Vogue Business began recording size inclusivity on the runway three years ago. Today, mid and plus-size representation is at an all-time low.
When we launched the Vogue Business Size Inclusivity report three years ago, I thought a Vogue title holding a mirror up to the industry would make brands think twice about designing exclusively for thin bodies.
I thought the more we celebrated brands, even for doing the bare minimum and employing one or two curve models, they would enjoy the kudos and keep adding more. And I hoped that over time, even incrementally, we would see an improvement in size inclusivity on the runway, in some small way thanks to the hours we spent crunching numbers, interviewing industry figures, and building charts. But sitting down today, three years on, I realize I was a little naive. When we look back on three years of Vogue Business Size Inclusivity report data, in womenswear, the proportion of straight-size models on the runway peaked this season. In fact, across the seven seasons of Size Inclusivity reports, we have seen the proportion of straight-size models increase by two percentage points, from 95.6% in FW23 to 97.6% in FW26. Mid-size representation has fallen from 3.8% to 2.1% . And what was already dire plus-size representation has halved, from 0.6% to 0.3%, over the same period. For FW26, the most recent season, plus-size representation returned to its lowest point since we began tracking size diversity three years ago, tied with FW25. The temporary peaks of mid and plus-size representation came in two isolated seasons, SS24 and SS25, which now feel like deviations from an otherwise consistent pattern, rather than meaningful improvement. The fact both were spring seasons also checks out: the vast majority of size inclusive looks I’ve seen on the runway are spring-appropriate stretchy dresses, which are easier for brands to create as a sample that can fit on models of different size, rather than creating mid and plus-size samples. Of course, when we first began the Size Inclusivity report, we had no idea that seismic change was coming, one that would turn up the incline on the path to a more size inclusive industry. From the rise of conservatism, to the GLP-1 boom, and a growing obsession with looksmaxxing that’s made radical self-optimization a trend, not only have most brands stopped even pretending to care about size inclusivity, many have pushed toward extreme thinness — and clothing that accentuates it — across shows and campaigns. Over the last few seasons, we have reached a point where audible gasps can be heard among the audience as very thin models pass by, or where, post-Hollywood award ceremonies, the media coverage once dominated by the clothes, is now highlighting the skeletal frames wearing them. While size inclusivity continues to dwindle, I watch fake curves projected as graphics onto T-shirts, or sculpted atop second-skin garments with padding at the hips, appear on the runway and in campaigns. I see worryingly thin legs poke out from voluminous suiting or fluffy faux fur, models wobbling on their too-high heels, as brands tell us, for our report, they are mid-size, describing the clothes and not the people who wear them. Many of the brands we reach out to, typically those with zero size inclusivity, don’t respond to our requests for comment. As a size US 6-8, I am a mid-size woman, by the runway standards that we use for our report . The average size of a woman in the US is a size 16-18, planting the average US consumer in the plus-size category. Compared to those in that bracket, I recognize I have a lot of options for what to buy and wear. But as someone that works in the fashion industry, I also know that as celebrities, models, and regular people shrink, and designers seemingly feel they have license to no longer care how their clothes might look on any bodies above a size 0 — no matter where you sit on the sizing scale, you feel pressured, in some way, to be thin. To be clear, this isn’t about individuals. And this also isn’t about shaming models who are under intense pressure to remain thin in order to keep their jobs. I know some people are naturally very thin. But I wanted to take this moment, as we look back at three years of Size Inclusivity reports — where progress has not just slowed, but been totally reversed — to reflect and address the fact that our report can only go so far. I’ve grown increasingly frustrated with how brands can rise through our size inclusivity rankings by tokenistically featuring one mid-size or plus-size model, only to not produce a single garment that would fit someone at the top end of mid-size, or in the plus-size bracket entirely. Some brands who actually make clothes for bigger bodies expressed their frustration to us, on this topic, and with good reason. We’ve seen tokenism season after season, where the same few curve supermodels appeared on the runway, and if they weren’t available, the brand would return to 100% straight-size. According to our recent survey of almost 700 consumers, almost half feel pressure to lose weight, and of those, more cited challenges with sizing when shopping as the source of this pressure compared to runway shows . We tried to highlight this in the FW26 Size Inclusivity report, by tracking sizing availability on brands’ e-commerce sites, or the site of their biggest stockists, to see if runway representation always equals sizing representation in-store. You can read our findings on this in the main report. But, in the spirit of primary research, I took a trip to Bond Street. Based on the size range on their website, one leading luxury label’s sizing extends to a US 20. I visited the London flagship, and asked if they had a US 20, “for my sister”, and the maximum size available in-store was a US 12. That said, the sales assistant offered that I could order bigger sizes, and for clients ordering after the runway show, pieces could be specially made up to a 20. Another label, on its e-commerce page, shows it goes up to a US 16, with the biggest sizes sold out . However, upon visiting the store, I was told the maximum sizes available were US 12-14, but “some things had a bigger fit”. Creative director and content creator Abisola Omole, aka ‘Abi Marvel’, who I met in Copenhagen last year on a CPHFW x Vogue Business panel discussing size inclusivity, already carries out this kind of research. In her “Plus-Size and Passing” series on Instagram, she goes into luxury stores and finds garments to actually try on and wear, as a US 16-18. While runway representation is lacking across the majority of labels, and there’s a perception that bigger sizes aren’t available in stores, she wants to show that many brands do cater for bigger sizes. Marvel recently visited Dior to try on Jonathan Anderson’s debut collection, finding pieces that would fit across menswear and womenswear. When we speak, she is on her way to Chanel, to test-drive Matthieu Blazy’s first collection as a plus-size consumer, now the frenzy has died down. “Chanel is a good example of a brand that does bigger sizes. Obviously, they’re not perfect. But even just today, I was trying a lot of 50s and 52s , which I might not have expected,” she says. Her aim is to show plus-size shoppers that it’s possible. In her research, Marvel has found that, often the bigger garments, and styles that come in bigger sizes, are kept in the back, which can make plus-size consumers feel as though there’s no such sizes available. “I used to just walk into stores and try, but now I specifically book appointments so that they can actually have a good range of pieces and know what my size is, and have things available as soon as I get there,” she says. Clearly, fashion’s representation problem extends far beyond the runway. So where do we go from here? Despite the ongoing regression to ’90s-style thinness on the runway, and the continued challenges to reporting size inclusivity, we will keep endeavoring to improve and enhance our data at Vogue Business. Whether the brands listen or not, we will continue to push for change. Maliha Shoaib contributed reporting to this story.
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