When Ashley Graham got to work on her new collection with JCPenney, she had a few nonnegotiables.

She didn’t want it to be like “anything” the retailer had done before — and it would be exclusively for curvy women.

Graham, 37, knew she had to get it right or the plus-size “community’s going to know it’s not for them,” she tells PEOPLE exclusively.

“[JCPenney] knew exactly what I meant,” she continues. “They got a whole new design team and said, ‘We want to conceptualize this with you from the beginning.’ That was the only way I was willing to do it, because I can’t put my name on something I don’t want to wear.”

The result is her new Ashley Graham collection, with sizes ranging from 0X-5X (14W to 30W) and prices starting at $40. Best of all, the whole size range is available in JCPenney stores — not relegated to online-only shopping. She’s proud of every single piece she and the team designed and even jokes that a few of the “voluptuous women” on the design team shared a lot of “Amens” while they were creating everything. The designs are just that good.

The one thing Graham knew she absolutely had to get right with this collection was the fit. Not every brand that drops inclusive sizes specifically fits the clothes on a plus-size body during the creation process. Graham insisted JCPenney do that and have finished pieces that would fit curvy women without a need to be tailored.

“This didn’t start with a size chart, this literally started by conceptualizing, ‘What does a woman want to wear when she’s doing X, Y and Z?'” she says. “But I get everything tailored — my tailor has been with me for over 10 years and knows my body. But I knew I couldn’t have my tailor touch these pieces or I will be embarrassed. There is not one thing in this collection that I’ve tailored. It fits to a T.”

She also wanted the collection to feel luxurious but at an affordable price, as well as feature pieces that curvy women are sometimes unable to find because the mass market caters to straight sizes and doesn’t offer as many trend pieces in larger sizes. The mom of three included several coats for heading into the colder months, as well as bodycon dresses so curves can truly be celebrated.

“My favorite part was conceptualizing pieces I was going to recreate that I hadn’t seen in my community,” Graham tells PEOPLE. “I’ve had a hard time finding baggy jeans, so let’s make them. I’ve had a hard time finding leather pants. There’s also a tweed set that feels like you’re in Clueless. Show me somebody else that’s done it right at that quality.”

With this collection, JCPenney is putting curvy women at the forefront and making them the main character — something that’s not done often enough. Graham points out that the average-size American woman is roughly a 16, which is technically a plus size, and yet they are often left out of a narrative in various industries.

Graham and JCPenney addressed that by creating a fake film called Omitted, which the model teased on her Instagram days ago. The trailer features Graham as the main character and includes stats on not just how many women are actually plus-size, but how often they’re left out.

“We feel the void,” she says of the plus-size community. “We’re in the entertainment industry, and we see it every day. But for women across the globe, it’s thrown in your face. Here you see an action trailer of a curvy woman, and she’s badass. She’s going to go save the world. That hits home. Especially when you get to hear the words, ‘Only 67% of the women are curvy, but only 1% are cast as the main character in films.’ That’s not okay.”

When Graham started teasing her multiyear partnership with JCPenney back in April (there are more collections to come after this first winter-friendly drop), she told PEOPLE, “Why are we not making clothes for a majority of women? There’s such a deficit. It’s time to leave behind those outdated ideas that fuller-figured women don’t belong at the heart of fashion. Together, we’re uplifting voices and bringing long-overdue representation to the full-figured community.”

She delivered on this by hand-picking her models for the campaign, aiming to include a variety of curvy body types to show off the clothes. She brought some of them together for a launch party in New York City ahead of the collection’s official drop, as well as many other plus-size influencers, some of whom, she tells PEOPLE, she’s only ever talked to online. It made for a celebration for curvy women, something Graham is proud to always be a part of. It was also just plain cool to be able to launch her own collection with a retailer she has shopped with her whole life and a brand she has also modeled for.

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After almost 30 years in this industry (she started modeling at age 12), Graham has learned a lot about herself and finding success. Her best tip? Kill people with kindness and work your ass off.

“That is a lethal combination in this industry,” she says. “Because not a lot of people work hard and not everybody’s nice. When you do both of those things and you’re passionate about it, you will get to the top.”

The Ashley Graham for JCPenney collection is available to shop now.