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Will There Ever Be True Size Diversity in Fashion?

In Paris, in March 2023, models posed backstage at the Ester Manas show, which celebrates women of all shapes.Credit...Kay-Paris Fernandes/Getty Images

In Paris, in March 2023, models posed backstage at the Ester Manas show, which celebrates women of all shapes.Credit...Kay-Paris Fernandes/Getty Images

You are correct in thinking that one of the worst trends of the year was that, after a lot of talk about the importance of diversity of all kinds on the runway and in fashion ad campaigns, we saw a major case of backsliding this year — at least when it came to size. Which was actually a continuation of the backsliding that had begun in 2023.

According to the most recent inclusivity report from Vogue Business, of the 8,763 looks in 208 spring 2025 women’s wear shows (the ones that took place in September and October), 94.9 percent were shown on models who measure between a U.S. size 0 and 4. Of the rest, less than 1 percent of models were plus-size (and most of them were probably the same three women), and just over 4 percent were “midsize” (whatever that means).

Those are pretty terrible stats. They aren’t good for either those looking at the runways or those walking on them. Especially because my guess is that most of the non-teeny women were cast in the Ester Manas show, the Paris collection specifically, and wonderfully, dedicated to women of all sizes (including, yes, size 0).

Chioma Nnadi, the editor of British Vogue, partly blamed Ozempic for the trend, telling the BBC that it had skewed our perception of desirable body types. But of the seven models on the recent digital American Vogue cover, which featured the headline “Fashion Gets Real,” only one could possibly be categorized as midsize. And even that would be a reach in any world except fashion. So I don’t think we can simply chalk it up to the new semaglutides.

The truth is fashion has always loved a skinny model. The party line is that less flesh makes the clothes hang better and that is more aspirational, though increasingly I think that’s a false premise. Not surprisingly, however, when left to its own devices fashion will predictably revert to form.

This is especially true on the runway, where clothes are created in standard sample sizes and models cast at the last minute. The whole system would have to change to accommodate a variety of sizes; it would essentially have to reverse, to start with the woman. And it would have to be individualized, since it’s not having a barbell of body types on display (super skinny and very curvy) that is most effective, but having all of them, from 0 to 20.

That’s entirely doable, especially by big brands with big budgets and casts of 60 or more models. One of the reasons Ester Manas can do it is the way the clothes are based on stretchy materials and construction, so they are purposefully made to accommodate almost any body. But it would require real commitment, which seems to be in short supply.

The only successful way to force this kind of paradigm shift is via public and consumer pressure. Brands do, after all, hate a bad look, and this is not a great one. We saw it with the Black Lives Matter movement, which did result in real, and I think permanent, change in the racial makeup of the runways after years of tokenization. (The executive suite is a different, and still problematic, issue.)

Yet one of the lessons of that change is how much more interesting clothes look when they are shown on a cast of individuals who reflect humanity in all its many glorious shades. Which, to me, suggests that this may be only more true if they were shown on individuals who reflect humanity in all its many glorious shades and shapes and ages.

For that to happen, however, it will take unrelenting focus and discussion from the media and the public. I’m game for it if you are.

Every week on Open Thread, Vanessa will answer a reader’s fashion-related question, which you can send to her anytime via email or Twitter. Questions are edited and condensed.

Vanessa Friedman has been the fashion director and chief fashion critic for The Times since 2014. More about Vanessa Friedman

Author: Editors Desk, Vanessa Friedman

Source: N.Y Times

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