and result in some people judging their worth via distorted perceptions of their body weight and shape. Social media and advertising also can exacerbate such images, according to NEDA.