The fashion industry has appeared to support body positivity in recent years (primarily by using more 'curvy' models on its catwalks). Has this issue *really* improved in the last couple of years? Or is the hype over now?
The body positivity movement is one of the most important movements fighting for diversity and good self-image in the fashion business. In a word, the body positivity movement opposes how society promotes unattainable beauty standards and upholds the notion that all people should have a positive body image. The movement promotes the portrayal of all ethnicities, genders, sizes, and physical abilities.
Image Credit: Karoline Vitto Runway, London Fashion Week
When we look at the past, the environment we encounter in the fashion and luxury world's stance on body diversity is of course much more depressing than today. So, we cannot ignore the existence of an industry that grew together with the "Heroin Chic" era in the 90s and worshiped Kate Moss's phrase "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels". In the 90s and 2000s, seeing the plus size body type on the runways had the same probability as walking into Hermès store and buying a Birkin bag, so it was impossible.
Although some of the fashion and luxury labels join this consciousness and try to raise awareness by hiring plus-size models for their runway shows, some of them still cannot break their old taboos.
The biggest proof of this is "The Vogue Business Autumn/Winter 2023 Size Inclusivity Report" published by The Vogue Business recently. Last Fashion Week month shows that different body types are "out of style". So, is it possible that the heroin chic era is coming back? Most likely and hopefully not, but still, the percentages of hiring mid and plus-size models in the report require an immediate need for the fashion and luxury communities to worry about and work on this issue.
Image Credit: Ester Manas Runway, Paris Fashion Week
Let's dive into data:
London Fashion Week
According to “The Vogue Business Autumn/Winter 2023 Size Inclusivity Report" London Fashion Week was the most size-inclusive one but only 7% of the looks were mid-size or plus size. Karoline Vitto’s runway show included 12 total looks and 75% of them were mid-size, 25% of them were plus size. The designer explains how she feels about the whole inclusivity situation with these words “Adapting all of that to curve and plus was a huge undertaking, to be honest.” Even if London Fashion Week contains more diversity than other fashion weeks, its adequacy is still highly debatable.
Paris Fashion Week
Thanks to Ester Manas, there was a little bit of variety in the terms of body types in Paris Fashion Week. The runway show included 32 total looks, 40.6% of them were mid-size and 34.4% of them were plus-size. For Ester Manas’ brand identity, inclusivity has always been one of the core values. The brand also underlines the importance of the casting process in including different body types on the runways. “It wasn’t difficult at all, we [have] worked with the same casting director since the start who understands what we’re looking for, and our garments fit any model we chose to have anyway, so there are no sizing difficulties for us.” These words are proof that it is not as difficult as it is thought to include different body types on the runways. With the right purpose, right vision and of course right casting director, anything is possible! But only if we really want the change.
Milan Fashion Week
Considering the data from London Fashion Week and Paris Fashion Week, unfortunately, there is still little diversity. When we examine Paris Fashion Week overall, plus-size representation made up less than 1 percent, and London Fashion Week mid-size or plus-size representation made up only 7 percent. However, the Milan Fashion Week inclusivity data are so depressing that we can't close this issue without saying that they have something to learn from London Fashion Week or Paris Fashion Week. The data presented by The Vogue Business Autumn/Winter 2023 Size Inclusivity Report shows us that Milan Fashion Week is at least size-inclusive with 0.2 percent of plus-size representation. So, according to Milan Fashion Week, body diversity on the runways is really out of style.
Alexa, play Long Way 2 Go by Cassie
We are in 2023 and of course, we see the inclusion of different body types in the fashion and luxury world, but there is a long way to go. So, do the brands that hire straight-size models on the runways use the "one size fits all" policy when selling their designs? No, in fact, during the sale process, the brands’ policies are much more inclusive, we can see that most of their designs are produced in sizes suitable for mid-size and plus-size. In other words, most of them want to present their designs on the runways in straight size but not in mid-size or plus-size. However, if they include inclusivity policies in runways too, this will affect customer behavior positively. Although the big names of the industry fail in this regard, we can’t ignore the efforts made by emerging talents. There is still a long way to go, but we hope that more mid-size and plus-size models will be hired and represented on the runways.
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