An increasing number of brands, from emerging designers to esteemed fashion houses, are embracing plus-size bodies without hiding them with styling tricks.
Fashion’s affair with skimpy, sexy clothing has been in full swing for the past few seasons. Post-pandemic dressing brought with it a party uniform full of cutouts, sheer materials, and minuscule cobweb-like straps. Simultaneously, the never-ending Y2K craze keeps churning out low-waists and mini-skirts from Blumarine to Miu Miu. While some were adding these images to their mood boards, others criticized the implicit messaging in the casting of these shows. Primarily worn by sample-size models, it screamed, “sex is back,” but only if your body fat percentage is less than 20%. This is why it was so refreshing when plus-size model Paloma Elsesser graced the cover of i-D, baring her midriff in the ultra-mini, low-waisted Miu Miu skirt.
Today’s modeling landscape is more inclusive than it was ten years ago, and that should be celebrated. But although there are more plus-size models on the runway, what they get to wear has often been dictated by rules regarding what’s “flattering” and “appropriate.” There’s a reluctance to show the aspects of bigger bodies that were historically hidden: bumps and rolls, fuller bellies, and arms were contorted inwards or covered up.
These fashion “rules” have long been ingrained in our minds: we’ve been fed tips and tricks to dress for our body shape for decades. In 2008, Cosmopolitan recommended cardigans and shrugs to cover “up lumps and bumps” around your arms. “If a big stomach and lack of waistline is your bug-bear,” they say, wear looser cut tops and opt for “interesting necklaces to detract your eye.” Using phrases like “offending area,” “tummy taming,” and “fat day,” it’s clear that dressing to flatter your body is code for dressing to look thinner.
Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty lingerie shows were an influential moment in depicting bigger bodies as sexy without being corseted and covered up. Still, high fashion took a while to catch up. Come S/S23; a slow but noticeable shift is happening on the runways. While cold-shoulder tops and milkmaid blouses used to be a big girl’s best friend for the coverage they afforded, brands such as Chloé, Carolina Herrera, Altuzarra, and Michael Kors sent models onto the runway with upper arms on show this season.
Corsets and tummy-smoothing underwear have long been a feature of plus-size modeling. Of course, many brands still strive for the hourglass look, but increasingly fuller stomachs are being allowed to exist, un-cinched, outlined by second-skin garments, or exposed by crop tops. Examples include 16Arlington, Marni, Ganni, Nguyen Inc., and Miaou. And, whereas celebrity magazines used to get off on pointing out women’s cellulite in beach photos (and sometimes still do), today, mini skirts and leg slits are afforded to thick thighs too.
Then, there are designers like Ester Manas, Karoline Vitto, Sinead O’Dwyer, and Michaela Stark, who not only refuse to shroud bigger bodies in outfits that skim past bumps and smooth out imperfections but center what were previously considered plus-size “flaws.” In Stark’s case, she purposefully distorts the body with corseting and tight lace to accentuate those pesky “lumps and bumps,” challenging what beauty looks like. Similarly, Vitto told AnOther Mag that she wants to celebrate the areas we’re encouraged to hide: “bulges, back rolls, excesses of flesh under the armpits and at the side of the waist; the ones we tend to feel most self-conscious about.”
Instead of following the fashion trope of slimming down to fit into clothes, Manas (who recently collaborated with AZ Factory) creates one-size clothes that feature ruching, cutouts, bright colors, and sheer materials, all serving to show off bodies that were traditionally encouraged to dress quietly. The designer has also spoken about the importance of carrying clothes in bigger sizes rather than creating custom looks for the runway, which never make it to the shop floor.
Despite progress, there are still countless articles detailing how to dress for your body, showing that attitudes have a long way to go in the mainstream. Moreover, high fashion still largely embraces the same few plus-size models who have already garnered such a fanbase that they’re not exactly a marketing “risk.”
Furthermore, although, in theory, plus-size people should be able to flaunt their bodies with the same pride as a size 0 model, that’s not always realistic. Are most everyday plus-size people comfortable with wearing nothing but a fishnet body stocking? When many of us have grown up with intense conditioning pushing the narrative that being fat makes you less worthy as a person, it’s not realistic to expect people to embrace said curves overnight.
However, it’s still an important step that bigger bodies are being embraced in high fashion, a historically mutually exclusive realm with size 0 models. It may not save the world, but images in the media play a role in shaping public perception, even unconsciously. So when bellies and backrolls make it to the pages of Vogue, there’s hope that this attitude will trickle down to other fashion sectors until it’s as normal to see a fat belly in a crop top as a flat one.
Image courtesy of Chloé
