New York Fashion Week may be over but we are still reflecting from the week that gave us more diversity and curves on the runway.
It seemed to be Ashley Graham‘s week. Aside from her spread in the Sports Illustrated Swim Issue for the second year in a row, her recent Vogue cover, being the face of the new Prabal Gurung for Lane Bryant collection and launching her latest swim collection with Swimsuitsforall, she was also the first plus model to walk in a Michael Kors runway show this week.
This is MAJOR, considering the fact that for many years it has been rumored that while Kors has had a plus size line for many years, he has been shy about promoting it because of his hesitation at showing larger bodies as opposed to the standard size 0’s.
According to Business of Fashion, designers site sample sizes as the reason for not including different sizes on the runway:
“By contrast, Graham and Huffine this week were styled no differently from the rest of the models in each show. One of the biggest limits to diverse body shapes on the runway is the fact that many designers only make very small samples, meaning that only sample-size models can wear them. Kors and Gurung’s latest shows prove that they are making efforts to change this.”
But wait! This is not the best plus size moment of NYFW for us.
Did you know that 27 plus size models walked the runway in NYFW this season? Yes! That’s over double the number from last season, which was 12. [Source: MSN]
Graham was not the only one to grace the runway this season and Kors wasn’t the only designer to include curvy models in this show. We saw plus models Denise Bidot, Georgia Pratt, Precious Lee, Jocelyn Corona, Sabina Karlsson, Alessandra Garcia-Lorido and Marquita Pring strut their stuff too, along with a bevy of other gorgeous women who are not a size 0.
Christian Siriano used plus models in this show for the second time and Chromat yet again used plus models in their show as well. Tome, Prabal Gurung, Tracy Reese, J. Crew, and Gypsy Sport also used curvy bodies on the runway too.
This makes us excited for next season and also makes it apparent that major fashion designers are starting to realize that it’s not a bad thing to put a plus model on the runway at NYFW.
Welcome to the other side, Michael Kors. We have been waiting for you.
Follow us on social media at @plusmodelmag and let us know what you think about the diversity taking place on the NYFW runways and who you’d like to see strut their stuff next season.
Main top image: Instagram/@candicehuffine