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We would love for you to attend our fashion month show.
Jeremy Moeller
Me: Are you providing dressing options?
Nothing in your size, sadly, but we do have these really fun earrings!
In 2019 this was a common conversation I had with most London Fashion Week shows.
The Coach Fall 2023 Ready To Wear Fashion Show on February 13, 2023 in New York City.
It became rather tedious and honestly quite offensive.
My size was definitely still an issue.Plus-size modelswere definitely still an issue.
You could also see this from the lack of representation on the runways, especially in London.
Karoline Vitto’s Fashion East Fall 2023 Ready To Wear Fashion Show on February 17, 2023 in London.
Thats when I decided to boycott LFW.
Fast-forward to 2023, and weve been through a lot.
Surely that wasnt just a trend, was it?
The Marco Rambaldi Ready to Wear Fall/Winter 2023-2024 fashion show on February 22, 2023 in Milan, Italy.
With that in mind, I expected big things from the fashion weeks last year.
Heres what I learned.
With 75 designers on the schedule, averaging 40 models per show, thats a total of 3,000 models.
The Ester Manas Ready to Wear Fall/Winter 2023-2024 fashion show as part of the Paris Fashion Week on March 4, 2023.
Weve gone from 49 models considered curve or plus at NYFW last season to31this season.
The fact that we have people using bodies as trends is something that really upsets me.
Has New York Fashion Week also been poisoned by this narrative?
Is this why their lack of curvier bodies wasnt seen over there this season?
Bodies are not trends; they are the vessel that keeps us all alive.
Fashion Week is so influential, the designs trickle down to our high street where youth culture is inspired.
Although New York went completely backward this year, thankfully London sped forward and did us proud.
MILAN FASHION WEEK
There were more than 60 designers showing collections this season.
With an average of 40 looks each, that means around 2,400 models were cast to walk the runway.
Milan had 15 curve models last season and14for the autumn/winter 2023 collections.
So, to recap, just 14 out of 2,400 models were considered curve or plus.
Thats why Milan is in last place this season.
MFW hasnt made any real attempt at change, just a small sprinkle.
Any other brands used one or two models at max.
Out of those 3,600,40were considered curve or plus.
Last season we had 33 curve models.
Ester Manas once again blew us away with the plethora of beautiful diverse bodies on their runway.
Changes are being made, but in ways I didnt expect.
Will London and Paris be the new leaders when it comes to inclusive fashion on the catwalk?
Will New York ever recover from this?
Is Milan even entering the chat?
Only next season will tell…
This post was originally published onGlamourUK.
For more from curve model and author Felicity Hayward, follow her on Instagram@felicityhayward.
