Editor’s Note: The Harper’s Bazaar article featuring Carolina Herrera has now been taken down from their site.
Fashion designer Carolina Herrera is a legend in the fashion industry and known for her elegant and effortless designs.
She also known for her strong opinions in using thin sample size models and on women’s sizing overall. And as it stands, after being in the fashion business for 35 years, her opinion has not changed.
Let’s just say, Herrera is not going to be joining the plus size fashion world anytime soon.
Therefore, when we noticed that she was featured in a Harper’s Bazaar article, talking about this very topic as well as some others, we wanted to see what she had to say. Here’s some quotes before Harper’s Bazaar took down the article (we wonder why THAT happened):
On why she prefers to use tall and skinny models for her shows:
“One of the reasons you show on tall and skinny models is because you have the audience sitting there dreaming that they are going to look like them. You can’t show the clothes on normal women, like me, because it doesn’t work. Fashion is a dream. In shows, I don’t use plus size models because I don’t do plus size.”
On why using skinny models on the runway makes the clothing look better:
“If I decide to do a plus size collection, of course I would use them! I’m not saying skinny ones are better than the other ones, no. I’m just saying that the shows are shown on skinny girls because that’s the way the clothes look the best, with no forms or anything.”
It’s disheartening to hear that Herrera feels that clothes look best on curve-less bodies and that the audience dreams of looking like those models. However, after 35 years in the business, her way of thinking is very dated.
Unfortunately, her stance is one that many straight size designers share. It’s 2016 and with the emergence of more body diversity on and off the runway, we’re curious to see how long Herrera can push this way of thought without being called out on it or seeing how important it is to show diversity in fashion, not just in plus sizes but for those models that aren’t sample sized.
What do you think of Carolina Herrera’s comments? Please leave us a comment below and let us know.